Shelbyville Boys & Girls Regional Preview

Shelbyville Boys Race
Qualifying Teams: Fishers, Noblesville, Hamilton Southeastern, Guerin Catholic, Westfield, Franklin Central, Greenfield-Central, Mt-Vernon (Fortville), Lawrence North, Indianapolis Cathedral, Richmond, Batesville, Northeastern, Hagerstown, Rushville Consolidated, Center Grove, Indian Creek, Perry Meridian, Franklin Community, Greenwood Community, Milan, Madison Consolidated, Austin, Henryville, New Washington


Photo by Fishers Distance via Instagram

The Shelbyville boys could potentially have the deepest team races this weekend as it will feature 3 of the state's top 6 teams and 7 teams ranked in the top 23 in the most recent coaches poll. This means that two ranked teams will not qualify for state in this regional. Fishers, Noblesville, and Hamilton Southeastern should all be locked in to advance with Franklin Central being relatively safe. Center Grove will likely have to battle against Greenfield Central and Mt. Vernon with two of these schools not advancing as a team.

Sam Quagliaroli and Matthew Kim from Fishers should both run away from the competition like they have for most meets as they are ranked 3rd and 5th in the state with season best times of 14:52 and 15:04. Caden Click from Noblesville has the next best time from this season with a 15:24 and will be someone to watch to see if he is able to bounce back from last weekend. Kyle Montgomery from Center Grove, Chris Ross from Greenfield Central, and Ronnie Neal from Noblesville have all been under 15:30 this year with 18 others also having season best times under 16 minutes.

Projected Advancing Teams:

Fishers
Fishers won the Noblesville sectional with Sam Quagliaroli running the fastest time for the weekend and Matthew Kim following close behind in second. Nate Thomas and Bryson Slagle both stepped up for the team and allowed for the Tigers to have 4 runners in the top 6. This weekend will be another close race likely against Noblesville as the team will need to run just as well as last week if they wish to win their 6th consecutive Regional title.

Noblesville
Noblesville fought for the runner-up on their own home course last weekend. Sam Rinker led the team and held tough down the final stretch to secure a 3rd place individual finish. The Millers have shown incredible depth this season with 6 runners breaking 16 minutes as well as placing 5 in the top 15 this past weekend. The storyline for Noblesville is with Indiana University Bloomington commit Caden Click as he appeared to be battling illness. Assuming Click is back to health this weekend Noblesville could contend for the team title which would be the team's first since 1995.

Hamilton Southeastern
HSE came in third behind the previously mentioned teams at the Noblesville sectional. Nicolas Vega and Riley Schamp led the team with top 10 performances going 16:03 and 16:04. The team has had 4 sub 16 minute performers this year with Isaac Smith being absent in the team's sectional lineup. The team has the best 1-5 split out of any team in this race at 21.9 seconds and has the depth to easily advance to state.

Franklin Central
Franklin Central was the team champion at Mt. Vernon sectional last weekend winning by 22 points and placing their entire team of 7 in the top 17. Evan Farmer and Justin Reedus went 3-4 for the team with Joey Ashman being their 3rd with all three breaking 16 minutes this season. The Flashes should be competitive and relatively familiar with the new teams added in this round as they all have raced earlier this year at Brownsburg for the Hoosier Crossroads Conference Championship.

Center Grove
Center Grove will return to Shelbyville this weekend after winning last week's sectional with 38 points and winning by 46 points. The Trojans have two elite frontrunners with Gavin Rockwell and Kyle Montgomery running 1-2 last week and having season bests of 15:31 and 15:27 respectively which are both top 25 times for the state. The team's depth looks like it will be enough to take the final spot to state as the team has several athletes capable of running in the 16:30 range. The team will likely be competing against Greenfield Central and Mt. Vernon for the final spot.

On the Bubble Teams to Look Out For:

Greenfield Central
Greenfield Central has a solid top 3 that has been consistent all season including the sectional meet where they went 1-2-5. Chris Ross has the best time from this group running a 15:27 this season with Liam Brinkruff and Carter Crouch running 15:33 and 15:46 respectively. The team's depth appears to be a concern as the team nearly suffered a defeat to Mt. Vernon last weekend. Big performances from their 4-5 could result in a potential upset over Center Grove this weekend.

Mt. Vernon
Mt. Vernon has the second best spread out of all the teams competing with only 24.6 seconds separating their top 5 best times from this year. Colin Strachman led the team last weekend with a 9th place finish and a time of 16:13 earlier this year. The team appears to be on the outside looking in but could take advantage of teams like Greenfield Central as they were just 2 points behind them last weekend.

Shelbyville Girls Race
Qualifying Teams: Noblesville, Hamilton Southeastern, Westfield, Guerin Catholic, Pendleton Heights, Franklin Central, Mt. Vernon (Fortville), Indianapolis Cathedral, Greenfield-Central, Lawrence North, East Central, Batesville, Richmond, Centerville, Rushville Consolidated, Center Grove, Franklin Community, Whiteland Community, Roncalli, Indian Creek, South Dearborn, Charlestown, Switzerland County, Southwestern (Hanover), Madison Consolidated


Photo by Mike Kepner


The girls race at Shelbyville also looks to be even more stacked than the boys with 4 of the state's top 10 teams and 7 in the top 25 based on the most recent coaches poll. This means that, like the boys race, two schools currently ranked in the top 25 will not make the state finals as a team. Noblesville, Hamilton Southeastern, Franklin Central, and Westfield look to have the best odds of making the transfer to state with Guerin having to fend off several bubble teams if they wish to advance.

Ava Jarrell from Pendleton Heights and Libby Dowty from Indian Creek both enter the meet with the best times this season being ranked 3rd and 4th in the state with times of 17:05 and 17:09 respectively. Both won their individual sectional championships last weekend as well. Kylie Cline and Savana Miller from Franklin Central, Maggie Powers from Hamilton Southeastern, Liz Smith from Westfield, Summer Rempe from Noblesville, Victoria Jackson from Whiteland Community as well as several others are expected to be up front.

Projected Advancing Teams:

Noblesville
Noblesville was victorious against HSE this past weekend which marks the second meet in a row where the Millers have defeated the Royals. Summer Rempe was close to a season best finishing runner-up with a 18:15 while her teammate Nadia Perez ran her best time this season with a 18:22. The team looks to be in a very close battle with HSE yet again next weekend with every point making a significant difference especially in a bigger meet.