Previewing the IHSAA Girls State Championship

Libby Dowty from Indian Creek looks to be one of the top competitors to go after Nicki as she was only 3 seconds behind in 4th place at the stacked Nike Twilight competition where she ran a personal best time of 17:09. She was ahead of Nicki at the 4K mark during this race before Nicki had a hard closing K where she picked up 5 seconds on Libby. As a sophomore, Libby has seen a massive improvement from last season where she placed 15th at state. She could contend for the individual title this year depending on how the race plays out. Last week at the Shelbyville regional she had a wide margin of victory at 22 seconds.

Julia Score from Bishop Chatard holds the 5th fastest time from Indiana this season also coming from the evening of Nike Twilight where she ran 17:16. Interestingly she was also ahead of Nicki at the 4K in this race before Nicki showcased her closing speed. Outside of this race, where she lost to Nicki and Libby, she holds a perfect record for this season where she has won 6 5K meets including a dominant 37.2 margin of victory at the Brownsburg regional this past weekend. This was the largest out of any of the regionals. Julia was the top freshman girl last year finishing 10th at state and looks to improve this year.

Wild Cards

Photo by Benson Nguyen

Ava Jarrell from Pendleton Heights has had a great season finishing either runner-up or first in most of her races. She has the state's 3rd fastest time this fall with a 17:05 from the Brown County Eagle Classic where she defeated Libby by 6 seconds. She also had a great race at Nike Twilight where she would finish 9th overall and 4th for the Indiana entries. Despite her successes from this season there is some concern regarding a potential injury. At the Shelbyville regional she had a relatively good race but was further back than expected finishing 11th and could be seen with a noticeable limp afterwards. Monitoring if this will be something Ava can run through or not will be an interesting storyline for this weekend. If at full health Ava is someone to look out for as a dark horse contedner for the title.

Addison Knoblauch, a current Homestead runner and future teammate to Nicki at Notre Dame, also fits into this category. Addison holds a state leading time of 16:59 from the Marion Invitational where she defeated Ava and Nicki by considerable margins. She has picked up a few wins before a good showing at Nike Twilight where she placed 11th overall and 12 seconds behind Ava. The past two weeks she has finished behind Concordia's pair of runners which could be a strategy to save her hardest effort for state. It could just be coincidental but Addison has run a slower time in each of her races over the course of this season which could cause concern for her state title chances. Overall, Addison should be up front early and race well.

Other Top Runners

Josefina Rastrelli, an Indiana University Bloomington commit from Warsaw Community, is the second fastest returner from last year's state meet where she finished 7th with a 18:00. She was 4th behind Addison, Ava, and Nicki at the Marian Invitational early this year and holds a season best time of 17:42 from the FlashRock Invitational. Despite finishing 6th at regionals she still looks to be in the top 10 and potentially even top 5 at state due to how competitive the individual girls race was at the New Haven regional. She has faced Mallory Weller and Lexi Panning 3 times this season with Rastrelli having the upper hand in 2 out of the 3 matchups.

Mallory Weller and Lexi Panning will both play huge roles for Concordia's team as they own the 8th and 12th fastest times in the state for this season at 17:43 and 17:55 respectively from the FlashRock Invitational. Both could be up front early with Lexi looking to improve on her 20th place finish last year. This duo is coming off a 2-3 finish at the New Haven regional behind Nicki and will be important to watch especially for the team race.

Alice Friesen from Huntington North enters the state meet with the top freshman time so far this season with a 18:08. Alice will look to take on her first state championship after racing well all season with her most recent regional performance being the lowest she has finished this season at 5th place. She should be able to race well with the other girls.

Jessica Hegedus, a current Avon runner and future teammate to Josefina at IU Bloomington, has performed exceptionally well this season. She earned the Hoosier Crossroads Conference title in a time that ranks her 6th in the state at 17:40 and also had a great race at Nike Twilight where she finished 12th overall and was the 6th runner from Indiana. She split up the Concordia duo at the FlashRock Invitational this year and should be in the mix with them at state.

Ohio University commit Kaitlyn Stewart from Floyd Central has run an impressive back end of her season as she has not lost a meet since the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational in September where she was the top Indiana runner running a #10 state time of 17:51. Before this race she came 4th at the Brown County Eagle Classic finishing behind Ava, Libby, and Kylie Cline from Franklin Central. Last week she was dominant at the Evansville regional for a 21 second victory and should be very competitive at state.

Maddie Rocchio, another IU Bloomington commit, currently running for North Central finished immediately behind Jessica at the Brownsburg regional last weekend. One of Maddie's most impressive performances came from Nike Twilight where she finished 16th overall and 7th for Indiana. An impressive third place performance from regionals last week sets Maddie up well for state.

Kylie Cline, a recent Butler University commit and runner for Franklin Central was runner-up last weekend to state title contender Libby Dowty. Kylie was runner-up at the Hoosier Crossroads Conference Championship where she ran 17:49, good for 9th in the state. Kylie was right behind Maddie at 17th at Nike Twilight and has run a very consistent season and has improved significantly from last season where her personal best was 19:10.

Hannah Moore from Northwestern, also a Butler commit, finished 4th last weekend at the Brownsburg regional close behind Jessica and Maddie. At Nike Twilight she should have been placed in the championship races as she dominated the open field winning by over 40 seconds with a 18:27. She has run 18:09 this year with this Saturday and will look to improve her 19th place medalist position from last year.

Maggie Powers from Hamilton Southeastern, and recent Loyola University commit, has had herself a noteworthy season highlighted by an individual and team win at the Hamilton County Championship back in August. She has run a time of 18:01 this year and was third to Libby and Kylie last week at the Shelbyville regional. Maggie could be right in the mix to improve upon her 16th place finish at state last year.

Liz Smith from Westfield has ran against Maggie several times this year and currently has bested her twice out of their 6 matchups. Her time is also right behind Maggie at 15th in the state with a 18:02. Liz finished 4th at the Shelbyville regional and has seen a big year of improvement which could potentially lead to her medaling in her first cross country state appearance.

Whitney Anderson from Valparaiso looked strong to win a muddy New Prairie regional. Whitney has the 4th fastest time in the state for freshmen girls and has won 7 out of the 9 races she has run this year. It will be interesting to see how she places relative to the other freshmen in the field as several look to be in contention for top 25 positions.

Others Potentially Challenging for Top 25 All-State

Dakotah Moore - 2nd at New Prairie
Mary Eubank - 3rd at New Prairie
Rowyn Norris - 7th at New Haven
Sidney Scheumann - 8th at New Haven
Kenya Leitch - 9th at New Haven
Sadie Foley - 5th at Brownsburg
Hadessah Austin - 6th at Brownsburg
Elizabeth Rocchio - 7th at Brownsburg
Savana Miller - 5th at Shelbyville
Victoria Jackson - 6th at Shelbyville
Callie Bentley - 7th at Shelbyville
Elizabeth Butler - 8th at Shelbyville
Summer Rempe - 9th at Shelbyville
Alivia Lozier - 10th at Shelbyville
Jasmine Martoglio - 2nd at Evansville
Peyton Smith - 3rd at Evansville
Lexi Kollbaum - 4th at Evansville
Carys Glyn Jones - 5th at Evansville
Maddie Graber - 6th at Evansville

In the Mix for Team Win and Podium

Concordia looks to be the slight favorites heading into the state meet and could become state champions for the first time since the 3rd IHSAA girls state championship back in 1983 when the girls only ran 3,000m. Concordia has one of the best duos in the state with Mallory Weller and Lexi Panning finishing up front in nearly every race. The pair has run season bests of 17:43 and 17:55 respectively this season. At the FlashRock Invitational earlier this year there was a mini state preview between some of the state's top teams. Concordia came out on top with Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, and North Central all finishing within 32 points of each other. Having two low sticks plus having Sidney Scheumann capable of getting all-state could play a significant role in Concordia's odds at a state title.

Noblesville is the defending state champion on the girls side and returns 4 to the lineup for this year. The team has had its scoring 5 all run 19:01 or faster this year which is the fastest out of any #5 runners in the state this year. The Millers have seen Hamilton Southeastern at nearly every meet this season with almost every competition coming down to single digits point differentials. For the first couple of meets HSE seemed to have the advantage, however Noblesville now has a 3 meet streak against the Royals including a 18 point victory at the Shelbyville regional. Summer Rempe has led the team the past two weeks of the tournament and will look to run with a pack that could potentially have 3-4 runners place in all-state positions.

Hamilton Southeastern is a team that has seen massive improvement from last year with hopes of a state title for this weekend. The team has battled with Noblesville several times and have come up short handed the past couple of weeks. These races have been close and the team could upset both Concordia and Noblesville if either have an off day. The Royals have 3 runners that could be in contention for a state title with Maggie Powers leading the team throughout the tournament so far placing 3rd at the Noblesville sectional and Shelbyville regional.

North Central looks to improve upon its successes of last season where the team placed 4th at state. Maddie and Elizabeth Rocchio have led the team this season including an 18 point victory at the Brownsburg regional. One of the team's most impressive races this year was a 5th place finish at Nike Twilight where they finished 7 points behind Concordia and ahead of Hamilton Southeastern and Carmel. This team could also see 3-4 runners placing in an all-state position and could be right in the mix for the team championship.

Homestead has Addison Knoblauch to help out the team as she has consistently placed well for the team including a 3rd place finish at the Logansport Sectional and a 4th place finish at the New Haven Regional. Having such a low scorer will certainly help out team standings. Homestead has battled Concordia throughout the season and has had a similar rivalry to Noblesville vs HSE. Some of the closest matchups have included Homestead winning by 1 point at the Taylor University Invitational in August and with Homestead winning by 3 points at sectionals. Homestead has appeared to perform weaker in bigger meets such as Nike Twilight and New Haven Regional which is a concerning trend if the team looks to perform well enough for a state title this weekend.

Carmel was runner-up last weekend to North Central at the Brownsburg regional. The team was led by Sadie Foley's 5th place performance with the team getting their 4th and 5th runners in before North Central's 5th. The team has one of the deepest squads out of all other teams listed. Their depth worked to their advantage at the Culver Academies Invitational this year where the team beat Concordia on a 6th runner tiebreaker. The Greyhounds placed 3rd last year and will need to have a great day if they wish to maintain or improve.

Teams that could round out the top 10

Valparaiso was dominant at the New Prairie regional winning by 57 points and placing all 5 of their scorers in the top 18 in a meet that consisted of 239 girls. Whitney Anderson has led the team this year with a season best time of 18:21. Valparaiso finished 7th as a team last year and is on the outside looking in this year for the podium but could pounce if teams projected in front of them have off days.

Franklin Central finished in a close third at the Shelbyville regional finishing just 21 points behind. Kylie Cline and Savana Miller had impressive performances last week with both finishing in the top 5. The team's #3 and #4 also placed well with the team's biggest weakness from regionals coming with the last scorer. The team should be able to fight for a top 10 team position this weekend.

Bloomington South won the Evansville regional by placing Jasmine Martoglio, Lexi Kollbaum, and Aurelia Martoglio in the top 6 scoring positions. This trio has all ran 19:09 or faster this season and could significantly help the team standings this weekend. The team finished 16th last year and looks to be in good shape to improve upon last year's performance.

Westfield placed 4th in a competitive Shelbyville regional with Liz Smith and Alivia Lozier both placing in the top 10 overall. The team placed 8th two years ago and did not qualify last year after placing 6th at regionals with the old tournament format. The Shamrocks return to state this year and should be in a good position to battle other teams with every point for their #3-#5 being critical for the team.

There are 15 high quality teams outside of this list that could all have great days as well. There will be teams not mentioned that will potentially finish in the top 10. The best thing about the Indiana state meet is being able to prove everyone wrong with it being just one race. We are looking forward to a great weekend of racing and the storylines that come from it. Make sure to share your photos and videos from state by tagging @MileSplitIN on Instagram and X (Twitter). Best of luck to all 25 girls teams and 75 girls individuals that qualified for state!