Phipps sprint lifts Knights

Sometimes it's about what you have left in the tank.
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Franklin's Kyle Phipps had something a little extra as he rounded the tree line into the open Ed Myer Complex field seeing two brown and gold jerseys between him and the finish line. Phipp's teammates Caleb and Jay Prettyman were already in cool down mode finishing first and second. Titusville's Bryan Johnson had also crossed the finish for third.

Cross country runners are in some ways alone on the course where they have to dig down into the depths of their focus to overcome the pain and fatigue of muscles to run their race the best they can. But there is also a team portion of the event where they have to find something else entirely in order to help the whole squad. This is why Phipps exhausting everything he had Tuesday to not only over take one of Titusville's runners but both was so important.

Sprinting past Andrew Bryan about 50 yards out and then overtaking Cash Lavery in the final few yards earned him fourth-place and his team the valuable points they needed for the win.

​If Titusville took fourth and fifth it was game over for the Knights.

​The Knights took the region match 26-29 on the boys side. Jackson Wilson and Hayden Ellis took ninth and 10th places to finish off the scoring.

The girls team didn't fair as well losing 20-41, but state caliber runner Nadalie Latchaw cruised to beat a talented Titusville junior Anna Mehlenbacher by 25 seconds.

The Knights will face Conneaut to end region play on October 10. They will run in the Grove City Invitational October 7.

They'll also run in the huge Rocky Grove invitational on October 14 which will get them ready for the District 10 championships on October 28 at Titusville.

Click here for more photos: ​https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p1050805636