Luke Neibert led Indian Creek with a second-place individual finish at last year’s Johnson County meet.
Daily Journal file photo
The courses on which Luke Neibert competed last season varied, as did the pool of athletes he lined up against.
Steady as pond water on a windless day, however, were Neibert’s times.
Once the calendar flipped to October, the then-sophomore flourished in what were arguably Indian Creek’s most important four contests, with his clockings at the Johnson County, sectional, regional and semistate meets separated by a range of only 10.9 seconds.
Lowest of the bunch was the personal-best time of 16 minutes, 30.7 seconds run while crossing the finish line third at the Franklin Regional.
Not bad for someone relatively new to the sport.
“I think eighth grade is when I started running, but I didn’t really get interested in it until my freshman year,” Neibert said. “The team atmosphere was just a lot of fun, and Brady (Devine) is a fun coach to run for.”
Last season proved a groundbreaking few months at Indian Creek, ones that potentially poured the foundation for even better finishes this fall and in the years ahead.
At the front of the pack was Neibert.
“Luke is pretty internally motivated. Just a super tough kid,” Devine said. “And he’s so consistent. Last season, pretty much every event was run between 16:30 and 16:40. Just being a sophomore at the time and being able to run those times, it’s pretty rare.
“My goal for Luke this season is to shave 45 to 60 seconds off his times from last year.”
This would seem something of a daunting endeavor, though Neibert has the type of supporting cast around him where daily improvement is pretty much a given.
Indian Creek’s four-pronged nucleus of senior Jackson Neibert, Luke’s older brother by 16 months, along with junior Henry Fleetwood and sophomore Noah Greenwood, is as talented as any in Johnson County.
All were key elements in the team placing second behind Center Grove in 2022, winning its first regional championship and advancing to the Shelbyville Semistate, where the Braves finished 14th of 20 schools.
Never has a Braves boys squad advanced to state.
Luke Neibert, whose 50th-place effort at semistate (16:34.5) nearly propelled him to state meet status as an individual, is more about Indian Creek making history for a second consecutive year.
“I really want to work with my team and make it to state,” Neibert said. “It would show people that we’re one of the hardest-working teams out there. Our mentality this season is that we’re going to compete 100% and get out of semistate.”
SCOUTING THE COUNTY
Center Grove Trojans
Coach: Howard Harrell
Last season: County and sectional champion, regional runner-up, third at semistate and state
Key returnees: Kyle Montgomery and Gavin Rockwell, seniors
Top newcomers: Rylan Mullins, senior; Curtis Williams, junior; Baylor Winkelmann, sophomore; Jayden Salo, freshman
Outlook: Gone is the core of the squad that finished a program-best third at last year’s state meet in Terre Haute. Holdovers Rockwell and Montgomery, previously in the shadow of their older teammates, emerge as the focal point as the seniors look to return Center Grove to the state meet. Rockwell placed 36th individually a year ago at state, while Montgomery took 70th. “The Class of 2023 runners put Center Grove cross country on the map. It will be hard to replace their talent and depth,” Harrell said. “But the current crop of runners wants to continue and perhaps elevate the winning tradition. We’ll have to outwork the competition to get to our goals this year.”
Edinburgh Lancers
Coach: Jordan Bowman
Key returnee: Ethan Campbell, senior
Outlook: The Lancers were unable to score as a team last fall, and with Campbell the lone runner back, that will again be the case this season.
Franklin Grizzly Cubs
Coach: Jeff Powers
Last season: Third at county and sectional, fourth at regional, 17th at semistate
Key returnees: Luke Holcroft, Alex Lin and Isiah Tunis, sophomores
Top newcomers: Liam Fennig, Phoenix Hoge-Mills, Jake Hoskins and Brooks Huddleston, freshmen
Outlook: “Even with a young squad, the team is focused on improvement,” Powers said. “We have had a great summer of training, and I’m impressed and pleased with how they have worked and grown this summer. We still have a long way to go, but these guys are willing to work for it every day.”
Greenwood Woodmen
Coach: Joe Mushrush
Last season: Fifth at county meet, sixth at sectional
Key returnees: Sam Grimes, Donny Heichel and Stuart Luhigo, seniors; Henry Barrett, Sam Cassel and Jake Squier, juniors
Top newcomer: Jack Siminski, freshman
Outlook: “We have a small team this season, but lots of returning contributors from 2022,” Mushrush said. “We hope to advance as a team this year farther into the state series, and hopefully place top three in county and conference meets.”
Greenwood Christian Cougars
Coach: Matt Pierce
Last season: Sixth at county meet, 10th at sectional
Key returnees: Logan Konecky, Seth McNichols and Carter Pierce, seniors; Nathan Cottingim, junior
Top newcomer: Patrick Branch, Luca Doyle, Eli Nelson, Josiah Sherwood, Liam Spiegel, Randy Stout and Noah Vasquez, freshmen
Outlook: “We look to continue to build and grow their program. With no returning female runners, this season will focus on building the boys team,” said Pierce, who is starting his first season as the Cougars’ coach. “The team will be a good mix of veterans with three seniors and one junior returning, then adding in the seven freshmen.”
Indian Creek Braves
Coach: Brady Devine
Last season: County and sectional runner-up, regional champion, 14th at semistate
Key returnees: Jackson Neibert, senior; Henry Fleetwood, Lukas Hogan and Luke Neibert, juniors; Noah Greenwood, sophomore
Top newcomers: Andrew Elsbury, junior; Tyler Lower, sophomore
Outlook: “We are looking to build off of last season as a team. Last year was the fastest team in school history, and this team will be much better than a year ago,” Devine said. “We have had a phenomenal and consistent summer. We aim to compete for county, conference and sectional championships, with our end goal being to make it to the state meet as a team for the first time ever.”
Whiteland Warriors
Coach: Scotty Kern
Last season: Fourth at Mid-State Conference and county meets, fifth at sectional and seventh at regional
Key returnees: Matthew Nino, senior; Caleb Fox and Jason Rose, juniors; Nolan Edens, Tristan Jordan, Trenton Martinelle, Steven Mergl, Brandon Siebe and William Watson, sophomores
Top newcomers: Riley Gerteisen, Brady Goedecker, Gabriel Rees, Evan Reisert, Conor Shirley and Oliver Woehlke, freshmen
Outlook: The return of Nino, who placed 14th at sectional, fourth at regional and 75th at semistate, is a huge plus for the Warriors, who seem set to enjoy an even better campaign this time around. “I think we have a great group of guys who spent their summer grinding out the miles,” Kern said. “I like how hard they work, and I’m excited to see how our year goes. Our goals for this season are to place as high as we can at every invite, improve our standings at Mid-State and Johnson County meets and advance as far as we can in the Indiana state tournament.”
