IHSAA 2018 Cross Country Sectionals Previews


Sectional 7: Culver Academics

Teams: Argos, Caston, Culver Academies, Culver Community, Manchester, North Miami, Plymouth, Rochester Community, Tippecanoe Valley, Triton, Warsaw Community

Girls: Sectional 7 will feature a battle between Culver Academic's Lexi Allen and Rochester Community's Mallory Hiatt. Allen has a season best of 18:49 and Hiatt has a time of 18:57 this year. The two young ladies could make this an interesting battle to watch. A third challenger could emerge in the form of Adree Beckham from Warsaw.  The sophomore has a season best time of 19:05 and can definitely make the jump up to challenge the front two.


Warsaw appears the team beat with their strong front three and solid 4 and 5. Culver Academies will look to challenge Warsaw and bring home the title for themselves. Manchester and Rochester Community will be locked in a tight battle for third place. Plymouth, Caston, and North Miami will all be in a dog fight for the last spot to the regional meet.


Boys: The individual to watch out for is Mitchell Rans from Caston. Rans shocked everyone in 2016 after placing fourth in the State meet as a sophomore. He's run 15:43 this year and has been progressively performing better and better as the year goes on. His closest challenger is fellow senior, Zeb Hernandez from Warsaw Community. Zeb is having a great season after missing the majority of last cross country season and all of this years track season and will be looking towards having a great season.


Warsaw comes into this meet as the favorites with a solid front runner in Zeb and a solid pack. Plymouth will be looking to upset Warsaw and take home the sectional title. Plymouth has a nice pack that could rival Warsaw if they can improve on some of their earlier performances this year. Rans will be able to lead Caston to the regional round along with Rochester Community and Culver Academics. Manchester will be looking to upset either Culver or Rochester to steal a berth in the regional meet.


Sectional 8: Logansport

Teams: Carroll (Flora), Eastern (Greentown), Kokomo, Lewis Cass, Logansport, Maconaquah, Northwestern, Peru, Pioneer, Taylor, Western, Winamac Community

Girls: Sectional 8's top girl will come in the form of Maconaquah sophomore Karli Miller. Miller has a season record of 19:37 and should run away with the show

Western appears to be the favorite in this team battle. Western has the smallest season record spread amongst the top four teams in this race. Cass will be looking to rival Western and hopefully upset them. If they can move their pack up and get a stronger performance from their fifth runner if they want to win.  Maconaquah will look to battle hard  for the third advancing place to the regional meet. Logansport and their insane 21 second spread will fight with Northwestern and Winamac Community for the fifth and final spot in the regional meet.


Boys: Junior, Bailey Scott from Cass, easily should run away right the individual title. He is the only athlete to go sub 17 out of this sectional. His only potential challenger could come from Christian Dawson of Logansport. Dawson has a season PR of 17:17 and may see if he can push that pace a little and hang with Scott for the whole 5K. 


Logansport boys, just like their girls team, has a tendency to pack run. Their 59 second split makes them the favorites to win this sectional. Winamac Community will be looking to upset Logansport but they will need a strong showing. Western will be in a close battle with Winamac for the second position. The final regional berth will be hotly contested between Northwestern and Cass with Peru looking to make a challenge to upset both Northwestern and Cass.