IHSAA cross-country: Noblesville boys, girls push each other into contention

SHELBYVILLE – Unlike track and field, cross-country is emphatically a team sport. It is a shared experience, agony and achievement.

Sometimes, in fact, it is double-teamed. That is, boys and girls. It has been so at Noblesville, which went into Saturday’s semistate ranked among the state’s top three in both.

“I think everybody wants to go and try to win both boys and girls titles at state,” said Asher Propst, who was sixth in the boys race, highest for either Noblesville squad. “It’s going to be hard, but it’s doable for both of us. It’s doable to put forth our best and see what we can get out of it.

IHSAA cross-country: IHSAA cross-country sectional: Chatard's Lily Cridge clocks fastest 5K ever run in Indiana

“It’s not like we’re competing with the girls. We’re working together to be our best as a team.”

Noblesville’s No. 2-ranked girls won semistate for the first time, beating No. 3 North Central 68-82. Top six teams qualified for next week’s state meet at Terre Haute.

Noblesville’s No. 3 boys finished fourth in a field featuring four of Indiana’s top five. No. 1 Carmel edged No. 2 Zionsville 67-74.  No. 5 Center scored 83 for third, and the Millers had 129.

That Noblesville is collectively so strong is both coincidental and intentional.

Girls coach Aaron Becker was a Noblesville runner when Bill Kenley, the boys coach, was an assistant. Becker said they share insights and ideas of how to make both teams better.

Kenley said he had models for such a collaboration in Carmel and Columbus North, traditional powers in boys and girls distance running. Kenley took what he learned from summer camps organized by Chuck Koeppen, who coached boys and girls teams to 22 cross-country state titles at Carmel.

“That’s always stuck with me, how tight they were, boys and girls,” Kenley said.

The Millers work out separately except for friendly Friday shakeouts of four miles. Other than that, the teams aren’t together except for mutual seriousness during the week and cheering out on the course.

That this could be a special season was underscored last month when Noblesville swept team titles in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference.

“I think it’s fun to be able to look at both our boys team and our girls team and see how well we’re doing, and using that to push each other in practice and the energy we have every day,” Paige Hazelrigg said.

Noblesville girls’ pack running allowed them to beat No. 1 Columbus North in the Nike XC Town meet Oct. 1 at Terre Haute. With individual runners displaced, the Millers went 9-11-15-16-17 at semistate, separated by just 24 seconds paced by Kennedy Applegate. Also in the top five were Summer Rempe, Nadia Perez, Hazelrigg and Ansley Applegate.

For Noblesville’s boys, Propst ran the 5,000-meter course in 15:31.2. Teammate Caden Click was ninth in 15:39.9.

Cridge, Mathison smash course records

Bishop Chatard’s Lily Cridge and Carmel’s Kole Mathison already hold all-time 5K cross-country records in Indiana. Yet it seems neither can run a race these days without setting some sort of record.

Both smashed course records on an unseasonably warm but windy morning at Blue River Memorial Park.

Cridge, after clocking 16:46s at both sectional and regional, won semistate in 16:58.6. She broke her own record of 17:04.6 set last year.

Sophia Kennedy and Gretchen Farley, both of Park Tudor, were second and third in 17:25.5 and 17:44.0. Guerin Catholic’s Bridget Gallagher was also under 18 minutes, fourth in 17:58.0.

Mathison’s time of 14:56.1 broke the record of 15:05.2 set in 2018 Cathedral’s Cole Hocker, who finished sixth in the 1,500 meters at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Cameron Todd of Brebeuf Jesuit was second in 15:05.3 and Tony Provenzano, also of Carmel, third in 15:07.6.

Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com.  Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

Cross-country semistate results

At Shelbyville

GIRLS

Team scores – Noblesville 68, North Central 82, Carmel 107, Guerin Catholic 192, Zionsville 205, East Central 220, Franklin

Central 245, Avon 249, Bishop Chatard 277, Brownsburg 279, Indian Creek 286, Franklin 288, Batesville 305, Southport 310, Plainfield 383, Center Grove 395, Roncalli 443, Mt. Vernon 477, Centerville 495, New Castle 589.

Top 20 individuals – 1, Lilly Cridge (Chatard) 16:58.6 (5K course record; old record 17:04.6, Fridge, 2021); 2, Sophia Kennedy (Park Tudor) 17:25.5; 3, Gretchen Farley (Park Tudor) 17:44.0; 4, Bridget Gallagher (Guerin) 17:58.0; 5, Julie Score (Chatard) 18:04.9; 6, Libby Dowly (IC) 18:18.3; 7, Veronica Hargrove (Plainfield) 18:27.2; 8, Maddie Rocchio (NC) 18:28.8; 9, Jessica Hegedus (Avon) 18:34.4; 10, Callie Bentley (EC) 18:35.1.

11, Lucy Wood (Brebeuf) 18:40.9; 12, Kennedy Applegate (Nob) 18:41.4; 13, Jasmine Klopstad (Carmel) 18:43.5; 14, Summer Rempe (Nob) 18:47.9; 15, Abby Fleetwood (IC) 18:51.3; 16, Mary Edwards (NC) 18:52.6; 17, Elizabeth Rocchio (NC) 18:53.1; 18, Victoria Jackson (Whiteland) 18:56.3; 19, Grace Bragg (Cathedral) 18:58.5; 20, Nadia Perez (Nob) 18:59.9.

BOYS

Team scores – Carmel 67, Zionsville 74, Center Grove 83, Noblesville 129, Brebeuf Jesuit 163, Franklin Central 201, Bishop Chatard 227, Brownsburg 242, Greenfield-Central 278, Westfield 304, Mt. Vernon 307, Plainfield 309, Avon 334, Indian Creek 377, Mooresville 402, Perry Meridian 403, Franklin 439, Northeastern 452, Milan 452, Richmond 519.

Top 20 individuals – 1, Kole Mathison (Carmel) 14:56.1 (5K course record; old record 15:05.2, Cole Hocker, Cathedral, 2018); 2, Cameron Todd (Brebeuf) 15:05.3; 3, Tony Provenzano (Carmel) 15:07.6; 4, Ty Garrett (CG) 15:28.7; 5, Triston Trevino (MV) 15:30.0; 6, Asher Propst (Nob) 15:31.2; 7, Parker Mimbela (CG) 15:36.3; 8, Nate Killeen (N Central) 15:38.5; 9, Caden Click (Nob) 15:39.9; 10, Matteo Rosio (Brebeuf) 15:41.1.

11, Matthew Helton (Z) 15:42.8; 12, Emerson Nehring (Plainfield) 15:44.7; 13, Ethan Hines (CG) 15:46.9; 14, Ryan Handy (Z) 15:47.5; 15, Charlie Leedke (Carmel) 15:49.8; 16, Evan Mayo (Z) 15:50.0; 17, Samuel Clore (Avon) 15:50.6; 18, Nathan Burns (Mooresville) 15:51.1; 19, Kyle Montgomery (CG) 15:51.1; 20, Samuel Spees (Z) 15:52.1.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school cross country: Noblesville boys, girls contenders