Here is the first brief recap from the weekend. The season is starting to take shape with several unique races around the state- age group, small schools, and 4k events- dominating the weekend. Although many of the races were smaller in size before some of the massive invites start in a couple of weeks, the meets this weekend certainly were strong in their competitiveness. If you do not see your race in this article, do not stress. You can send results to milesplitin@gmail.com. We will also be providing another Weekend Wrap-Up #2 later as more results come in!
Zionsville Invitational:
The 4k race at Zionsville was split into a Frosh/Soph division and a Junior/Senior division for each gender. Zionsville won both age group wins with a 43-75-107 win over Carmel and Bloomington South in the Frosh/Soph race. Zionsville followed that up with a 52-60-70 win over North Central (Indy) and Columbus North. Columbus North ran a split-squad with some members racing at the Brownsburg 4k as well. The Frosh/Soph featured two great sophomores battling it out for the individual title with Ryan Rheam of Bloomington South edging Jcim Grant of Northview 12:50-12:56. The two runners actually ran the 2nd and 3rd fastest times of the entire morning. Zionsville, led by Sam Spees in 3rd place, had five in the top 15 to take the team honors. Nate Killeen from North Central (Indy) won the Junior/Senior section with the fastest time of the day in 12:46. Killeen was 10 seconds up on Will Nobbe from Zionsville. Zionsville put three in the top 10 for the victory in this race to sweep the team titles.
The girls races saw 4 different teams claim a winner during the morning. Noblesville outdistanced Carmel and Zionsville in the Frosh/Soph race 42-87-88 respectively. Northview's Gnister Grant won the race by just over a second, topping Brinkley Cooper from Noblesville in 15:11 to 15:12. Noblesville placed 4 in the top 10 to easily win the section. In the Junior/Senior division, Floyd Central's Jaydon Cirincione won convincingly over Carmel's Jasmine Klopstad and Alivia Romaniuk. Cirincione's fine time was 14:46 putting her 17 seconds ahead of Klopstad. The 2-3 finish for Klopstad and Romaniuk led Carmel to the 40-point win over North Central (Indy) and Floyd Central. The latter battled to a 96-98 race with North Central (Indy) taking the runner-up spot. Carmel used three in the top 5 to win with Jamie Klavon taking 5th.
Joe Harvey Circle City Conference
The girls individual race was the story of the meet- and probably the weekend. Lily Cridge of Bishop Chatard opened her season on the Brebeuf course with a huge course record and PR of 17:27, winning by nearly 90 seconds over Kendall Martin. Martin is a proven All-State runner from Brebuef who herself ran a strong 18:49 opening race. The team race was close on the girls side with Brebeuf edging Chatard 39-43 for the title. Bridget Gallagher from Guerin Catholic finished third in 19:49.
The boys race was won by Matteo Rosio from Brebeuf in 16:37. Rosio opened up a 7-second victory over Ethan Hines of Guerin Catholic and Clayton Reichanadter of Covenant Christian. Hines led a potentially very strong Guerin Catholic team to the victory stand as they outpaced Bishop Chatard 39-50 with Brebeuf coming in third overall.
NIC Stomp:
The NIC Stomp splits the event into scoring of 9/10 and 11/12 races. On the boys side, Penn bested Chesterton for 1st in both class races. Penn won the 11/12 race by a score of 42-70 over Chesterton and followed that up with a 60-96-97 victory over Chesterton and South Bend Adams in the 9/10 race. In the upperclassmen race, Mariano Retzloff and Carter Kaser, both of Penn, went 1-2 overall to set up the team win. Retzloff went 16:48 with teammate Kaser just behind in 16:50. In the 9/10 race, Liam Bauschke from Mishawaka won in 16:58, five seconds up on Max Malloy from Elkhart. Penn put three in the top 10, led by Hudson Kaser, to secure the victory.
The girls reversed the standings with Chesterton taking the team titles over Penn in each age grouping this time. The 11/12 Chesterton girls were victorious 31-62 over Penn with a close 65 in 3rd place for South Bend St. Joseph. Lillian Zelasko from New Prairie took the individual title in 18:52. But Bailey Ranta's runner-up finish led all seven Trojans into the top 15 to easily outdistance the rest of the 11/12 girls. Penn did have Julie Smith and Julia Economou run 3rd and 4th, respectively, to keep them just ahead of St. Joseph. In the underclassmen field, Penn was led by Mary Eubank who won in 20:33 and Ellie Stabnik's 3rd place. However, Chesterton put three in the top 7 and five in the top 15 to keep a safe margin of 42-54 over Penn.
Cardinal Invite (Bloomfield):
The Bloomfield boys and Owen Valley girls took home the team victories on a warm morning. Justin Beard led the Bloomfield boys to a sweep as they easily took home the team title by taking the first six places. Owen Valley's Lily Smith and Madi Kay led a 1-2 finish to help beat the host Bloomfield girls 20-35.
Jeremy Wright Small School Invite:
Spencer Wolf from Forest Park continued a strong start with a nice win over Maddox Baker from South Central and Wyatt Beck from Austin. Wolf won by about 37 seconds to lead the Rangers to a runner-up finish. The story on the team was all about Austin as Beck led a strong team performance that saw all 7 varsity runners finish in the Top 19. Austin's team consisted of Brandon Rice, Chance Craig, Jackson Marshall, and Connor Nease running 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th in the team scoring to easily outdistance Forest Park 36-79. Over 26 teams competed in the highly competitive meet held in Shelbyville at the Blue River Cross Country Course.
The girls individual race was dominated by Audrey Knoper from Western Boone. She dove under 20:00 to win in 19:55. She outperformed the field by just over a minute to best runner-up Ellie Hall from Forest Park and Morgan Gannon from Fremont who were 2nd and 3rd, respectively. The team race was much closer as Forest Park snuck past Western Boone 76-90 with Centerville not far behind with 109 in the very evenly split field.
Richmond Hare and Hound Invite:
East Central girls showed their depth against the field by outdistancing Southport 33-68 in the 6-team invite. Lydia Harvey from New Castle won a tight race in 20:59, 3 seconds better than Rachel Campbell from East Central. Campbell led the victorious Trojans with her runner-up finish and brought her other four teammates with her to have all five finish in the top 12. CeCe Mitchell of Southport was third overall and led her team to a close 3rd place in the team scoring with 76 points.
The boys race saw Greenfield Central pull away from the team field 43-75-85 over Northeastern and Southport, respectively. Chase Cates from Northeastern won the individual title in 17:08 but Greenfield Central had the next two runners overall and placed 5 in the top 20 to seal the win. Matthew Wickman and Christopher Ross led the Greenfield Central team with their 2nd and 3rd place showings.