Badin’s Boys And Girls Expecting Successful Season With Youthful Rosters

By Rick Cassano

HAMILTON – Jenn Burley is seeing positive things from her Badin High School boys and girls cross country teams with the 2026 season about to begin.

The Rams sent two boys individually and the girls squad to the Division II regional meet at Troy last season, and they’re optimistic about their prospects this year.

“We’ve got a very good vibe with the boys and the girls teams as far as the attitude that they’re bringing to practice, working hard, encouraging others to work hard and focusing on what we can control instead of things that we can’t control,” said Burley, in her second season at the BHS helm.

“I’m looking forward to building this program up. As much as it is an individual sport, it does kind of come down to the team dynamic and how they’re willing to push together. I’m excited about getting out there and racing and seeing how we measure up.”

There are only two seniors in the program and both — Clare Giffen and Maddie Anthony – are with the girls team.

Giffen said she has never viewed cross country as an individual thing.

“A lot of cross country is the team-building aspect,” Giffen said. “We all get really close through practices and other events that we go to. We all just become really good friends. It’s an individual sport, but I feel like we are really good at pushing each other to not only get better, but just to have fun together. That’s why we love it so much. We have fun and push each other.”

Junior Eli Grammel said there’s no question that the camaraderie and chemistry of the squad drive him.

“I’ve had friends do it throughout my life and always had people there to support me through it,” Grammel said. “I have really good friends to build off of and have a good time with it.”

Sophomores Levi Couch and Junior Newberry lead the returnees for Badin’s boys. They were regional runners last year as freshmen, with Couch taking 114th place (19:01.82) and Newberry finishing 147th (20:02.33).

Couch (12:26) and freshman Ben Webb (13:08) paced the Rams in a two-mile time trial earlier this month.

Alex Hochenberger and Grayson Pinnick are also juniors for Badin, with Hochenberger coming over from the school’s soccer team. Lincoln Emmons and James Otto are competing as sophomores, and Jack DeSutter, Lucas Gentile and Mike Giblin are additional freshmen.

“Some of the guys we got in this year are very good prospects,” Burley said. “I’m hoping the guys as a team move onto regionals at least, and I’m looking forward to the future and seeing how they’re going to do.”
Grammel believes he can be among Badin’s top runners as well. He said being a youthful unit shouldn’t be a detriment to the overall cause.

“We have a very strong, young team,” Grammel said. “We’re all together. We’re all on the same page. We all like being around each other and working together as a team for a common goal.”

Grammel said he started running as a sixth-grader at Sacred Heart School in Fairfield.

“All my siblings ran through grade school, so I thought I might as well try it,” Grammel said. “I liked it and just stuck with it.”

Giffen got into running as a freshman and also had a family connections to the sport.

“My older sister did it,” Giffen said. “She was a senior and then I became a freshman, so we were not in school at the same time, but I knew some of the people going into it because she knew them. That kind of made it easy. It’s been amazing. I’ve made so many of my high school friends through the team. Honestly, I’m super grateful for it.

“I didn’t really have running experience coming into freshman year other than just sports I had done. It was easy to jump into because the coaches start you off at whatever level you’re at, then you set personal goals and work to reach them.”

The Rams placed 22nd out of 24 teams in last year’s regional. Badin’s top four finishers – Tilly Westrich, Elizabeth Hoeting, Sophia Kollstedt and Tabitha Buschelmann – weren’t seniors, but they aren’t back with the squad this year.

Giffen was 175th (25:13.99) and Anthony took 190th (28:16.78). Maddie Wolfinger, now a junior, was 188th (27:31.66) at the regional.

Burley said freshman Noelle Knapp (14:58) and sophomore Gabby Solis-Hernandez (15:20) topped the BHS girls time trials. Knapp is also a volleyball player and will miss the first couple cross country meets of the season, including Centerville’s Saturday Night Lights event this weekend.

“We’ll see one way or the other how we’ll perform with Noelle out,” Burley said.

Sophomore Madison Zoz, a soccer player, is expected to be among the top runners as well. Leah Welte is a junior, and the sophomore class includes Tori Bickel, Scarlet Brandabur, Liv Enderle, Gracie McDowell, Addy Yates and Abbie Alvarez. Khloe Miller will compete as a freshman

Burley, 48, knows running requires sacrifice and some self-motivation. She’s a 1996 Badin graduate who made it to state twice in cross country and spent three years as Fairfield’s head cross country coach.

“This sport more than anything else truly prepares you for life,” Burley said. “What we do is hard, and you can’t hide behind anybody else. You have to learn how to deal with hard in this sport in order to figure it out. I feel like that is the 100 percent description for life.

“There’s no shortcuts. Either you’re going to be resilient and overcome the situation or you’re going to let the situation run you. We’ll see what you’ve got when you get out there. The best part about it is everyone has a chance to prove themselves every time.

“I think sometimes we give kids the wrong impression that, ‘Oh yeah, you become an adult and it becomes easy.’ No, life is all different kinds of hard. You’re going to choose your hard and learn how to work through your hards.”

Burley said the program has been bolstered this year by the addition of three assistant coaches – Owen Mathews, Monica Harris and Quinten Hendrix. Mathews and Harris are Badin graduates, while Hendrix went to Fairfield and teaches at BHS.

The program will be hosting a Family Fun Run on Oct. 10 at Harbin Park in Fairfield. Anyone interested in running should contact Mathews at owenmathews10@gmail.com.

“Not only can athletes and the families run, but we also try to get the alumni to come back and run a 5K with us,” Burley said. “It’s not necessarily a timed race. It’s very relaxed and chill.”

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