Athletic Annex Flashrock Invitational
The 2023 Athletic Annex "Flashrock" Invitational did not disappoint Saturday morning with several top ranked Indiana teams and athletes competing over the 5 kilometer course at Northview Church in Carmel, Indiana.
The meet consisted of Championship races with mostly larger teams for both boys and girls, as well as invitational races, and JV races. Mother nature provided a great day for racing with temperatures in the low 50s to begin the day.
Girls Championship Race
Individual Race
The second race of the day provided just as much entertainment as the boys championship race with 6 girls breaking the 18 minute mark. The girls race had a clear breakaway pack by the mile marker with junior Ava Jarrell of Pendleton Heights leading senior Nicki Southerland of Delta, senior Josefina Rastrelli of Warsaw, and senior Jessica Hegedus of Avon. As the athletes approached the second half of the race it became a two girl race with Southerland trailing right behind Jarrell. By the time both reached the final downhill stretch Southerland was able to open up a gap and break a 6 year old meet record and achieve a new personal record (PR) of 17:01.9 which is currently #2 for Indiana performances. This was a 26 second improvement from her time at Northview last year and was able to break the record by just over 17 seconds. Jarrell also broke this meet record finishing close behind in 17:08.7, just off a PR. Jarrell looks to be having a breakout year going low 17 for the 5K for the 3rd week in a row after not breaking 18 all last year.
Rastrelli was the next finisher in 3rd crossing the line with a 17:42.3 for just under a 15 second PR based on our database. Mallory Weller, a sophomore at Fort Wayne Concordia, had a breakout performance as she worked her way up to finish 4th. She has run a PR in every race so far this season. Her time today was nearly 2 minutes faster than her best from last year. Battling to a 5th place finish was Hegedus with a 17:55.0 which matches her PR from last year exactly. In 6th was Lexi Panning, also a senior from Concordia, who ran a 17:55.3 which was her first time sub 18.
Rounding out the top 10 was:
7th - Maggie Powers (Hamilton Southeastern) - 18:05.9
8th - Liz Smith (Westfield) - 18:12.6
9th - Summer Rempe (Noblesville) - 18:14.0
10th - Maddie Rocchio (North Central Indianapolis) - 18:23.3
Team Race
The team race had arguably 4 of the top 5 teams in the state competing with a 32 point spread between these teams.
It was Fort Wayne Concordia that came out on top scoring 80 points being led by Weller and Panning's 4th and 6th place finishes respectively. Other scorers for the Cadets included Sidney Scheumann (15th), Hannah Clark (26th), and Lilly Schlicker (34th). Concordia is coming off a victory from the Elite division of the Marion Invitational and showed their talent with their top 5 scorers especially with two under the 18 minute mark. Expect Concordia to continue to be one of the favorites for the state title next month.
Close behind the Cadets was Hamilton Southeastern with 89 points led by Powers. Contributors included Elizabeth Butler (17th), Catey Campbell (22nd), Ava Powers (23rd), and Anissa Lammie (25th). The Royals came into the meet previously unbeaten in the 5K, narrowly beating Noblesville at the Hamilton County Championship meet and winning the Wildcat Classic by a wide margin. HSE has more depth to work with which could work to their advantage as the state tournament approaches.
Next, 11 points behind HSE, with 100 points was Noblesville led by Rempe's performance. The rest of the top 5 for the Millers included Nadia Perez (14th), Riley Flynn (21st), Ansley Applegate (30th), and Kate Mumaw (31st). Noblesville finished close behind HSE again this season and will have another chance to chase down the Royals at the Hoosier Crossroads Conference Championship meet next weekend. The Millers lost a couple key runners from last year's state championship squad due to graduation and will look to rebuild to try and defend their state title.
Finishing 12 points behind the Millers was North Central (Indianapolis) with 112 points led by Maddie Rocchio. The Panthers also had Elizabeth Rocchio (13th), Kelsey Rehmel (18th), Kaelina Matthews (28th), and Clara Smith (48th) scoring in their lineup. North Central comes off a team win from last week at the Eagle Classic and looks like they will be able to repeat a state podium performance again this year, after placing 5th last year, while also throwing their hat in the ring for the team championship.
Girls Invitational Race
In the girls invitational race Aftin Griffin, a sophomore at Cass, ran away from her nearest competitor finishing in a time of 19:29.3. Her closest competition were Greenfield Central teammates who were both able to run PRs. Josie Kinnaman, a freshman, and Lexie Copeland, a junior ran 19:42.9 and 19:55.7 respectively. The duo helped lead the Cougars to a team win with 78 points over Park Tudor's 98 points.
Top 10 Individuals from the Girls Invitational Race
1st - Aftin Griffin (Cass) - 19:29.3
2nd - Josie Kinnaman (Greenfield Central) - 19:42.9
3rd - Lexie Copeland (Greenfield Central) - 19:55.7
4th - Lauren Lo (Park Tudor) - 20:51.5
5th - Kylee Robles (Delta) - 20:56.2
6th - Heather Crull (Northeastern) - 21:04.3
7th - Madeline Nouel (Warren Central) - 21:04 .5
8th - Avi Holden (Park Tudor) - 21:23.1
9th - Emily Luckey (Marion) - 21:26.0
10th - Kylie Ritz (Park Tudor) - 21:33.8
Top 5 Teams from the Girls Invitational Race
1st - Greenfield Central - 78 points
2nd - Park Tudor - 98 points
3rd - Warren Central - 101 points
4th - Western Boone - 139 points
5th - Marion - 148 points
Girls JV Race
In the girls JV race Claire Eikenberry, a senior from North Central (Indianapolis), was able to establish a sizable lead by the finish to win the race by over 20 seconds with a time of 20:31.5. Her Panther teammate Tatum Houle, a sophomore, finished with a new PR of 20:52.5 while Maddie Cox, a sophomore at Carmel, also finished with a PR in third with a 20:54.1. The girls JV team race came down to a close finish between 3 teams with Carmel coming out on top.
Top 10 Individuals from the Girls JV Race
1st - Claire Eikenberry (North Central Indianapolis) - 20:31.5
2nd - Tatum Houle (North Central Indianapolis) - 20:52.5
3rd - Maddie Cox (Carmel) - 20:54.1
4th - Sarah Roeder (Hamilton Southeastern) - 21:16.7
5th - Jayde Stamm (Noblesville) - 21:19.6
6th - Ronni Strzynski (Carmel) - 21:24.6
7th - Charlotte Mallon (North Central Indianapolis) - 21:27.7
8th - Addison Emmerson (Noblesville) - 21:30.0
9th - Emma Meisner (Carmel) - 21:31.7
10th - Malia Larger (Carmel) - 21:32.6
Top 5 Teams from the Girls JV Race
1st - Carmel - 46 points
2nd - Noblesville - 52 points
3rd - North Central (Indianapolis) - 58 points
4th - Hamilton Southeastern - 110 points
5th - Westfield - 143 points