Badin Sending A Dozen Runners To D-II Regional After Strong District Showing
Badin High School's Levi Couch runs in the Division II district boys cross country meet Oct. 24, 2026, at Voice of America Park in West Chester Township.
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By Rick Cassano
WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP – Saturday was an individual kind of day for Badin High School’s boys and girls cross country teams.
The Rams competed in the Division II district meet at Voice of America Park and didn’t qualify for the Troy regional as a team in either race, but most of their runners advanced anyway.
All seven girls and five boys are moving on after getting regional berths as individuals. Badin coach Jenn Burley said there were season-best and personal-record performances across the board.
“I feel like I as a coach can’t ask for more than that,” Burley said. “We don’t have top performers and top runners in any of these races, but as I’ve told them all year long, that doesn’t necessarily decide how you move forward.
“We have individuals that run really well together as a team. They use each other for that motivation they need to be able to push.”
The top 14 girls teams and the top nine boys squads earned trips to the regional meet. The BHS girls finished 17th and the boys were 12th.
Burley said both teams finished sixth in the Greater Catholic League Coed Division meet last week, with sophomore Levi Couch earning a third-team spot on the all-league squad.
Couch had the top finish for the Ram boys at districts, taking 61st place in 19:26.0. Freshman Noelle Knapp paced the girls by finishing 80th in 22:49.9.
“We couldn’t have asked for better conditions today,” Burley said. “The course wasn’t dry and dusty like it sometimes has been in the past when it’s super hot. It was soft, but not mushy anywhere, so it was just a matter of making all the mental and all the prep come together. I think our kids were just primed to have great races.”
Badin’s boys regional qualifiers included junior Eli Grammel (65th, 19:39.5), freshmen Ben Webb (69th, 19:54.9) and Lucas Gentile (72nd, 20:06.6), and junior Grayson Pinnick (75th, 20:21.6). The advancing girls included sophomores Gabby Solis-Hernandez (91st, 23:52.8), Tori Bickel (106th, 25:43.4), Scarlet Brandabur (107th, 25:45.9) and Addy Yates (109th, 25:49.2), senior Clare Giffen (108th, 25:46.6) and freshman Khloe Miller (110th, 26:00.6).
Burley said it will be tough for any of her runners to advance to state, but she’s not counting anybody out.
“When you have nothing to lose, it makes you the scariest competitors,” Burley said. “One thing I’ve learned from doing this sport is you never know what is going to happen, so you should always come prepared to do your best and that’s all you can ask for.
“Maybe it falls your way and maybe not, but I’m looking forward to seeing them be able to run on that course. It’s a great spectator course, a great course for families to come and support their kids.”
Badin’s girls finished 22nd as a team at the regional last year, while Couch was 114th (19:01.9) in the boys race.
“It’s a tough course in Troy,” Couch said. “It’s a lot of loops and short vertical hills. But I know what to expect, so I’ll give it a shot. I’m going to try my hardest and see where we get.”
His district time was a season-best effort for him. Couch said he felt strong on the course and took a simple “just catch the next dude” approach to the race.
Couch said the season as a whole hasn’t been what he was hoping for because he didn’t get enough training in the summer.
“I play baseball too,” Couch said. “Baseball season is getting longer, so I don’t get ready for cross country as early as I should.”
He said he started running in the eighth grade to increase his conditioning and leg strength.
“I wanted to do a fall sport and this was the thing that stood out to me,” Couch said. “I didn’t want to play football and break a finger or something.”
Knapp said she began her running career in the sixth grade and split her fall time between cross country and volleyball. She has turned her full attention to running now that the junior varsity volleyball season is over.
“Volleyball is my first priority, so I go to cross country whenever I can,” Knapp said. “During volleyball season I couldn’t go to any cross country practices, so I practiced at home. I ended up going to like four or five meets this season.”
She said Saturday’s race was easily the best performance of her running career.
“I felt really good out there,” Knapp said. “It’s so exciting to make it to regionals. I love our community as a team. You feel so accomplished when you finish a race and get a PR while being with your team. It’s such a team sport.”
Knapp doesn’t know if she can get to state this year, but she plans “to give everything I’ve got and leave it all on the course” in the regional.
