Columbus North’s Kyleigh Wolf, Carys Glyn-Jones (1174), Macy Eaton (1172) and Emma Lowther (1170) begin the Brown County Sectional Saturday at Eagle Park in Nashville.
Nicholas Shaw for The Republic
NASHVILLE — Columbus North cruised to an expected sectional sweep, the Columbus East boys snapped a regional-qualifying drought and the Jennings County boys and girls, along with several other individuals, punched their tickets to the Evansville Regional.
That was the verdict at Saturday’s Brown County cross-country sectional. The top five teams and top 10 individuals not on qualifying teams advanced to the Oct. 25 regional at Angel Mounds State Park.
North’s sixth-ranked girls won their 28th in a row and 38th overall sectional title, both state-bests. The second-ranked Bull Dog boys won their fourth consecutive sectional and 35th overall, which ranks second all-time in the state.
“There’s only 25 sectional champions in the state, and we won both boys and girls, so that’s really special to us,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “We’re really happy with that, and we’re prepped for the state meet. It’s really special to have both individual champions. Carys (Glyn-Jones) and Neal (White) are both running really well.”
The Bull Dog girls scored 22 points to easily outdistance runner-up Edgewood’s 62. Seymour finished third with 93, while Martinsville took fourth with 140 and Jennings County edged Brown County 167-169 for the fifth and final team-qualifying spot.
North’s boys scored 30 points to 45 for Edgewood, 90 for Jennings County, 100 for Seymour and 153 for East.
White defended his individual sectional title, winning the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) boys race in 15 minutes, 24.5 seconds, his second-best time of the season.
“I honestly wasn’t feeling my best, but I kind of see that as a good sign because I still went out and ran really well for not feeling that great,” White said. “I was glad to come back and be able to win it again.”
Also for the Bull Dogs, Jace Works and Draven Martinez finished fifth and sixth in 15:39.3 and 16:06.3. Denton Sluder took eighth in 16:09.5), while Jonny Klaus was 10th (16:14.3), Justin Reckers 11th (16:20.0) and Evan Bense 36th (18:01.0).
“They ran really strong today and ran really well as a pack,” Sluder said. “A kid from Edgewood took it out really hard, and our guys still responded. Jace ran a great No. 2 today running against guys that he really hasn’t raced against. Jonny and Denton both got out and pushed the middle of the race, and they brought Justin and Draven along with them. So it was just a really good day for us.”
Kraedyn Young led Jennings with a fourth-place finish in 15:38.9. Cash Summers took 14th in 17:08.0, while Brock Maschino was 18th (17:16.8), Dawson Leak 26th (17:30.8), Max Rodriguez 28th (17:32.8), Eli Lucas 47th (18:30.3) and Zachary Wahlman 61st (19:18.1).
“We were looking to challenge Edgewood,” Jennings boys coach Luke Inman said. “They’re a good team, and I challenged our guys to see where we stack up against them. I think our effort was really good. We had a couple personal-bests on the team. We’re moving on, and that’s the main thing and we’ll see what we can do next weekend.”
East was led by a 21st-place finish from Jackson Brookes in 17:26.3. Elijah Clore took 27th in 17:31.6, while Norman Dickson was 29th (17:38.4), Austin Menefee 32nd (17:53.9), Lorren Westerfeld 44th (18:28.7), Chance Knapp 49th (18:32.7) and Maddox Hult 58th (19:04.6).
“Like we had preached all year, the regular season meets were just experiences that we could use for the tournament, which is all that matters,” East boys coach Gabe Ocasio said. “When we showed up today, it was 0-0. That’s what I told the guys. Nothing else mattered. All we had to do is capitalize today, and we had a lot of 20- and 30-second PRs. You can’t ask for anything better. Everybody counted us out, but we always knew.”
Hauser came in hoping to challenge East for the fifth spot, but finished seventh with 179 points. The Jets did, however, advance four individuals to the regional in Nolan Dailey (seventh in 16:08.1), Koleson Gernentz (33rd, 17:55.3), Max Moore (42nd, 18:17.5) and Mason Moore (46th, 18:29.7). Also for Hauser, Braydon McFarland was 51st (18:32.8), Grady Niccum 62nd (19:22.4) and Mason Johnson 71st (20:47.4).
“We knew it would be close, so we were working both for individuals and the team,” Hauser coach Ben Finke said. “I’m proud of the ones who made it out individually and proud of the whole team. They all made that effort.”
Brown County finished eighth with 231 points and advanced two individuals in Aden Skaggs (24th in 17:28.9) and Kai Koester (35th in 17:59.6). Also for the Eagles, Nathan Cumberledge was 50th (18:33.3), Alex Schwenk 57th (19:04.0) and Jacob Schwein 68th (20:26.7).
Trinity Lutheran finished 12th with 333 points. Oliver Eggersman took 43rd in 18:25.1, while Nathan Negrete was 63rd (19:50.2), Sam Dyer 74th (21:23.2), Stephen Trager 80th (22:24.6) and Braxton Sinclair 82nd (23:00.5).
South Decatur did not have enough runners to score as a team. Nicolas Hunter finished 55th in 18:59.8, Luke Poling took 83rd in 23:05.6 and Joshua Chastain was 86th in 24:01.3.
Meanwhile, in the girls race, Glyn-Jones used a late surge to break away from Edgewood’s Hannah Crain and win in 18:05.6, her second-fastest career time.
“I’m pretty happy to be honest,” Glyn-Jones said. “I was not feeling my toughest. I have a little bit of a cold, but I felt great. The weather was amazing. The competition was amazing. It’s the closest I’ve been to my PR all season, so I’m very excited.”
Also for North, Kyleigh Wolf finished third in 18:45.9. Tristan Works took fifth in 18:55.5, while Macy Eaton was sixth (19:17.4), Emma Lowther seventh (19:25.9), Ainsley Sherlock ninth (20:20.5) and Adira Sluder 10th (20:41.3).
“Kyleigh ran fantastic,” Rick Sluder said. “Tristan ran all by herself in the middle and ran a really good race. Macy and Emma came in together and ran really well. Ainsley and Adira ran really strong. All seven were in the top 10, and that’s really special. It just shows the hard work those girls put in.”
Jennings was led by a 22nd-place finish by Alana Watts in 21:57.1. Shelby Allen took 34th in 22:50.8, while Haley Vogel was 37th (23:24.9), Avery Willhite 38th (23:25.2), Izzy Miller 44th (23:59.1), Addy Herche 57th (25:16.8) and Isla Stevens 58th (25:26.0).
“I was figuring we would either be fourth or fifth, so I’m super pumped,” Jennings coach Megan Stevens said. “The girls ran a good race today.”
Despite its near-miss in the team race, Brown County advanced three individuals to regional in Izzy Miller (18th in 21:36.2), Sadie Hiatt (26th, 22:11.9) and Megan Cumberledge (43rd, 23:53.1). Also for the Eagles, Nora Mofield took 41st in 23:30.3, and Della Hitchock was 48th in 24:11.9.
“We’re really trimmed some mileage down the last couple weeks so that we could run well at (Western Indiana Conference) and then run well today,” Brown County coach Rob Abraham said. “Both teams ran really well.”
East finished seventh with 200 points, and advanced Madison Swartzentruber to regional with a 35th-place finish in 22:55.0. Ainslee Shaw took 36th in 23:02.7, while Elizabeth Sztaba was 42nd (23:49.5), Amelia Fay 47th (24:09.4), Abigail Collins 50th (24:26.1), Delaney Rogers 51st (24:39.0) and Hayden Carothers 54th (25:06.1).
“I was pleased with how our girls ran,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “We had several PRs and season PRs, so we were happy with how things went today.”
South Decatur finished 11th with 301 points. Kenzie Stone took 61st in 25:45.1, while Kate Schoettmer was 65th (26:38.7), Andrea Brogan 66th (26:52.5), Bri Benefiel 72nd (28:24.2) and Brooklyn Ortman 73rd (30:33.5).
“We’re thankful that we had a great day to grab some PRs, some being their last race,” South Decatur coach Bethany Fromer said. “Overall, the girls did well.”
Trinity’s Cheyenne Campbell advanced as an individual with a 30th-place finish in 22:24.8. Also for Trinity, Elizabeth Downey and Emma Mellencamp were 59th and 60th in 25:35.2 and 25:36.6.
