IHSAA 2018 Cross Country Sectionals Previews


Crain should have an easy weekend as she attempts to continue to add on wins this season.


SECTIONAL 27 - BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE


BOYS RACE

Preview: In the individual race it looks to be an early postseason dual between Austin Haskett (15:33) of Edgewood and Ian Shaw (15:36) of Bloomington South for the win.  Haskett looked off the first portion of this season after coming close to the breaking the 15 minute barrier last year. Shaw has already beaten Haskett at the Brown County Eagle Classic earlier this year but Austin has bounced back and still has a faster season and personal best than Ian has.  The individual race should be close between the two. The team race should come down to either Bloomington South or Bloomington North. In the Monroe County Meet, South rested their top runners which allowed North to take the win. As Bloomington South is one of the favorites to win state they may rest up some of their runners for later on in the tournament due to the lack of competition.

Projected Advancing Teams:
1st - Bloomington South
2nd - Bloomington North
3rd - Edgewood
4th - Bedford North Lawrence
5th - Eastern Greene

Projected Top 5 Individuals:
1st - Austin Haskett (Edgewood)
2nd - Ian Shaw (Bloomington South)
3rd - Isaiah Hollars (Bloomington North)
4th - Jack Gillard (Bloomington South)
5th - Paul Rushton (Bloomington North)

GIRLS RACE

Preview: There shouldn't be much of a race for Annalyssa Crain here as she holds the fastest time in the field by a mere 28 seconds with a 17:48.  She has won every race this year with the exception of last week in her conference meet where defending state champion Emma Wilson was able to best her.  The team race will be like the boys race and most likely come down to the two schools from Bloomington. The advantage goes to North by 6 points over South in a hypothetical meet.  Edgewood is fairly close behind and will be greatly helped by Crain's single point and could snag a runner up or even Sectional Championship if either of the Bloomington schools slip up.

Projected Advancing Teams:
1st - Bloomington North
2nd - Bloomington South
3rd - Edgewood
4th - Bedford North Lawrence
5th - Eastern Green

Projected Top 5 Individuals:
1st - Annalyssa Crain (Edgewood)
2nd - Mya Hagerty (Bloomington North)
3rd - Abby Beathea (Bloomington South)
4th - Abbey Armstrong (Bloomington North)
5th - Kaylee Meyer (Edgewood)

Emma Morrison is the top girl in Sectional 28


SECTIONAL 28 - SOUTHWESTERN (HANOVER)


BOYS RACE

Preview: Teammates Carter Leak and Alex Hendrix of Jennings County will look to lead the charge at Sectionals as they have the top 2 season bests at 16:14 and 16:28 coming into the race.  Their teammates will not be far behind as they are projected only 20 points in a hypothetical meet, 31 points ahead of the next team which is Austin. The battle for 5th may be the most interesting team battle in the boys race as Henryville and Jeffersonville are only separated by 3 points hypothetically with the slight upper hand going to Henryville.

Projected Advancing Teams:
1st - Jennings County
2nd - Austin
3rd - Silver Creek
4th - Southwestern (Hanover)
5th - Henryville

Projected Top 5 Individuals:
1st - Carter Leak (Jennings County)
2nd - Alex Hendrix (Jennings County)
3rd - Ethan Fugate (Austin)
4th - Lane Elsner (Jennings County)
5th - Bradley Winston (Southwestern - Hanover)

GIRLS RACE

Preview: Emma Morrison of Jennings County is the only girl in this field to break the 20 minute mark this season at 19:37 and beats the next season best in the field by over 40 seconds.  She will likely coast to an easy Sectional win while also helping her team by scoring that one point. Jennings County are the favorites in this race with Silver Creek the only team that could possibly pose as a threat to them.  The top 5 team hypothetically look like a near lock to advance as there appears to be a very large gap between the #5 and #6 teams for the girls.

Projected Advancing Teams:
1st - Jennings County
2nd - Silver Creek
3rd - Madison Consolidated
4th - Switzerland County
5th - Charlestown

Projected Top 5 Individuals:
1st - Emma Morrison (Jennings County)
2nd - Leah Anders (Switzerland County)
3rd - Ashley Heidel (Jennings County)
4th - Kaylee Ebinger (Jennings County)
5th - Patricia Henney (Jennings County)