Hamilton County Championships Preview

Lulu Black (18:06), Halle Hill (18:07), Lilly Cummins (18:19), Ellie Pedersen (19:06), Sam Alphin (19:07), Ellie Johnson (19:33), Brooke Ratliff (19:53)

Team Outlook: Hamilton Southeastern graduated no one from their state podium team last year but do take a big hit with all-stater Halle Hill suffering from a torn ACL during basketball season. HSE came in a close third at County last year and look to improve upon that performance and challenge for a County Championship this year. So far this season, the Royals have come in a close second by two points to a very solid and ranked Fishers squad. They will need to rely on their front runners to do their thing in order to beat Carmel, Fishers, and Noblesville this Tuesday.

Returning Top 7 (18:40 average)

Phoebe Bates (17:39), Sydney Haines (18:46), Lindsey Roper (18:49), Lily McAndrews (18:53), Izza Khurram (19:15), Abby Parker (19:25), Roni Ledezma (19:31)

Team Outlook: Carmel is coming off of a third place state finish on a team that only had 2 seniors competing. Much like the boys, Carmel has a decently long streak of County titles. The Carmel girls have won the meet since 2008 and have been the reigning County Champs for the past 10 years. At the North Central 4K Warm Up the FR/SO team almost got a perfect score while the JR/SR team did get a perfect score over North Central and Bloomington South. You can't really call this team an underdog due to their dominance over the past years. They will be put to the test this year as three other schools look to end their

era of command.

Debbie Shera (18:26), Tessa Kraft (18:33), Miya Wai (18:51), Abby Carter (18:59), Corinne Yorkman (19:18), Elinor Carmona (19:33), Emma Gillespie (19:46)

Team Outlook: Fishers was incredibly close to making the podium last year but were unfortunately beat by just one singular point. The school that beat them was the rival team from across town, HSE. Coming into this season this team will be more motivated than ever to try and unhand Hamilton Southeastern and hopefully get some important wins, such as the County Meet, along the way. The tigers have raced once this season at the 4K Zionsville Invite. Their FR/SO team finished 4th while the JR/SR squad got a 2nd place finish ahead of last year's state champions, Zionsville. The Fishers squad also edged out HSE at the Pendleton Arabian Roundup which may show how much potential this team has. With only two Seniors in last year's top 7 graduating the Tigers have a great shot at the County Championship Title.

Returning Top 7 (18:59 average)

Sophie Reichard (18:43), Isabella Sharples-Gordon (18:52), Aubrie Deal (19:02), Aubrey Swart (19:06), Taylor Gregory (19:14), Sophie Stahl (19:40), Madison King (19:57)

Team Outlook: Noblesville was so close to making the state meet last year but were barely beat Brownsburg. The Millers have had a great team last year but will need to work even harder this year with Abi Little graduating to Indiana University. At County last year Noblesville was able to finish runner up with HSE right on their tails. Noblesville competed at The Plainfield Relays where they where able to win defeating ranked Pike and Brownsburg squads. They also competed at the Harrison 8-Way where they dominated the competition with the closest team being the ranked West Lafayette team that likely rested their top runners. Any of these top 4 teams could win the championship, it's just going to come down to who wants it the most.

Returning Top 7 (19:53 average)

Ellie Schroeder (18:51), Paige Schemanske (19:04), Bea Perez (19:54), Raegan Bohbrink (20:46), Isabelle Museck (20:51), Nicole Powers (21:40), Kaleigh Falimirski (21:47)

Team Outlook: Guerin Catholic and Westfield will be in a tight fight to round out the top 5. Guerin has two runners ahead of Westfield's first which should give them the upper hand. The Golden Eagles were able to hold off Westfield and Hamilton Heights last year for to finish 5th. Guerin, so far this year, has competed at their conference meet where they finished second to a very respectable and ranked Brebuef squad. With only one runner in the top 7 graduating this year, Guerin should look to have a solid team for the County Championships.

Returning Top 7 (19:45 average)

Sarah Coates (19:22), Ava Zellers (19:44), Ashley Baldwin (19:48), Morgen Houck (19:48), Kyla Curtis (19:49), Julia Clark (19:55), Sophia Brown (20:01)

Team Outlook: Westfield takes a hit with their top runner, Gabby Dilick, graduating. Last year's team featured a good sized bunch of freshman that were able to make top 7 their first year. There could be a lot of improvement since last year for this young group of runners. This year Westfield finished 3rd in the FR/SO race and 5th in the JR/SR race at the Zionsville Invite. The shamrocks also able to place 4th before the storms hit at the Dave Bannon Invite. The shamrocks will have a good chance to challenge Guerin as the are only projected 9 points behind and will likely want revenge from last year.

Returning Top 7 Runners (20:35 average)

Maria Mitchell (18:40), Abby Christiansen (20:44), Abby Roth (21:03), Morgan Guthrie (21:12), Alex Lopez (21:21), Madison Doltich (21:51), Kylie Schakel (23:29)

Team Outlook: Hamilton Heights might be able to challenge Guerin and Westfield for a top 5 spot with the help of their front runnner Maria Mitchell. Heights only graduated 1 in their top 7 and should have a good shot at challenging some schools at County. So far this year Heights has competed at the Meister Family Memorial Run where they won the meet by a very large margin. If Westfield or Guerin don't perform to the top of their abilities then Heights might have a shot at getting 6th or even a top 5 finish.

Charlotte Kumler (21:22), Jada Swearingen (22:34), Robin Karwath (25:13), Rachel Zeh (25:56), Haley Tomlinson (27:29), Abigail McKinney (27:40), Lauren Flickner (27:43)

Team Outlook: University had no Seniors last year on their team and will most likely be racing against the clock. The trailblazers have two runners that should be able to challenge runners from Heights but it looks like for the most part they will be running against themselves. So far this year University had a few compete at the Southwestern Small School Invite.