Boys runners begin Saturday’s Brown County Sectional at Eagle Park in Nashville.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
NASHVILLE — With the cross-country postseason being shortened from four meets to three this season, adding teams to each sectional, another in a long line of sectional championships for Columbus North’s boys and girls wasn’t a layup.
Or in cross-country terms, a run in the park. Brown County’s Eagle Park to be exact.
But the Bull Dogs’ sixth-ranked boys and 16th-ranked girls came through with strong performances Saturday morning to defend their titles and advance to Saturday’s Evansville Mater Dei Regional at Angel Mounds.
The North boys scored 31 points to 74 for Edgewood, 84 for Greensburg, 110 for Jennings County and 146 for Seymour. The Bull Dog girls scored 30 points to 54 for No. 23 Edgewood, 109 for Seymour, 119 for Jennings and 123 for Greensburg.
North junior Neal White was the individual winner in the boys race, running 15 minutes, 27.9 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) on an overcast, soggy morning.
“It was a little bumpy, especially at the start,” White said. “There was a slight wind, but it was good conditions overall, and I’m really happy with the race. I really like this course. This is my first cross-country win besides North-East, so I’m happy to get a win in something that’s not just a dual meet.”
Akot Tong and Jace Works finished fourth and fifth in 16:14.4 and 16:14.9 for the Bull Dogs. Draven Martinez took 10th in 16:29.8, while Adam Reckers was 11th (16:48.4), Logan Vanzant 12th (16:48.4) and Jonny Klaus 13th (16:57.0).
“They’ve been working really hard, so they didn’t get much of a break over fall break,” North coach Rick Sluder said. “They still came out an ran really well. Edgewood is a good team, and Neal ran fantastic up front. They were just fantastic.”
Jennings’ Kraedyn Young came through with a second-place finish in 15:51.3. Aaron Lewis took 23rd in 17:42.3, while Lain Ernstes was 26th (17:52.7), Dawson Leak 27th (15:55.1), Brock Maschino 32nd (18:04.9), Zachary Wahlman 36th (18:29.6) and Eli Lucas 49th (19:28.8.
“The goal was to make it out today, and we did that, so that’s the important thing,” Jennings boys coach Luke Inman said. “I expected a couple other runners to have some breakout races, which didn’t happen, and that’s OK. We want to put our best effort next week at regional, so we’re going to prepare for regional and see what we can do.”
Hauser was one spot away from making it as a team, finishing sixth with 195 points. But the Jets did advance a pair of individuals to regional, with Nolan Dailey finishing 17th in 17:24.4 and Colin Kistler 20th in 17:36.5. Also for Hauser, Mason Moore took 46th in 19:11.3, while Kase Meister was 55th (19:47.0), Braydon McFarland 59th (19:56.2), Koleson Gernentz 61st (20:05.2) and Collin Buck 62nd (20:10.2).
Brown County finished eighth with 203 points but advanced its entire top five, with Charlie Webb taking 34th (18:16.3), Eli Wrightsman 40th (18:38.7), Kai Koester 41st (18:40.7), Corbin Brahaum 43rd (19:02.6) and Aden Skaggs 45th (19:09.0). Also for the Eagles, Josh Redmon was 65th (20:22.0) and Carter Condon 75th (21:26.9).
Columbus East finished 10th with 264 points and advanced two individuals — Jackson Brookes, who took 28th in 17:57.0, and Austin Menefee, who was 37th in 18:34.5. Also for the Olympians, Elijah Clore finished 60th (20:00.4), Chance Knapp 68th (20:30.0), Alex Weatherford 74th (21:02.9), Ezekiel Weatherford 77th (21:42.3) and Stillman Whittington 78th (21:11.1).
“I’m happy with the effort that they put in,” East boys coach Ryan Burke said. “We’ve had a few injuries and some sickness the past week or two, but they showed a lot of grit running through that today and gave their best effort. We had a few PRs, so overall, I think we ran pretty well.”
South Decatur finished 11th with 299 points, led by advancing individual Donovan Hale’s 44th-place finish in 19:05.5. Conner Newby took 53rd in 19:37.9, while Nicolas Hunter was 57th (19:55.3), Logan Wilkinson 63rs (20:14.8) and Joshua Chastain 88th (26:15.9).
Trinity Lutheran had three boys runners. Braxton Sinclair finished 50th in 19:29.7, Rylan Adair took 80th in 22:31.8 and Sam Dyer was 82nd in 23:05.7.
Meanwhile, in the girls race, North was led by top-five finishes from Kyleigh Wolf (third in 19:08.0), Carys Glyn-Jones (fourth in 19:10.6) and Ainsley Sherlock (fifth in 19:32.1). Macy Eaton took eighth in 19:54.7, while Emma Lowther was 10th (20:13.0), Tristan Works 12th (20:15.5) and Katie Frazier 13th (20:53.5).
“That might be one of our best races of the season,” Sluder said. “They ran fast on kind of a slower day. They ran really well. We handled that really well today. Kyleigh, Carys and Ainsley going 3-4-5 ran fantastic, and our depth was really good, too, so I’m really proud of our team.”
Avery Willhite finished 16th in 21:26.4 to lead Jennings. Haley Vogel took 22nd in 22:05.2, while Alana Watts was 26th (22:25.3), Molly Wathen 28th (22:28.3), Addie Otte 29th (22:30.7), Isla Stevens 43rd (23:48.4) and Kambrie Maschino 45th (24:05.6).
“We have been working hard,” Jennings girls coach Amanda Young said. “We set a goal. We had a job to do. They put the work in, and their hard work is paying off. I’m very proud of their success today.”
East missed by one spot of qualifying as a team, finishing sixth with 148 points. But six Olympian individuals did qualify. Carly Otte took 17th in 21:27.4, while Victoria Cuhadar was 31st (22:41.9), Amelia Fay 32nd (22:44.0), Madison Swartzentruber 35th (22:55.1), Hayden Carothers 40th (23:16.7) and Abigail Collins 41st (23:27.7). Also for East, Megumi Going finished 50th in 24:29.4.
“Our goal is always to move on in the tournament,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. “This year, we didn’t quite make it out. I’m really proud of my girls’ effort today. Carly really led us well this year, so we’re proud of her as a senior.”
South Decatur finished 10th with 288 points. Clair Schoettmer took 57th in 25:50.4, while Brayley Sundal was 61st (26:36.7), Mary Schwering 67th (27:20.4), Bri Benefiel 70th (28:43.5), Brooklyn Ortman 71st (29:24.7) and Andrea Brogan 74th (35:22.7).
“We got to see the course on Wednesday,” South Decatur coach Bethany Fromer said. “Next year, we’ll start looking at this course earlier, but they really like the course layout, and they love running it. We were going for just individual PRs today.”
Brown County had three runners competing, and two advanced as individuals. Sadie Hiatt finished 27th in 22:26.2, and Izzy Miller was 36th in 22:58.8. Della Hitchcock missed by one spot with a 42nd-place finish in 23:33.2.
Hauser had one girls runner. Addison Dailey finished 63rd in 26:43.9.
