IHSAA girls cross-country: Lily Cridge wins again, and Noblesville pack runs to team title

TERRE HAUTE – Cross-country is a sport laying bare your soul. You can run, but you can't hide.

Not from pain. Not from yourself. Not from the truth.

Truth is, neither Bishop Chatard senior Lily Cridge nor the Noblesville girls team were sure they could do what they did Saturday.

They both won, doing it the hard way.

Cridge built a large lead and held off Delta junior Nicki Southerland, winning the 5,000-meter race in 17 minutes, 14.6 seconds. Southerland made up seven seconds with a 3:30 final kilometer, some of it uphill.

Cridge was six seconds off the LaVern Gibson Championship Course record for an Indiana girl — set by Mishawaka’s Anna Rohrer in 2014 — and three seconds ahead of Southerland. Homestead junior Addison Knoblauch ran with Cridge through two kilometers before fading to eighth place.

On a sunny morning with temperatures climbing into the 60s, Cridge crumpled to the grass after crossing the finish but was soon up and around.

She conceded she had gone out too fast, staying with Knoblauch.

"I felt really good making a gap," Cridge said. "But then once I hit at the 4K, I was, 'Oh man, this is going to be gutsy race.'"

The gutsy part was the offseason.

After a 2021 calendar year in which she set a state track record in the 3,200 meters, won state in cross-country and finished second at nationals, Cridge said a mental break was needed. She ran an abbreviated spring track season, but she was running 800 meters at a pace she used to run a 3,200.

Now she is back, better than ever.

"I mean in March, I was like, 'I don't know if I could bring back my potential again,'" Cridge said. "I just think trusting God, trusting the process. I've dreamed of repeating this title again since March. It's truly a blessing."

Park Tudor seniors Sophia Kennedy and Gretchen Farley were third and fifth, respectively. Between them was Columbus North senior Julie Kiesler. It was a near-repeat of last year, when Cridge, Southerland, Kennedy and Farley went 1-2-3-4.

Hours later, Farley was playing in the Class A soccer state championship at Indianapolis. She scored the final goal in Park Tudor's 3-0 victory over Fort Wayne Canterbury.

IHSAA cross-country:If these girls can make it in Indiana, they can make it anywhere

Kennedy, with a time of 17:24.4, was within 10 seconds of Cridge after trailing by 27 seconds at the Shelbyville Semistate. Kennedy became the seventh Indiana girl to have four top-five finishes at state.

"I was disappointed that I didn't like win or come second," she said. "But I'd say overall it's a good race. I closed the gap on Nicki and Lilly."

With Kiesler fourth and Lily Baker ninth, No. 1-ranked Columbus North seemed poised to repeat as team champion. Noblesville coach Aaron Becker acknowledged he thought the second-ranked Millers were second.

"I was as surprised as everyone else was," he said.

Noblesville’s pack attack was too much to hold back. Even without an all-state runner — top 20 — the Millers were winners with 122 points, the second-highest winning score and highest in 39 years.

Columbus North was second with 153. Carmel (177) was third, Homestead (187) fourth and North Central (197) fifth.

For Noblesville, Brooke Lahee was 28^th, Kennedy Applegate 34^h, Paige Hazelrigg 38th, Nadia Perez 43^rd, Summer Rempe 44^th and Ansley Applegate 45^th.

The six were separated by 28 seconds, from 18:54 to 19:21. With individuals displaced, the scoring five were 19-23-25-27-28.

Noblesville’s No. 6 runner finished 34 seconds ahead of Columbus North’s No. 4.

"Every week, someone else can pull through if there's someone who has an off day," Kennedy Applegate said. "It’s cool because we're always there for each other."

The Millers have featured five No. 1 runners in five October races. It would be difficult to find a championship team, at any level of cross-country, to equal that.

Becker said he resists setting a pecking order, workouts or races.

"I want as many of them thinking, 'I can be No. 1,' as possible. Because then we have the best team," he said.

For instance, this was the first race all season in which Lahee was Noblesville's No. 1.

"I think it just really helps that we can all see each other during the race and that we can all push each other," she said.

Guerin Catholic senior Bridget Gallagher, who finished sixth, was the Mental Attitude Award winner.

Last year was the first state meet since 2012 in which no freshman finished in the top 20. This time, two freshmen did: Chatard's Julie Score (10th) and Indian Creek's Libby Dowty (15th).

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

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school cross country: Lily Cridge repeats, Noblesville wins