Clermont County’s varsity cross country teams are focusing on the upcoming conference and sectional/regional meets.

Even though New Richmond, teamwise, is not running away from the field, the Lions do have the outstanding individual runner in the county and Greater Cincinnati, and possibly even the entire state.

Senior Eric Finan was sixth in Ohio among Division II harriers in the state championship showdown a year ago.

“Eric is a very dedicated, hard-working, smart runner. He takes good care of his body and knows the race and how to run it,” said Jack Kinsinger, coach of the Red and Black. “I expect Eric to do well at the state championships again this year. . . Individually were doing very well.”

Setting the girls through their paces is sophomore Alana Kennedy who also competed at the state meet in Columbus last year.

“I’m looking forward to taking Alana to the state again this year,” said Kinsinger. “She’s now coming along well. . .

“This is a great group of kids. I’m privileged to be a part of this team.”

There are four seniors on the boys squad and Kinsinger expects be doing some rebuilding next year.

“The girls team should be good in the years ahead,” Kinsinger said. “We have some good seniors on the boys and girls teams; four on the boys team and just two on the girls team.”

In addition to Finan, the seniors are Taylor Andrews, Corey Pennington, Chris Haun, Brittany Hall, and Lisa Wilkerson.

The Barons’ Adam Sprague and Kayla Wakefield, both seniors, were the individual champions of the annual Amelia Cross Country Invitational.

Mason ran off with the boys team competition with 46 points, Anderson had 99, Amelia 104, Glen Este 108, Goshen 134, Cincinnati Country Day 168, Miami Valley Christian 184, Western Brown 220, and Bethel-Tate 260. Clermont Northeastern did not field a full five-runner team.

Sprague completed the 3.1-mile course with a time of 17-minutes, 28-seconds. Other Clermont countians in the first 20 finishers were Glen Este’s CJ Pickelheimer (2) 17:40, Amelia’s Josh Harrel (5) 18:17 and Daniel Deweese (6) 18:21, GE’s Daniel Wulker (7) 18:22, Bethel-Tate Louie Schaljo (8) 18:23, Goshen’s Cody Monk (19) 19:06, and GE’s Tony Scharf (20) 19:14. The first CNE finisher was Geoff Howell in 21:49.

Anderson was the girls winner with 52 points, Glen Este had 88, Amelia 89, and Cincinnati Country Day 105. Bethel-Tate, Clermont Northeastern, Goshen, Miami Valley Christian, and Western Brown did not compete with complete five-person squads.

Wakefield completed the 3.1-mile course in 20:30. Clermont countians rounding out the first 20 placers were GE’s Stephanie Stoffel (2) 20:33, Amelia’s Beth Wilson (5) 21:46, Bethel-Tate’s Tarah Cole (6) 22:04, Amelia’s Alex Wakefield (8) 22:50, GE’s Sam Miller (18) 23:44, and BT’s Liz Newman (19) 23:53. The first CNE finisher was Ashlee McClain in 28:37 and the first Goshen finisher was Samantha Carpentero in 29:56.

The Lions’ Eric Finan, a senior, and Alana Kennedy, a sophomore, were the individual titlists at the annual New Richmond Invitational.

Georgetown was the boys winner with 87 points, Ripley had 90, Amelia 111, Western Brown 117, Goshen 122, Lloyd (Ky.) 129, New Richmond 139, Finneytown 159, St. Bernard 201, Fayetteville 206, and Blanchester 267.

Finan clocked in at 16:14 over the 3.1-mile course. Clermont countians rounding out the first ten were Sprague of Amelia (5) 17:37, Schaljo of Bethel Tate (7) 18:03, Harrel of Amelia (9) 18:09, and Deweese of Amelia (10) 18:14.

Western Brown captured the girls division with 48 points, Lloyd had 83, Goshen 98, New Richmond 106, Amelia 110, Fayetteville 117, and Ripley 121.

Kennedy completed the course in 20:23. Clermont countians rounding out the top ten were Staci Hicks of Goshen (2) 20:49, Wakefield of Amelia (3) 20:57, Wilson of Amelia (6) 21:23, and Cole of Bethel-Tate (10) 21:38.

The Goshen Invitational individual champions were the Lions’ Eric Finan and the host Warriors’ Staci Hicks.

Goshen won the boys race with 25 points, New Richmond had 45, Western Brown 65, and Cincinnati Hills Christian did not field a complete team.

Finan finished the 3.1-mile course with a record clocking of 17:22. He was followed by Robert Romeo (2) 19:01, Cody Monk (3) 19:58, Darren Garrett (4) 20:12, and Jordan Poff (6) 20:22 all of Goshen, Ben Werle (7) 20:22 and Taylor Andrews (9) both of New Richmond, and Andrew Smith of Goshen (10) 20:33.

Western Brown won the girls event with 30 points, Goshen had 43, and New Richmond 48.

Hicks came in first in 21:41, Alana Kennedy of New Richmond was second in 21:56. Rounding out the first ten were Andrea Belmont of New Richmond (7) 24:51, Kim Steele (8) 24:57, Kelsi Gaffney (9) 24:57, and Colleen Foote (10) 25:03 all of Goshen.

Milford’s boys won the 20-team Harrison Invitational with 61 points; Glen Este was 11th with 314. Belliston paced the Eagles by finishing sixth in 17:18 over the 3.1 mile course. Bullock was eighth in 17:232, and Dearhammer was ninth in 17:24.

Among the girls, Milford was fifth with with 131 points and Glen Este, 13th, with 371. Lakota West won the 18-team event with 72 points.

At the St. Xavier Invitational, New Richmond’s Eric Finan was the Division II champion and recorded the best time of both divisions with his 16:05 over the Bombers’ 3.1 mile course. In the boys Division I race, Glen Este was 15th among 16 teams with 371 points. The host Bombers won with 73.

In the 17-team Division II run, Goshen was 10th with 265 points and New Richmond 13th with 307. Hamilton Badin was the winner with 62.

In the girls competition, Glen Este was 20th among 20 teams in Division I with 520 points; Turpin took the title with 91.

In the 16-team Division II chase, New Richmond was ninth with 267 points behind champion Defiance that had 38 points. The Lions’ Kennedy finished third in 20:05.

Milford’s girls competed in the Fairmont Invitational that took place at Indian Riffle Park located near Dayton. The E-Gals were ninth among the 10-teams competing with 238 points; Mason was the victor with 74.

At the nine-team Ross Invitational, Goshen was third with 85 points and Glen Este was fifth with 110. Mason was the victor with 34 points. The Trojans’ CJ Pickelheimer was second overall in 18:16 over the 3.1-mile course and Daniel Wulker was ninth in 19:27. The Warriors’ Robert Romeo was fifth in 18:56 and Cody Monk was sixth in 19:03.

Glen Este’s girls earned runner-up position in the six-team Colerain Invitational that took place over the 3.1-mile course at Rapid Run Park. The Purple and White’s Stephanie Stoffel was the winner of the run with a clocking of 21:41. Teammate Alyssa Sexton finished fifth in 24:01.