Louisville’s Valkyries Race in Lexington

This Saturday, Oct. 7 the cross country team made their way to Lexington to compete in the Lexington Catholic Invitational at the Kentucky Horse Park. After five months of rigorous workouts, the Valkyries raced in one of the final meets before regionals and state.

Freshman Katelyn Cornett led the varsity team in 13th place with a solid time of 20:40. Senior Kathryn Seay followed Cornett in 20th place, running a time of 21:10, and junior Meredith Barnes finished in 31st place with a 21:51.

Remaining varsity runners included juniors Katie Beckman and Kendall Knight, and seniors Shelby Arnett, Claire Esselman, Alyssa Meiman, Maggie Mitchell, and Ann Preston Radford.

A top returner from last year’s varsity team, Barnes feels confident in the team’s performance.

“I’m extremely proud of my team and our race,” said Barnes. “We put in hard work all week and we were able to see it pay off.”

Barnes and the varsity runners have goals for the remainder of the season as the regionals and state meets gradually approach.

“We have a great source of camaraderie and want to keep that positivity going because it helps the overall team atmosphere,” Barnes said. “By continuing to motivate one another in practices, we hope to achieve the results we want.”

The varsity team took third place for the meet.

In the JV race, sophomore Helene Senn placed second with a time of 21:58 and freshman Erin Haugh followed in 10th place with a time of 23: 29. The JV team finished in second place to close out the race day.

After a successful weekend , the Valkyries will travel to Woodford County in Versailles, Kentucky next Saturday to compete in their final race before the regional cross country meet.

Follow @SHARunning and @shasports on Twitter for more updates on the cross country team.