Dowty wins cross country regional; seven county runners advance to state

SHELBYVILLE

With perhaps her closest state competition lining up next to her at Saturday’s Shelbyville Regional, Libby Dowty sent a message.

The Indian Creek junior — the reigning state champion and the favorite to retain that crown in Terre Haute this coming weekend — pulled away from the field early and finished with a winning time of 17 minutes, 15.75 seconds. She beat the state’s No. 2 runner, Ava Jarrell of Pendleton Heights, by almost 19 seconds.

Dowty’s run was more than a 17-second improvement over her sectional performance on this same Blue River course a week earlier.

“Last week I just kind of got in my head,” Dowty said. “I was a lot more focused this week, and I think that helped a lot.”

It should also help with confidence heading into state.

“She’s feeling a lot better than she did last week,” Indian Creek coach Brady Devine said. “The girls who got second and third will be in the top five for sure next week, and maybe even 2-3. So it was good, showing her where she’s at.”

Two more Johnson County runners joined Dowty in the top 10, with Whiteland’s Lena Shipp finishing eighth in 18:38.41 and Greenwood’s Lily Rollings ninth in 18:40.11. They’ll be joined at the state meet by Indian Creek’s Ella Neibert (20th in 19:06.37) and Roncalli’s Tessa Mize (28th in 19:24.84).

Franklin’s Ava Ott narrowly missed out on a state berth, placing 32nd with a time of 19:31.86.

Isabella Fuentes was 38th for Whiteland, which led the local girls teams by finishing ninth with 258 points. Roncalli (279) was 10th, with Charlie Fletter (40th) and Ava Shirley (49th) joining Mize in the top 50; Center Grove (300) finished 11th, led by a 48th-place showing from Lexi O’Barr.

Three county boys advanced to state, led by Center Grove’s Cameron Cox, who was 15th overall with a time of 15:59.95. Whiteland’s Colton Watson punched his ticket by finishing 23rd in 16:07.87, while teammate Nolan Edens was 33rd in 16:18.38.

Warriors coach Scotty Kern was thrilled with how his runners performed on Saturday.

“The guys and girls, I believe they have complete faith in me and what I’m giving them as far as training goes,” he said, “and that proved today. We went out there and we ran our best race, in the hardest competition that we’ve done this season. It was amazing to see, and I’m super proud of the kids.”

Roncalli’s Sam Vaught (30th in 16:16.41) also made it through to Terre Haute; Center Grove’s Curtis Williams missed out on the final individual qualifying spot by less than two seconds, placing 35th in 16:22.72.

The Trojan boys, who also had Ethan Holbrook in 59th place, were the top local squad with a seventh-place effort (223 points). Whiteland, which got a 46th-place effort from William Watson, was eighth with 261. Roncalli (335) was 11th, followed by Franklin (12th, 365), which was led by Liam Fennig’s 40th-place run. Indian Creek (398) was 14th.

Greenwood’s Jacob Squier was 59th and Indian Creek’s Noah Greenwood 60th to lead their respective teams.

Of all the local runners moving on to Terre Haute, none will garner more attention than Dowty, who’s trying to become the eighth Indiana girl to win multiple state champions and just the third to repeat on a 5-kilometer layout.

“I feel confident,” Dowty said. “I’m trying not to let the pressure get to me.”

Devine is doing his best to ensure that it doesn’t.

“I just preach, ‘You’re ready for this,’” he said. “We’re fit, we’re in shape, just do it. We’re ready; step on the line and do what you do every other week.”