Two advance from Prides Creek
Oct. 16—PETERSBURG — A very tough field eliminated all but two local runners in cross country regional action at Prides Creek on Saturday.
Neither Barr-Reeve's boys nor girls' teams were able to advance as a team but the Vikings' Colton Stoll and Elle Knepp did punch their tickets to the semistate as individuals. Overall, South Knox claimed the boys team title while Princeton was the girl's champion.
The Barr-Reeve boys finished ninth with 235 points. Stoll finished 22nd in 17:11, followed by Logan Spinks in 57th place in 18:13. Next for B-R was Caleb Sword (58th, 18:20), Tyler Frady (75th, 19:29), Owen McCracken (76th, 19:30, and Karsen Boyd (80th, 19:39).
For the Barr-Reeve girls, Ellie Knepp finished in 24th place overall in 20:36 to claim a transfer spot in the semistate. A young Viking girls' squad was unable to advance to the semistate as a team for what would have the eighth consecutive season, placing sixth overall with 143 points, eight points behind fifth place Castle as the top five teams advanced to the semistate. But Knepp's appearance in the semistate will represent the 11th consecutive season that either a Barr-Reeve girls' team or individual has reached the semistate.
After Ellie Knepp, Emily Wagler finished in 25th place in 20:41, followed by Emma Salmon (38th, 21:47), Allie Knepp (39th, 21:53), Madisyn Wagler (60th, 22:50), Hailey Buse (73rd, 23:53, and Alyssa Lasher (83rd, 25:57) for Barr-Reeve.
"Out of my seven girls, five girls PR'd, so you can't as for a better day than that," said B-R girls coach Jodi Knepp. "It was perfect running weather, the wind died down, the cooler temperatures bring fast times. The girls were ready."
Washington had a pair of runners competing in each race. Megan Hinkle finished 40th in 21:55, while Braleigh Armes was 77th, 24:00. For the Hatchet boys, Brody Wilson was 70th in 18:56, followed by Isaac Mozingo in 85th in 20:02.
Washington coach Tim Baxter was pleased with how his runners competed given the quality of competition on Saturday.
"I think they did pretty good. It's so much faster than sectional, great runners. I mean when they pack together, it's like they run together the whole race, and if you're not in that pack, you're not going to do well," said Baxter. "I'm proud of them, they all ran really hard for the whole season. Just making it to regional is special for the team and as a runner. As a coach you want them to succeed."
Low numbers plagued the Hatchet cross country program this season as the Hatchets had just three boys and five girls compete, and Hinkle, Mozingo, and Ben Myers will graduate, leaving Baxter looking for runners heading into the 2023 campaign.
"Once again, we've had runners in regionals," said Baxter. "Once again, we're going to need runners. We need to build up the program to have this success. We have some girls coming back, but we're down to one boy (Wilson). We need kids to give cross country a try."
Former Hatchet runner Marc Pierre, running for Evansville Central, did qualify for the semistate individually with a 19thplace finish in 17:08.
Kasey Freed led a trio of North Daviess runners in the girls race with a 29th place finish in 21:08, followed Taylor Ferguson (47th, 22:12) and Hannah Yoder (63rd, 23:01)
Washington Catholic's Brady Hunter finished 72nd in a time of 19:10 in the boy's race, while WC's Stephanie Montoya Meza was 34th in 21:31 in the girls' race.
