Delta XC sectional: Cook, Southerland dominate; Wapahani, Monroe Central win team titles
UPLAND, Ind. — A new course brought plenty of excitement and storylines at the Delta cross-country sectional.
The individual titles were never in doubt as Delta's Nicki Southerland ran a 17:05 to win the girls' title and Wapahani's Nick Cook ran a 15:36 to win the boys' race.
But, competing at Taylor University as opposed to the usual sectional host at the Muncie Sportsplex, there were plenty of smiles, records broken and firsts among East Central Indiana teams.
Monroe Central's girls cross-country team — led by Addison Coe (sixth, 20:35) and Avery Thomas (seventh, 20:36) — claimed its first sectional championship in program history, scoring 62 points to beat Yorktown (70), Delta (108), Daleville (129) and Muncie Central (129), all of whom will also advance to next week's regional. Daleville, led by school record-breaker Faith Norris (second, 19:35), moved on to the regional as a team for the first time in program history.
In the boys' race, Wapahani put on a clinic. The Raiders top four runners — Cook, Jon Shrock (fourth, 17:12), Payton Baker (fifth, 17:16) and Colton Boggs (seventh, 17:19) — all finished seventh or better and all the lowest individual runner finished 32nd. Wapahani edged Yorktown (92), Monroe Central (108), Muncie Central (114) and Muncie Burris (149) to claim its second title in as many years and claim the triple crown (county, conference and sectional championships) again.
The day started in the girls race where Nicki Southerland, who ran the state's fastest girls time before Lily Cridge ran a 16:46 at the Brebeuf sectional, according to Milesplit Indiana, set a personal-best time, nearly cracking the 17-minute mark. One mile into the race, Southerland was already well ahead of her competition. The two-time state qualifier, who finished second at the state finals last season, has one goal in mind moving into next week's regional:
"There are a lot of really good girls in the state and I know they're all trying to get (a state title)," Southerland said. "We all really want it really bad and I'm just going to keep training how I've been doing. ... just getting more comfortable pushing myself out of my comfort zone."
While Southerland's dominant performance helped Delta advance as a team, it was Monroe Central who eked out the team title. All five of the Golden Bears runners finished 21st or better while all seven finished 33rd or better.
After the race, you couldn't wipe the smile off head coach Lawrence Hammer's face. He commended Coe's effort and Thomas' ability as a freshman who he said "doesn't know how fast she can be."
"It's great," he said. "I, at the beginning of the year, felt like they could get it. I'm not sure the girls believed it, but I just kept telling them 'you're there. Just keep doing what I ask you to do, keep working at it.' And they did that."
In the boys' race, Wapahani came in as one of the favorites and showed exactly why. From top-to-bottom, the Raiders put together one of the most impressive team performances throughout the state. Moving forward, head coach Bo Stevenson it'll be a challenge competing with the bigger schools in the regional and, hopefully, semistate, but it's a challenge he believes his team is ready for.
"We're pretty confident that we're definitely a semistate qualifying team next week here," Stevenson said. "It's always a challenge to run against the Fishers' and Hamilton Southeastern's of the world, but the fun thing about this team is they're not afraid of that challenge and they're ready to take that on and hopefully advance to semistate."
Regardless of what happens as a team, Cook cemented himself as a favorite to make a deep postseason run with his record-breaking performance. After the race, Cook said he didn't expect the time he got but admitted a time like that is what he believes he'll need to make it to state.
Like Stevenson, Cook has high expectations for this strong Wapahani team moving forward.
"We want to make it to the semistate guaranteed," Cook said. "We're still working on getting to state as a team. I'm trying to get there to state but we'll see how that works out."
East Central Indiana teams and individuals who advanced to the regional will return to Taylor University next week with a shot at advancing to the New Haven semistate at Huntington University the following week.
Team results
GIRLS — Monroe Central 62, Yorktown 70, Delta 108, Daleville 129, Muncie Central 129, Wapahani 135, Randolph Southern 137, Muncie Burris 151, Winchester 177
BOYS — Wapahani 33, Yorktown 92, Monroe Central 108, Muncie Central 114, Muncie Burris 149, Cowan 163, Delta 173, Jay County 188, Daleville 193, Winchester 193, Union City 326
Individual results
GIRLS — 1, Nicki Southerland (Delta) 17:05. 2, Faith Norris (Daleville) 19:35; 3, Kendyl Thrasher (Wapahani) 19:39; 4, Sydney McFarren (Muncie Burris) 20:18; 5, Haileigh Allen (Randolph Southern) 20:28; 6, Addison Coe (Monroe Central) 20:35; 7, Avery Thomas (Monroe Central) 20:36; 8, Olivia Bohanon (Delta) 20:37; 9, Brynn Wright (Cowan) 20:38; 10, Ali Smith (Yorktown) 20:44; 11, Allie Black (Randolph Southern) 20:46; 12, Kathleen Osborne (Monroe Central) 20:53; 13, Aurilia Moulton (Yorktown) 21:11; 14, Samantha Fowler (Muncie Central) 21:17; 15, Lilly Pierce (Union) 21:25; 16, Alexis Sibray (Jay County) 21:27; 17, Rachael Stagge (Yorktown) 21:33; 18, Tori Oliver (Yorktown) 21:34; 19, Kylee Robles (Delta) 21:37; 20, Karly Puckett (Monroe Central) 21:37
BOYS — 1, Nick Cook (Wapahani) 15:36; 2, Clay Batio (Delta) 16:57; 3, Eli Chamberlain (Monroe Central) 17:00); 4, Jon Shrock (Wapahani) 17:12; 5, Payton Baker (Wapahani) 17:16; 6, Hayden Bradford (Muncie Central) 17:19; 7, Colton Boggs (Wapahani) 17:19; 8, Caden Landis (Monroe Central) 17:20; 9, Aidan Moystner (Winchester) 17:21; 10, Joseph Boggs (Jay County) 17:23; 11, Johnathan Loney (Yorktown) 17:24; 12, Aidan O'Donnell (Yorktown) 17:31; 13, Caden Clark (Delta) 17:33; 14, Henry Cooper (Muncie Burris) 17:35; 15, Gavin Ashby (Cowan) 17:44; 16, Mason Tomboni (Wapahani) 17:45; 17, Jackson Bradley (Cowan) 17:50; 18, Sebastian Solis (Jay County) 17:51; 19, Brandon Musick (Muncie Central) 17:52; 20, Nate Schaal-Deresh (Yorktown) 17:53
Other ECI sectional results
Pendleton Heights: Blue River's girls and boys teams advanced to next week's Delta regional finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. As a team, Shenandoah finished eighth in both the girls and boys races. In the girls' race, Blue River was led by Charlee Gibson (fourth, 19:47). Sydney Fellers (24th, 22:14), Lilyan Guffey (25th, 22:22) and Kelsey Porter (28th, 23:42) all finished inside the top-30. In the boys' race, James Crull (20th, 17:35) and Zach Crull (28th, 18:14) led Blue River while Shenandoah's Kenyan Troxel (23rd, 17:56) and Sam Hinshaw (31st, 18:18) advanced individually.
Marion: Blackford's girls team finished fourth overall to advance to next week's Marion regional while the boys team finished eighth. In the girls' race, Blackford was led by Allie Clamme (eighth, 20:55), Chloe Wicker (14th, 21:32) and Ammee Uggen (17th, 21:46). In the boys' race, Blackford's Donavan Osborn (14th, 17:28), Darius Osborn (26th, 17:59) and Keaton Walker (27th, 17:59) advanced as individuals.
Connersville: New Castle's girls team advanced to next week's Rushville regional, finishing third, while the boys team finished eighth. In the girls' race, New Castle was led by Lydia Harvey (fifth, 21:27), Sylvie Terrell (14th, 22:27) and Savannah Kernel (15th, 22:30). In the boys' race, New Castle's Harrison Callaway (22nd, 18:58) advanced as an individual.
Robby General covers Ball State and East Central Indiana high school sports for The Star Press. Contact him via email at rgeneral@gannett.com or on Twitter @rgeneraljr.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: IHSAA cross-country: Delta sectional individual, team results
