Kentuckiana’s premier cross country runners truly distanced themselves from the competition in 2016.
The 2016-17 Courier-Journal All-Area Cross Country Teams
The Courier-Journal’s Metro Louisville and Southern Indiana boys and girls all-area cross country teams are stacked with runners who set the pace and stood out in crowded fields, and the finalists for runner of the year awards each left an impression at the state championship.
Finalists for The Courier-Journal Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year are Manual’s Yared Nuguse, Holy Cross’ Keeton Thornsberry, Christian Academy of Indiana’s Skylar Stidam and Silver Creek’s Cameron Stephens.
Nuguse, a senior, won the Class 3-A state championship with a time of 15 minutes, 41.13 seconds. He has signed with Notre Dame.
Thornsberry, a sophomore, won the Class A state title with a time of 16 minutes, 16.25 seconds.
Stidam, who qualified for state as an individual, finished with a time of 15:51.6, good for third place. The junior’s final 1K time was the quickest in the field at 3:06.
Stephens placed 39th (16:31.1) as an individual in the state race and was named an Indiana senior all-star.
Finalists for The Courier-Journal Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year are Manual’s Alena Sapienza-Wright, Male’s Kaitlyn Lacy, Christian Academy of Indiana’s McKenna Cavanaugh and New Washington’s Olivia Graebe.
Sapienza-Wright, a junior and last year’s Courier-Journal Metro Louisville Cross Country Runner of the Year, won the Class 3-A state championship with a time of 18 minutes, 8.87 seconds.
Kaitlyn Lacy, a junior, was the runner-up in the Class 3-A state meet with a time of 18 minutes, 9.70 seconds.
Cavanaugh ran her way to a first-place finish in this year’s regional race and went on to place 56th as an individual at state.
Graebe was New Washington’s first sectional-winning runner in more than 25 years. She went on to qualify and place 94th in the state race.
Each all-area selection and finalist, along with a guest, will be invited to this June’s The Courier-Journal Sports Awards Ceremony presented by Norton Sports Health. There, Athlete of the Year winners and other special awards will be announced.
Visit courier-journal.com/sportsawards for all-area teams and upcoming announcements regarding how to RSVP, the ceremony’s date, its location and the celebrity guest speaker.
The Courier-Journal Sports Awards are presented locally by Norton Sports Health and sponsored by Kroger.
METRO LOUISVILLE BOYS CROSS COUNTRY ALL-AREA TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Ryan Guenthner, St. Xavier
Cooper Marchal, St. Xavier
Yared Nuguse, Manual
Keeton Thornsberry, Holy Cross
Patrick Schaefer, St. Xavier
SECOND TEAM
Dylan Allen, Male
Zachary Larkin, St. Xavier
Steven Ott, Christian Academy
Matthew Paverd, Shelby County
Emerson Wells, Eastern
METRO LOUISVILLE GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY ALL-AREA TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Kaitlyn Lacy, Male
Sarah Michels, Assumption
Alena Sapienza-Wright, Manual
Hallie Searcy, South Oldham
Kathleen Simms, Sacred Heart
SECOND TEAM
Taylor Boggess, Manual
Anna Constant, Oldham County
Rachel Curry, Male
Emma Kuntz, Manual
Clara Lynch, Christian Academy
SOUTHERN INDIANA BOYS CROSS COUNTRY ALL-AREA TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Caleb Futter, CAI
Nathaniel Lone, North Harrison
Reid Masterson, Providence
Cameron Stephens, Silver Creek
Skylar Stidam, Christian Academy of Indiana
SECOND TEAM
Matthew Bottorff, Silver Creek
James Haller, New Albany
Alex Hendrix, Jennings County
Alex May, Scottsburg
Alex Wallingford, New Albany
SOUTHERN INDIANA GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY ALL-AREA TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Ashton Chase, Seymour
McKenna Cavanaugh, CAI
Olvia Graebe, New Washington
Sydney Liddle, CAI
Kyley Sorg, Floyd Central
SECOND TEAM
Faith Barba, Floyd Central
Erica Batliner, Floyd Central
Natalie Boesing, Providence
Olivia Hawkins, New Albany
Lillian Pearce, Floyd Central
THE COURIER-JOURNAL ALL-AREA TEAMS AND FINALISTS
Dec. 22: Cross country
Dec. 23: Soccer
Dec. 24: Volleyball
Dec. 25: Football
TBA: Field hockey