Cross country teams get off to strong start

Will Willems, The Lebanon Reporter, Ind.
·7 min read

Aug. 23—CARMEL — The Zionsville boys and girls cross country teams both left the John Cleland/Early Bird Invite with a little hardware on Saturday morning.

The race is split into Fr./Soph. and Jr./Sr. 4K races, and the Eagles swept the older athlete races starting off the season on a high note.

The fourth-ranked Eagle boys scored 28 points in the Jr./Sr. race, winning by 31 points.

"We've been working hard this summer coming off a great track season," Zionsville head coach Gabe Porras said. "I think there was a lot of excitement to get a full team race in, and I am really happy with how they did across the board."

All of the top-7 for Zionsville finished in the top-17.

Matthew Helton placed second in 12:40.27, followed by Sam Spees (fourth, 12:59.35) and Evan Mayo (13:00.69).

Will Nobbe placed seventh in a time of 13:12.88 and Elijah Bineyard rounded out the scoring five in 10th with a time of 13:28.67. Skyler Cole (11th, 13:34.04) and Trey Martin (17th, 13:44.93) rounded out the top-7.

"I'm really happy with all those guys," Porras said. "Two of the guys that stick out are juniors — Evan Mayo had a great track season and is really improved in cross country, and Evan Bineyard did great. It was great to see their hardwork this summer pay off."

The Eagles placed third in the Fr./Soph. race with 80 points, finishing behind Carmel and HSE.

Jack Turnbull led the Eagles, placing second in 13:05.33.

Elijah Weaver was ninth in 13:32.83, with Owen Haan placing 16th in 13:47.39, Camden Stockwell placing 27th in 14:12.05 and Nolan White coming in 35th in 14:17.43.

Jackson Nobbe (14:21.21) and Gavin McGormley (14:24.74) placed 37th and 38th.

Those finishes combined also gave Zionsville the combined win on the day with 31 points, ahead of HSE (59) and Carmel (91).

Zionsville returns six of their top-7 from a season ago, a season that saw them place seventh at the State Finals.

With those athletes back, plus some others right behind them, Porras knows the stage is set for what could be a strong season.

"They are well aware that this could be a historically good season in terms of our history, and they are embracing that," Porras said. "They have been training really hard and they are excited to see what can happen."

On the girls side, the Eagles won the Jr./Sr. race with 61 points, besting Noblesville's 69, Carmel's 72 and North Central's 79.

The seventh ranked Eagles also have a lot of pieces back this year and were happy to get off to a good start.

"It's definitely a good feeling to start the season like this," Zionsville head coach Chelsea Patterson said. 'They put in a lot of hard work this summer and have been careful with everything they have been doing to stay healthy. We are definitely proud of where they started today."

MacKinsey Heagy led the team, placing fifth in a time of 15:30.98. Maddie Scheitlin was right behind her in sixth in 15:37.43, with Kyla Stalbaum placing 14th in 16:03.17.

The scoring five also included Audrey Magnusen in 16th in a time of 16:10.70 and Elaina Herman in 20th in 16:28.85.

Ava Ward placed 24th in 16:41.84 and Ava Gongwer was 41st in 17:19.36.

"Placing five in the top-20 speaks for itself, and I am proud of all of them," Patterson said. "Kyla is one of our senior runners and she blew me away today with her mentality and how she approached the race. Kinsey is one of our new cross country runners, and I am excited how that goes. Maddie Scheitlin had a season-ending injury last injury and she's improving and looking really strong too."

The Eagles placed fourth in the Fr./Soph. race with 114 points, behind Noblesville, HSE and Carmel.

Katherine Bowen led that group with a 12th-place finish in a time of 15:59.48. Cailyn Murphy was 21st in a time of 16:24.12 and Anwesha Mishra was 27th in 16:45.40.

Sara Bostwick crossed the line in 29th in a time of 16:53.17, followed by Madeline Bruns (35th, 17:18.97), Marlee Phillips (49th, 17:42.66) and Carolyn Williams (62nd, 17:58.40).

Overall, the Lady Eagles placed fourth in the girls combined.

The team returns four girls who ran in last year's semi-state, where they missed qualifying for state by three points.

Last year's team battled injuries and other adversity the entire season, and have used that to help drive them this off-season.

"I was a little nervous that those disappointed feelings from last year would linger, but I haven't seen an ounce of that," Patterson said. "The girls took that information and are learning from it. They are on top of any aches and pains and are being very communicative with the coaches about what they are feeling. They really learned from last year and they are not dwelling on it."

Both teams will compete in the Taylor University Invite on Saturday.

Lebanon competes at Early Bird

The Lebanon cross country teams also competed.

The Tigers placed eighth in both the Jr./Sr. races.

For the boys, Alex Emenhiser led the team, placing 24th in 13:56.66. Aiden Frost was 28th in 14:04.14 and Kyler Strange placed 51st in 14:38.89. Aydan Wetter placed 52nd in 14:39.45, Jordan Yoder placed 60th in 14:49.77, John Hawks placed 61st in 14:50.18 and Abram Hale placed 87th in 15:18.39.

For the girls, JaLeigha Howard led the team, placing 42nd in 17:20.34. Nadia Jones was 45th in 17:31.73, Sarah Keith placed 67th in 18:23.90, Kloe Coyle was 73rd in 18:38.55 and Gracie Stoller was 118th in 20:36.89.

The younger groups were incomplete.

For the boys, Marshal Royal led the team, placing 20th in 13:58.99. Levi Pittman was 91st in 15:33.03 and Brynner Sloan was 110th in 16:04.21.

For the girls, Penny Lanerson was 13th in 15:59.83, Marabeth Burgin was 20th in 18:25.92, Abbie Guilliams was 180th in 23:27.11 and Elektra Moore was 181st in 23:56.81.

Western Boone Cross Country

The Western Boone cross country teams competed in the Jeremy Wright Memorial Small School Invitational in Shelbyville.

The Lady Stars placed third with 127 points, behind Forest Park and Centerville.

Katheryn Rutherford and Hannah Haag ran together near the front for most of the race and finished in ninth (21:23.6) and 12th (21:31.3), respectively. Bailey Haag was next for the team in 30th in 23:21.7. Charlotte Stucky and Samantha Jones ran with or near each other for most of the race as well, and both earned top-50 finishes in 47th (24:15.7) and 49th (24:24.4), respectively.

Rounding out the varsity team were Emily Parsons in 73rd and Janelle Gearheart in 125th.

In the boys race, the Stars were 19th out of 28 complete teams and 43 total teams.

Freshman Isaac Threlkeld led the way for the team with an 87th-place finish in 20:23.3. Carter Hanna was next for the team in 100th in 20:39.1, followed by Luke LaGrange just six seconds later in 104th in 20:45.5. Graham Cavins was 125th (21:15.2), and Lane Hardee was 168th (22:30.7). Alex Crockett (187th) and Levi LaGrange (224th) rounded out the varsity team.

The Stars will compete on Tuesday at the Harrison 9-Way Meet in Lafayette.

Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.