By Garth Shanklin
gshanklin@civitasmedia.com
Ripley’s cross country team travelled north to Blanchester Wednesday, September 30 for the team’s second-to-last meet of the season before October 17th’s Southern Hills Athletic Conference event.
As he has for the entire season, Josh Deaton led the team, finishing seventh overall in the event, five seconds behind Clinton-Massie’s Jacob Whitaker for sixth. Timothy Hawkins was the next-fastest Blue Jay, clocking a 22:02.60 to come in 42nd of 83 runners. The two teammates led Ripley to a seventh-place finish in the event. Batavia placed three runners in the top-10 to win the team title.
On the girls’ side, Tiffany Deaton’s 19th-place finish paced the Lady Jays. Kirsten Abbott finished thirty seconds later, winding up 22nd. Blanchester placed runners second and third overall to win the team title.
In the junior high event, Nighel Royal clocked a 13:57.77, finishing 33rd to lead the Blue Jays. Teammate Sam Bunch finished 39th, roughly 30 seconds behind Royal. Ripley did not enter a runner in the middle school girls’ 3K event.
The team’s final meet before the SHAC Championship is Saturday, October 10 at Lynchburg-Clay High School.
Reach Garth Shanklin at 937-378-6161 or gshanklin@civitasmedia.com.