MileSplit IN End-of-Season XC Awards - 2021 - Small Schools

MileSplit IN Postseason Awards - Small School ROY / Teams of the Year

Indiana is a state comprised of about three tiers- a few very large schools, several medium-sized schools, and about 47% of schools under 500 students according to the IHSAA enrollment figures. These schools may not qualify as many teams for the state finals or have quite as many All-State runners- but that does not stop them from contributing performances at the highest of levels.

Coming from a high school of under 350 originally, it is easy to waffle on first, what is a small in Indiana, and second, is it an insult to label an athlete with the "small school" designation? The answer is a resounding no! The recognition serves as a message to other schools that anyone can accel at this sport and is encouraging to all the other kids out that competing at a school with 250 kids enrolled.

For our purposes, we used schools in the 1A - 3A football class in Indiana for our awards. A class All-State list will also be released later so there are not any Honorable Mentioned listed right now since many more will be recognized at that point.

MileSplit IN Small School ROY - Boys

Spenser Wolf - Forest Park

Forest Park's Spenser Wolf is not a small school star- he is a legitimate star in Indiana distance running. Wolf owns a PR this season of 15:08 and went under 15:20 three times this season. He was an strong 9th place at the IHSAA State Championships after being the runner-up to the eventual state champion, Reese Kilbarger-Stumpf from Columbus North, at the Brown County Semi-State.

Wolf was also the 8th place finisher at the Mid-East Cross Country Championships in Ohio to help lead the Team Indiana All-Stars to a 1-point runner-up finish to Michigan.

Did we mention that Wolf is a three-sport participant at Forest Park? And that's just in FALL sports- that's right- Spenser played soccer, kicked for the football team, and was a Top 10 runner in the state. That is the definition of a multisport athlete just in the fall.

Wolf also led his team to a strong season, winning the PAC XC Championships and to top three finishes at both the Sectional and Regional rounds of the tournament. They finished a strong 13th place at the Brown County Semi-State as well.

Congrats to a great season Spenser and for being a great example for so many runners.

Sophia Kennedy from Park Tudor created an immediate impact on the sport as soon as started competing three season ago. She has finished fifth as both a freshman and a sophomore in the IHSAA State Finals. This year, after dealing with a mid-season injury, she improved on that performance to finish third place this season.

Kennedy was also 14th at the Nike Midwest Regional on the same course, both of the last two races in less than ideal conditions. She actually earned at unique distinction of finishing third in all four rounds of the tournament this season with Lily Cridge, Bishop Chatard's state champion, besting her in each round.

Kennedy owns track marks of 4:49  and 10:14 marks for the 1600m and 3200m, respectively. With her continued success this fall, the spring track season looks very scary for other Indiana runners.

This choice was just so hard to make- two teams of under 375 total enrollment make it to the IHSAA State Finals- you cannot separate them from their just recognition. Their resumes were so similar- both were Sectional Champions, both faced huge schools in their Regional/Semi-States, and both were only separated by 26 points at the state meet.

With an enrollment of right around 350, Morgan Township was a long-time coming to make the IHSAA State Finals this season. They are heavily dominated by upperclassmen with all but one state meet runner being a junior or senior.

Coach Robert Witt's team had an incredible season. They were predicted to be very strong, had some difficulties like most teams do, and rebounded to get fourth in the highly competitive New Prairie Semi-State.

Austin, with only around 265 total students, was equally as impressive this season. Coach Chris Fugate had his team believing and running well all season. They were a dominant team in the southeast corner of the state and held nothing back competing well regularly against Columbus North and Floyd Central, for example. 

This is a another team that was 365 days in the making. The Austin boys were 6th last year in the Columbus North Regional and did not even compete as a team at the Brown County Semi-State. They rebounded this year to take 6th as a team, beating Castle by seven points to grab the all-important 6th position.

Congratulations to both Morgan Township and Austin for their amazing seasons. 

The Princeton girls team was the darling of the Brown County Semi-State. It seemed that every fan there was not only rooting for them, but was their biggest fan. The Lady Tigers were a little up and down mid-season with their third-fifth runners which led to some questions heading into the tournament- but their 1-2 punch from the Meade sisters was never in doubt.

Coach Will Niederhaus had his ship righted by the Regional as they dominated the field with 36 points. They then competed just hard enough at positions 3-5 to get past Bloomington South and Seymour by 37 and 39 points, respectively. 

With six of the seven runners from the Brown County Semi-State returning, the ceiling is high for Princeton next season.