LaSalle junior Allen Bader fell short of his personal goal, but he thinks he helped get the Lancers' cross country team back on track.

        Bader turned in the best time of the day, 15:26, to lead LaSalle to the championship of one of the two Division I district cross country meets at Princeton Junior High School Saturday.

        St. Xavier senior Andy Weitmarschen ran a 15:33 in the first of the day's four races as the Bombers, No.1 in the Ohio Coaches Association Division I boys cross country poll, also won a district championship.

        Turpin freshman Carolyn Rauen finished first, and her sophomore teammate, Melanie Price, came in second as youthful Turpin captured one of the two girls district championships.

        Colerain placed six runners among the top 10 to earn the other title, its ninth consecutive district championship.

        The top four teams in each race and the top 15 individuals qualify for Saturday's regional meet in Troy.

        Bader had wanted to set the course record, but he finished eight seconds off that pace. Still, he felt as if he and the Lancers, who are ranked No.2 behind St.Xavier in The Enquirer's coaches poll, had started the road back from their disappointing finish in the Greater Catholic League South Division meet a week earlier. LaSalle finished second, but St. Xavier had six runners among the top nine.

        “That was a bad race,” Bader said. “I know we can run better. I believe we're right on course for the way this team needs to run.”

        The Turpin girls are outpacing the expectations of their coach, Steve Nester. One junior, four sophomores and two freshmen compose the top seven for the Spartans, who have moved into second place behind Colerain in The Enquirer's poll after being ranked No.6 in the preseason.

        “I thought we'd still be a year away,” Nester said. “We were fortunate enough to qualify for the regionals each of the last two years, so we've been at the regional level. We've yet to prove that we can qualify for the state. We're very young.

        “They've exceeded my expectations. They're running really well. We hope they can keep it up.”

        Two-time regional champion Lindsay Zinn posted the overall best girls time of 17:39, a 24-second margin of victory, while winning the individual championship of the day's final race. She was the only individual champion who didn't run for the title-winning team.

        “I guess I've pretty much been working on my consistency,” Zinn said. “I've been training a little bit harder to get my times faster.”

        Colerain coach Ron Russo believes the race his girls ran proves they are ready to become the first team to win four consecutive Division I championships.

        “There's no team out there that can match that,” he said. “I've told the team all year that they can be better than last year's team. This performance today was almost unparalled. This was definitely better than last year's district championship.”

Boys results | Girls results

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