PREP CROSS COUNTRY: Northridge sweeps Ox Bow Sectional

Oct. 8—GOSHEN — The Northridge Raiders dominated both Sectional 10 cross country races Saturday at Ox Bow Park.

In the boys race, the Raiders earned the sectional championship as a team with their top-five runners finishing in the top 13 with a score of 33 points.

In the girls race, Northridge took home the sectional title with its top-five runners finishing in the top 23 with a score of 47.

The Raiders had representatives win individual sectional championships as well, with senior Jaxon Miller winning the boys race (15:51.77) and senior Tame Baylis winning for the girls (18:50.28).

GIRLS RACE

In the girls race, it was obvious pretty quickly who'd win individually.

Baylis jumped out in front of the pack from the beginning and stayed there, winning the race by 26 seconds.

"I definitely wanted to make sure I got another sectional title," Baylis said. "Last week was the first time I had broken 19 (minutes). So, I definitely wanted to make sure I built on that. There was one NorthWood freshman girl (Hanna Clyde) that I heard for a while, but I stayed at my pace and eventually pulled away."

"We knew NorthWood had a really good freshman, and that was the strategy from the start," added Northridge head coach Ryan McClane of Baylis' fast start. "We had to go from the start and really put some distance on her."

Northridge would end up finishing first, second and third in the race, with Haylee Hile (19:16.56) and Dakotah Moore (19:16.94) coming in right behind Baylis.

"We're excited for our girls," McClane said. "This year has been kind of up and down, and we really haven't been able to win anything. So, we knew (Saturday) would be a great opportunity to finally get a win. All three of our girls at the top had an outstanding performance. It was fun to watch. ... We ran so well last week (at conference), I was glad to see us come back and kind of repeat that."

NorthWood finished in second as a team with a 69 points, while Elkhart Christian Academy beat out the likes of Concord and Goshen for a third-place finish (102).

Other notable performances came from Wawasee's Mia Hodgson — who finished in fourth with a 20:07.97 — and the fifth-place finish of ECA's Leah Huber (20:09.54).

BOYS RACE

In the boys race, the gap between first and second was much tighter with Northridge's Miller and Goshen's Tommy Claxton going head-to-head for a majority of Saturday's race.

Claxton had gotten the best of Miller all season, but this time, Miller beat out Claxton with a 15:51.77 compared to 16:01.77.

"I knew I could close the race, so as long as I was there in the middle, I knew I'd have a chance," Miller said. "Right before the 2k, I just felt really good. I made a move there and just kept going.

"It was awesome to be able to beat Tommy. It was the first time I've been able to do it this year. That was a big race to be able to do it, and it just feels really good."

"Last week (at the NLC meet), he only finished fourth," added McClane of Miller. "I think as a senior, we were expecting a better finish. I think that was some motivation for him. ... The kid's a tournament kid. I mean, that's what he's been for a while, and you can ask other coaches about that. They know, at the end of the season, Jaxon's going to go to another level. And (Saturday) he ran a six-second (personal record)."

Goshen finished second as a team with 54 points, while NorthWood came in third with a 78.

Outside of Miller and Claxton, the top five individuals consisted of Elkhart's Maxwell Malloy (16:06.26), Northridge's David Gingerich (16:13.16) and Northridge's Will Knox (16:23.11).

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2022 CROSS COUNTRY SECTIONAL AT OX BOW PARK — Results

Top five teams, as well as the top 10 individuals on non-advancing teams, advance to the Oct. 15 regional at Ox Bow Park.

Top five times for each team listed below. Teams and individuals advancing listed in bold. Top 20 finishers also noted.

BOYS

1. Northridge, 33 points: Jaxon Miller 15:51 (1st), David Gingerich 16:13 (4th), Will Knox 16:23 (5th), Jonathan Spicher 16:48 (11th), Xavier Miller 16:50 (12th). Also had Marc Hernandez finish 13th (16:53) and Joseph Keyser 16th (17:03).

2. Goshen, 54: Tommy Claxton 16:01 (2nd), Dorian Diaz 16:29 (7th), Luis Loera 16:37 (9th), Alexander Lopez 16:58 (14th), Peter Moser 17:17

3. NorthWood, 78: Jordan Burden 16:32 (8th), Owen Allen 16:38 (10th), Bereket Bennett 16:59 (15th), Jonathan Towler 17:16, Calix Truex 17:26

4. Elkhart, 86: Max Malloy 16:06 (3rd), Aaron Ritcher 16:24 (6th), Francisco Rosales 17:14 (20th), Logan Mann 17:44, Dennis Kale 17:47

5. Concord, 134: Reid Sollars 17:09 (17th), Colyn Chris 17:12 (18th), Jaxson Meyer 17:48, Chadwich Kennedy 17:56, Anthony Claudio-Rivera 17:56

6. ECA, 188: Luke Schramm 17:32, Devyn Clements 17:56, Trenton Conrad 18:03, Josh Helmuth 18:19, Daniel Burch 18:40

7. Bethany Christian, 196: Jesse Bontrager 17:13 (19th), Sam Klopfenstein 17:25, Roman Nyce 18:25, Eliott Borden 18:52, Simon Moshier 21:08

8. Wawasee, 223: Hunter Allen 18:02, Cade Beer 18:29, Isaac Winters 18:33, Brady McDonald 18:38, Josiah Boyer 18:51

9. Fairfield, 273: Luke Mast 18:12, Aidan Bender 19:12, Nicholas Moreland 20:20, John Fry 20:34, Blake Miller 21:04

10. Jimtown, 273: Nathan Leighton 18:34, Dalton Cook 19:41, Alex Moyer 19:53, Aden Hartman 20:32, Caleb Koets 21:44

GIRLS

1. Northridge, 47: Tame Baylis 18:50 (1st), Haylee Hile 19:16.5 (2nd), Dakotah Moore 19:16.9 (3rd), Kylie McMann 21:39 (18th), Gretchen Moore 21:53

2. NorthWood, 69: Hanna Clyde 20:18 (6th), Sydney Prenkert 21:13 (13th), Savannah Slone 21:20 (15th), Faith Towler 21:28 (16th), Marli Hartman 21:41 (19th)

3. ECA, 102: Leah Huber 20:09 (5th), Hannah Schramm 20:32 (8th), Sheirdan Maxwell 20:38 (9th), Lydia Burch 22:53, Cozette Brolin 23:55

4. Concord, 107: Zoe Roberts 20:26 (7th), Margaret Weldy 21:15 (14th), Samia Latif 21:57, Ava Plank 22:21, Rylie Meyer 22:26

5. Goshen, 110: Edith Loera 20:42 (10th), Caitlin Yoder Rupp 21:43 (20th), Lindsay Rodman 21:44, Micaela Corbin 22:07, Katherine Rheinheimer 22:23

6. Elkhart, 125: Ashlyn Anderson 21:03 (11th), Valeria Cruz-Portillo 21:32 (17th), Meghan Grasty 21:47, Adley Keim 22:40, Lyla Boecher 23:35

7. Fairfield, 165: Kaitlin Kuhn 21:07 (12th), Delana Geiger 22:22, Makayla Culp 22:52, Jalyn Stofleth 23:38, Kenlee Gall 24:14

8. Wawasee, 190: Mia Hodgson 20:07 (4th), Abbigail Speicher 23:27, Trinity LaJoice 24:24, Francie McDonald 24:29, America Benitez 25:32

Note: Jimtown had one runner, while Bethany Christian had none.

Evan Lepak can be reached at evan.lepak@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 240326. Follow him on Twitter @EvanMPLepak.