Cross Country

Sarah Crowley runs high school cross country in Knoxville, Tenn., but she kicks off her season in Kentucky. Crowley, 15, was the top female runner Saturday at Coach Plummer's 5K Run, posting a time of 21 minutes, 54 seconds to place sixth out of 118 runners on the 3.1-mile cross country course at Admiral Stadium. And there is no other place she enjoys running more than this one. “It's my favorite course, and it's the right time in the season before all the other races have started,” said Crowley, who was running in her third Plummer Run. “During the summer I do trail races, the long ones in the woods.

LANCASTER - Cole Grecco has been running with a pretty fast crowd lately, but he was the one setting the pace Saturday. That was only fitting, since this was his home race. And it might also have been fitting that the only runner who was even close enough to see him in the late stages of the Jingle in July 5K was his regular running partner - his father. Grecco won Lancaster's 5-kilometer race for the second straight year, running the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 10 seconds, and he said the fact that he and his father, Chris, were able to go 1-2 was a thrill.

It isn't likely that Natalie Settle and Kaitlin Snapp will challenge each other to a race any time soon. But if they did, it isn't likely that either of them would give an inch. The two girls would probably shake hands and exchange pleasantries before and after the race, but the competition itself might bring out an entirely different side of them. For while Settle of Boyle County and Snapp of Danville are regarded as two of the area's nicest athletes, they might also qualify as two of the most competitive.

It was the first 5-kilometer race of the season for Chase Berry, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been running. Berry was already putting in plenty of mileage, and he is ramping up his training this summer as he prepares to compete at the collegiate level beginning this fall. He graduated from Danville High School last month, and last week he signed a letter-of-intent to run for Tennessee Wesleyan College. And on Saturday morning Berry was near the front of the pack in the Run for the Brass 5K at Millennium Park.

HARRODSBURG - Rachel Ditto left her friend behind early on, then left most of the competition after that. The 2011 Boyle County graduate, who runs track and cross country at Georgetown College, was the top female finisher and placed 12th overall Saturday at the Fort Harrod Beef Festival 5K in downtown Harrodsburg. “I was running with my friend Brittany (Sims), who is going to be my roommate at Georgetown next year. I was going to stay with her the whole time, but then I was like, 'I'm just going to go ahead and run a little faster, then come back and get you,'” said Ditto, who finished the 3.1-mile race in 12 minutes, 58 seconds.

Asbury University's cross-county program scored two major recruits this past month with the signing of West Jessamine's state-championship runners Todd Yoder and David Smith. Smith Smith placed 74th at state with a time of 18:32.41. “I started running a couple years ago and loved it because it's such a great way to get out and anyone can do it and really improve,” Smith said. “It was really exciting when I found out I could do it at Asbury and get a decent scholarship for it.” For Smith his college choice came down to Asbury and the University of Kentucky.

STANFORD - Alex Bunch needed to learn how to have fun again. Injuries prevented the Lincoln County junior from doing her best last track season, and in turn it prevented her from enjoying much of anything last year. “I was really frustrated and it was really hard to get back into running again. I thought I was getting burnt out, and I got to the point where I wasn't enjoying it any more,” Bunch said. In the 2010 cross country season, Bunch got a stress fracture in her hip. She rested, placing 32nd at the state meet, and then got ready for track.

East Jessamine senior Daylei DeKrey made her college choice earlier this month, signing with Lindsey Wilson. DeKrey said a major driving force behind her decision was academics at the college. “The student-to-professor ratio (was low), and everyone there was so friendly, and every body knew everybody,” she said. “There's like 2,500 kids at the entire school, and it's small and really easy to learn in. The professors take time with the students, which is really important for me because I love hands-on and one-on-one help.” DeKrey is on the cross-country and track and field teams at East.

BURGIN - Austin Shewmaker is the ultimate utility player. The Burgin senior is capable of playing seemingly any position on the baseball field, just as he seems to be capable of playing virtually every sport his school offers. And in both cases, that's just the way he likes it. Shewmaker is in the final season of the last of his three sports:¿baseball, basketball and cross country. And as usual, he's wearing a number of hats for the Bulldogs, including that of a leader on a very young team.

In 2010, East Jessamine cross-country runner Cody Parks finished 105th with a time of 18 minutes, 57.21 seconds at the state cross-country championships. His senior year in 2011, he finished 10th with a time of 17:10.45. His hard work from one November to the next launched him 95 spots and cut his time by more than 100 seconds. His hard work paid off in yet another way last Wednesday when he signed with Bellarmine University to run cross-country and track for the Knights. Parks visited just about every college in the state before choosing Bellarmine.