Center Grove boys coach Howard Harrell talks to his team before the start of the boys race at Saturday’s sectional.
By Cameron Baker
For the Daily Journal
SHELBYVILLE
The sunny 60-degree weather at Blue River Memorial Park for Saturday morning’s Shelbyville Sectional provided perfect conditions for the runners as they tried to earn the right to run the same course again a week later.
The boys competition saw Whiteland freshman Colton Watson take home first place with a time of 16:06.72, beating runner-up Luke Neibert of Indian Creek by 11 seconds and helping lead his team to a third-place finish and a spot in the regional.
“I mean it’s just a blessing to be out here and all the opportunities that I’ve been able to follow through in this year,” Watson said. “I didn’t think I was going to win today, but you know just so much built up through the season and I’m ready to go for regionals.”
Overall, Center Grove came in first place on the boys side, beating Indian Creek by merely two points to secure its sixth straight sectional title.
Curtis Williams led the way for the Trojans, placing fifth overall with a time of 16:24.92. Cameron Cox wasn’t too far behind him, coming in ninth. Isaac Schemmel (16th), Ethan Holbrook (22nd) and Mason Vrshek (26th) rounded out the team scoring, leaving Center Grove with 78 points to the Braves’ 80.
“We were really keying in on next week. And then wherever the chips fell today first, second or third that was kind of secondary.,” Center Grove boys coach Howard Harrell said.
Neibert was the top runner for Indian Creek, while Henry Fleetwood and Noah Greenwood were 12th and 13th with less than a second difference between the two. Whiteland was third with 90 points, with Watson being followed by William Watson (seventh), Nolan Edens (10th) and Tristan Jordan (27th).
Franklin (fourth with 106 points) also secured a regional spot with a sixth-place finish from Liam Fennig, an 18th-place finish from Brooks Huddleston and a 21st-place finish from Alex Lin. Roncalli was able to claim the last regional spot on the boys side, led by senior Sam Vaught coming in third place after being outkicked by Neibert at the end.
Although Greenwood was one place out from securing a team berth, it still had four runners (Jacob Squier, Jack Siminski, Henry Barrett and Sam Cassel-Bertolet) qualify for the regional as individuals.
Greenwood Christian placed 13th overall, with freshman Griffin Carney narrowly missing out on a regional spot.
The girls competition saw Roncalli take home the school’s first sectional championship with 59 points on the back of fourth- and seventh- place finishes from Ava Shirley and Tessa Mize. Roncalli also had Charlie Fletter in 10th place and Marygrace Rykowski in 14th. Roncalli outscored second place Whiteland by five points, 59-64.
“Our big focus was every place matters, and trying to go pass the girl in front of them. We weren’t too focused on times and focused more on places. Going into next week for regionals, we’re going to give them the same message,” Roncalli coach Cathy Kitchens said.
Sophomore Lena Shipp led the way for Whiteland with a third-place finish, with Isabella Fuentes not too far behind her teammate in fifth place. Eden Muhlhauser was 17th, Ramya Flaherty 19th and Claire Proctor 20th.
“On the girls side, Roncalli is ranked and we were just trying to get the girls prepared for that all week,” Whiteland coach Scotty Kern said. “We’ve never really ran against them, so a ranking doesn’t matter to me. If we haven’t run against them, then they’re not better than us until they prove it. And they did a great job today.”
The Center Grove girls (81 points) used a well-rounded approach to claim third place, with its top five runners placing between 11th and 22nd overall. Hallie Mimbela and Gretchen Meisberger led the way for their squad with 11th- and 12th-place finishes, with Lexi O’Barr placing 15th, Adriana Rosales 21st and Lizzie Moreno 22nd.
Indian Creek (105 points) claimed fourth place with a top-heavy squad. Libby Dowty placed first overall with a time of 17:33.00, beating second-place Lily Rollings of Greenwood by a full minute. Freshman Ella Niebert placed sixth for the Braves and Brooke Ulerick came in 13th.
A solid performance from Franklin fell just short of a team regional spot, but Ava Ott’s ninth-place finish was enough to qualify her for regional. She’ll be joined by teammates Hannah Lindsay (26th), Willamina Thomas and Scarlett Boersma.
Greenwood also narrowly missed out on a team qualification with a seventh-place finish, but the Woodmen will still send Rollings as well as Ryann Marker (33rd), Katherine Hankins and Kara Ennis.
