The Columbus East girls cross-country team gets set to take off in Saturday’s Hoosier Hills Conference meet at Ceraland.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
The Columbus East girls had finished behind Jennings County in two cross-country meets this season, so the Olympians were looking to finish ahead of the Panthers when East hosted the Hoosier Hills Conference meet on Saturday morning at Ceraland.
As it turned out, both teams tied with 126 points, to tie for the fourth spot behind Floyd Central (19), Bedford North Lawrence (58) and Seymour (67). But the Olympians claimed that No. 4 spot with a faster sixth finisher.
“That’s the first time we’ve beaten them this season, so I was really happy about that,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “I was happy about where our girls packed up. We really tightened together today and just keep improving as we move into sectional. It was one of our better races as a team. I was happy with how we performed and met the challenge today.”
Madison Swartzentruber led the Olympians with a 19th-place finish in 22 minutes, 39.73 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles). Ainslee Shaw took 30th in 23:57.46, while Elizabeth Sztaba was 31st (24:02.47), Abby Collins 33rd (24:27.19), Amelia Fay 34th (24:30.43), Delaney Rogers 45th (25:24.14) and Hayden Carothers 46th (25:44.26).
“I’m really happy with Maddie,” Shoaf said. “She led us out today and kind of set the pace for our team, and all the other girls kind of responded.”
Jennings was without top runner Alana Watts. Shelby Allen finished 15th in 22:22.42, while Haley Vogel was 25th (23:04.36), Avery Willhite 27th (23:24.58), Bella Miller 39th (24:44.65), Addey Herche 44th (25:08.72), Natalie Phillips 52nd (26:43.27) and Isla Stevens 54th (27:09.55).
“I think our girls definitely stepped it up,” Jennings girls coach Megan Stevens said. “We were missing our No. 1 runner today, so we were down one important one, but everybody else stepped it up and did everything they could to pass other girls on the course. So overall, we’re pretty happy with where we’re at right now. We have some work to do before next year, but everybody worked hard.”
Jennings County’s Kraedyn Young crosses the finish line to win the boys race at Saturday’s Hoosier Hills Conference meet at Ceraland.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
Meanwhile, Jennings senior Kraedyn Young won the boys race in 15:43.65 to lead the Panthers to a third-place team finish.
“It’s a good way to finish off my senior year,” Young said. “I’m feeling strong in the practices these past few weeks and in the race today.”
Floyd Central won the boys meet with 51 points to 62 for BNL and 66 for the Jennings.
The Panthers’ Brock Maschino finished seventh in 16:58.72 to join Young on the All-Conference team, while Cash Summers earned honorable mention All-HHC honors with a ninth-place finish in 17:22.53. Dawson Leak took 19th in 17:45.45, while Maxwell Rodriguez was 30th (18:12.62), Zachary Wahlman 35th (18:29.09) and Eli Lucas 50th (19:21.04).
“We focused on taking care of the race in the woods,” Jennings boys coach Luke Inman said. “That was a big part of the race today. I think it’s 1,800 meters in the woods that they’re by themselves, and we knew going into the race today that the race was going to be won or lost back there. I feel like our guys did a really good job of going to work back in the woods. They went out there and competed today.”
East finished sixth as a team with 144 points. Norman Dickson took 17th in 17:41.23, while Jackson Brookes was 24th (17:57.36), Elijah Clore 26th (17:58.35), Austin Menefee 37th (18:29.54), Lorren Westerfeld 44th (19:05.15), Chance Knapp 47th (19:10.11) and Maddox Hull 48th (19:11.84).
“We were a little disappointed in that result,” East boys coach Gabe Ocasio said. “We unfortunately did not take advantage of the opportunity, but thankfully, this team is aiming for something greater than conference. Training through these races has been important for us as far as how we set ourselves up to peak at the right time. So it was a tough day, but there’s a lot of positives that come out of failures, and we’re looking forward to taking those failures and converting them into learning experiences and lessons for the future.”
