The Brown County Eagle Classic, taking place this weekend at Eagle Park in Nashville, Indiana, is always a stellar meet with tons of great competition for some of the best athletes in the state. Over the years, we have seen nail biting team finishes, meet and course records fall, and individual titles come down to the wire.
On this Throwback Thursday, let's take a look back at recent history and review some highlights from the Eagle Classic over the last several seasons.
2017
The 2017 Elite Girls race saw Carmel's Phoebe Bates break a then meet record running 17:39 on her way to the individual victory. The Hounds were also team victors on the day winning 73-81 in a close meet to 2nd place Bloomington North.
The Boys Elite race ended in a virtual tie for first place between Edgewood's Austin Haskett and Matthew Schadler of Evansville Memorial both being listed with a finishing time of 15:08.8. Haskett won the photo finish, and that time was good for a then meet record and at the time was the second and third fastest times ever ran at Eagle Park.
2018
Those who were at the 2018 Eagle Classic know it as maybe the rainiest, messiest day of running in recent memory (unless you were also at Eagle Park for the 2019 Brown County Semi-State). Times at this meet were much slower on the day than previous years. In the elite races, winning times were 18:38 for the girls by Edgewood's Annalyssa Crain, and 16:14 in the boys race by Christian Academy's Caleb Futter.
The Boys team race in 2018 is the closest finish ever in the top race at the Eagle Classic. The Bloomington South Panthers and the Carmel Greyhounds battled in a race that scored 58-60. That score ending up in favor of the Panthers as they came away with the two point victory to win the Eagle Classic Elite Race in back-to-back years.. Carmel was the eventual team State Champion in 2018.
2019
Annalyssa Crain returned in 2019 to defend her title and this time around weather was not a factor and she was able to dip under the meet record. Crain's 17:37.4 still holds as the girls meet record, about 8 seconds off the course record held by Mackenzie Caldwell of Columbus North.
The Carmel Boys bounced back from the close defeat in 2018 and were able to win the elite race ahead of 2nd place Brebeuf Jesuit. Alex Frey of North Central was the boys elite race winner in a time of 15:19.
2020
The COVID year brought us a little bit different format for the Eagle Classic. A few of the races were actually ran on Friday the day before to allow for a less populated park. Saturday though, belonged to the Columbus North Bulldogs as both boys and girls teams were winners of the elite races.
Annalyssa Crain won her third consecutive Eagle Classic title, and Kole Mathison of Carmel won his first of two Eagle Classic titles. In 2022, Mathison will look to join Crain as the only 3-time Elite Race champions of the Eagle Classic.
2021
The highlight of the 2021 Eagle Classic was the battle between Kole Mathison of Carmel and Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff of Columbus North. Both runners went under the 15:00 barrier and under the course record previously held by Terre Haute North's John Mascari. Mathison's time of 14:57.3 is the current meet and still course record.
The Girls Elite team race was also a battle of Greyhounds and Bulldogs. The Hounds were once again victorious as Carmel won the team crown with a score of 52 to North's 59. The two teams would battle most of the season and Columbus North would eventually go on to become team State Champions.
The Eagle Classic has been an historically competitive and enjoyable meet to attend. The 2022 edition should be no different. Be on the lookout for a meet preview for this year's highly anticipated Eagle Classic
To view full results from past Eagle Classics, go to the MileSplit Indiana website results pages and check out photo and video from past Eagle Classics.