Overly and Cece Hiatt sign with Lindsey Wilson College

Mason County seniors Deshawn Overly and Cece Hiatt both signed on Tuesday to continue their education and running careers at Lindsey Wilson College.

Overly was named to the Class 2A All-State Cross Country Team after leading Mason County to a 10th place finish at the 2024 state meet. He was the individual region champion for the second straight year and finished ninth at the state meet. Overly led the Royals to back-to-back cross country region titles in 2023 and 2024. The 2023 region championship was the program’s first since 1973. Mason County was the state runner-up in 2023 with Overly taking 16th place.

Overly holds the outdoor school record in the 3200 meter run and indoor school record in the 3000 meter run. He was a member of the Royals’ outdoor track and field team that was the region runner-up last year and he anchored the 4x800 meter relay team that won the region championship. The 4x800 meter relay team won the indoor state championship last March.

Hiatt was a member of Mason County’s outdoor track and field team that won the 2024 region title and finished fifth at the state meet. She ran on the 4x400 meter relay team that won a region championship and took eighth place at the state meet. The 4x400 meter relay took fourth place at the 2024 indoor state meet helping the Lady Royals to a team runner-up finish.

Hiatt participated in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholar Program last summer.

Random notes

Here are a few local sports notes for your Thursday:

• The Mason County boys' and girls' wrestling teams split their Duals vs. Montgomery County on Wednesday night in Mt. Sterling with the boys coming away with a win. The Lady Royals will be back in action on Friday at Lafayette. The Royals will wrestle at George Rogers Clark on Saturday.

• Mason County senior Layla Crews-Taylor signed last week to continue her academic and cheerleading careers at Georgetown College.

• Mason County senior runners Cece Hiatt and  Deshawn Overly have a dual signing ceremony scheduled on January 7 at 4 p.m. at the indoor track facility. They both will be signing with Lindsey Wilson College.

• The Mason County Lady Royals basketball team, off to a 7-0 start, had some dazzling statistics in two wins last week. They were 23-of-24 from the free throw line in the win over Eastern Brown and had 15 assists on their 19 field goals in the victory over Greenup County. 

• The Lady Royals will play Great Crossing on Friday at 5 p.m. in the Gateway Holiday Classic at Montgomery County. Great Crossing (3-3) is coming off an 88-22 win over Frankfort.

Five Mason County track and field athletes selected for Kentucky Governor's Scholars Program

Five Mason County track and field athletes have been accepted into the Kentucky Governor's Scholars Program. The track and field program made the announcement on X.

The students are Cece Hiatt, Ed Brannon, Madison Howard, Ava Thompson and Sarah Payne.

The Kentucky Governor's Scholars Program is a summer residential session on college campuses for outstanding rising seniors.

Students are nominated by their high schools and then compete on a state-wide level for about 1,000 available spots.

Royals XC team wins first region championship since 1973

The Mason County boys' cross country team's 50-year wait for another region championship ended Saturday.

The Royals had four of the top five finishers and won the Class 2A Region 6 meet at Morgan County.

It is the boys' first region championship since 1973.

Bryant Curtis won the individual championship with a time of 17:11.78. Ed Brannon was the runner-up (17:17.11), Nicholas Schiltz was third (17:24.69) and Peyton Ullery was fifth (17:35.83). 

Those four combined for 11 points.

Elijah Reed finished in 14th place (19:43.59) giving Mason County a team score of 25.

Casey Magee was 38th (21:46.86) and Daniel Klump 46th (25:37.26).

The top five finishers account for the team score.

One of the Royals' top runners, Deshawn Overly, sat out the race due to an injury.

East Carter was the runner-up with 65 points and Boyd County was third with 76 points.

Mason County had four runners in the girls' race: Kolby Galloway finished 10th (22:31.89), Calleigh Passmore was 34th (27:39. 62), Lily Dean was 37th (28:39.16) and Cece Hiatt was 38th (29:07.09).

Galloway and Passmore are individual qualifiers for state.

The KHSAA State Cross Country Championships are next Saturday at Kentucky Horse Park.

Royals XC 2023 Region Champs ! pic.twitter.com/uZSTcK1Y2j

— Mason Co. Athletics (@RoyalsAth1etics) October 21, 2023