Lightning fast race leaves Myers 4 spots off podium at state cross country meet
TERRE HAUTE — There's fast, and then there's what happened on a warm Saturday morning at the IHSAA girls' state cross country meet.
The field seemingly got caught in Lily Cridge's jet wash as the Bishop Chatard senior bolted to a 3:03 first kilometer. Only Nicki Southerland of Delta was able to keep it up after that, nearly catching her prey at the finish, but Cridge prevailed in 17:14.6, to Southerland's 17:17.5. She was the first repeat winner since Greencastle's Emma Wilson (2017-18).
Behind her, an incredible 30 more runners all ended up breaking 19 minutes (as opposed to 12 last year). Among them was Bloomington South senior Lily Myers, who ended up 24th (four spots off the podium) despite running an 18:51.2, 11 seconds faster than last year when she finished 13th.
Myers (3:13) was one of 33 who went out in 3:20 or faster for the first k and was around 10th place, but it took just a bit too much out of her legs, leaving her drained for the last k, which is usually one of the better parts of her races. It took an 18:42 for 20th.
"It was warm out here today," South coach Jill Rensink said. "It's hot. It took a lot out of several people. Going out that fast may have taken something out of her."
Still, Myers, who recently committed to run at Indiana, goes down as a four-year state performer for the Panthers and a game changer for the program.
"Lily had a great race," Rensink said. "It was a fast field this year, but she's disappointed she's not in the top 20, but I could not be more proud of the way she led the team. We had a culture change and all the credit to her for that."
A cracker for Graham
Bloomington South came in ranked seventh after a sterling performance at semistate but ended up 16th (388) and was still third among teams coming out of the Brown County Semistate. Noblesville edged Columbus North (122-153) for the team title, the highest total for a winner since 1983.
While state was a tough experience for many of South's younger runners, junior Clara Graham had the race of her life, going a career best 19:57.8, breaking 20 for the first time, and placing 98th as the team's No. 2 runner for the first time this season.
"She was kind of the fifth puzzle piece to our team and she made it happen today," Rensink said. "At the end of the day, I couldn't more proud of her.
"Clara's had it in her all season, it was just getting her to wrap her brain around the fact that she can do it. So I hope she takes that confidence into track season and she remembers she can do this. It was great to see her bring it."
Previously:Edgewood's Hannah Crain, Bloomington South girls team heading to cross country state
Freshman Jasmine Martoglio (20:11.9) was next at 116th while Tamara Kun (20:17.7) was 126th. Aurelia Martoglio, not feeling well, was back a bit at 21:19.9, then came Julianna Hoover (21:28.6) and Chloe Borders (21:33.0).
"We came in ready to go," Rensink said. "But the state meet always has a little different level of excitement. Sometimes you rise to it and other times, it's overwhelming and we had four who were brand new to the state meet. We just had an off day and it just happened to be today,
"But they left it all out there and had a phenomenal season. It's a building process. We'll take the highs and learn from them and the lows and move on to next year."
Crain runs first state meet
Edgewood freshman Hannah Crain ended up 115th in 20:11.7 in her first trip to state.
IHSAA STATE GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY MEET
Team scores: 1. Noblesville 122; 2. Columbus North 153; 3. Carmel 177; 4. Homestead 187; 5. North Central 197; 6. Penn 234; 7. Valparaiso 247; 8. Ft. Wayne Concordia 274; 9. Floyd Central 275; 10. Zionsville 279; 11. Guerin Catholic 332; 12. Ft. Wayne Carroll 334; 13. East Central 346; 14. East Noble 350; 15. Hamilton Southeastern 357; 16. Bloomington South 388; 17. Northview 397; 18. Princeton 403; 19. Morgan Township 429; 20. Warsaw 430; 21. Lake Central 509; 22. Corydon Central 511; 23. Maconaquah 515; 24. Crown Point 526.
Top individuals: 1. Lily Cridge, Bishop Chatard, 17:14.6; 2. Nicki Southerland, Delta, 17:17.5; 3. Sophia Kennedy, Park Tudor, 17:24.4; 4. Julia Kiesler, ColN, 17:34.6; 5. Gretchen Farley, Park Tudor, 17:58.4; 6. Bridget Gallagher, Guerin Cath, 17:59.8; 7. Josefina Rastrelli, Warsaw, 18:00.1; 8. Addison Knoblauch, Home, 18:05.2; 9. Lily Baker, ColN, 18:07.5; 10. Julia Score, Bishop Chatard, 18:17.9.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South girls rank at speedy IHSAA cross country state
