Indiana Sends Several to Foot Locker Nationals

Indiana had another successful Foot Locker Midwest Regional showing this year as 5 athletes qualify for nationals for the second consecutive year

In the girls race senior Addison Knoblauch, sophomore Libby Dowty, and senior Nicki Southerland (pictured above) all placed in the top 10 to qualify for nationals in San Diego, CA. This trio finished 2-3-5 with times of 17:23.98, 17:30.73, and 17:32.26 respectively.

They have all beaten each other in different races throughout the season which will make it tough to predict what order they will finish at nationals in two weeks.

Knoblauch appears to be peaking at the right time of the season as she has now qualified for NXN and Foot Locker Nationals. She was fourth at state behind Dowty and Southerland. She was also one position behind Julia Score at state. Julia did not race today and is awaiting a potential at-large bid for NXN after finishing 7th two weeks ago. The Notre Dame commit was able to break away from the rest of the chase pack by the 2 mile and never looked back from there. She also holds the state's best time so far this season with a 16:59.80.

Close behind her was Indiana's state champion with Dowty. She has had a consistently strong season with 8 victories and has only lost to a handful of runners this season. She was Indiana's top finisher at NXR Midwest with a 4th place finish where she beat Knoblauch by a few tenths of a second.

Southerland, who has not raced since state, was 2 seconds behind Dowty and nearly was able to get 4th as Michigan's Jessica Jazwinski finished just .18 seconds ahead. Nicki holds the second best time in the state with a 17:01.90 and has lost to only 6 runners this season as she has now qualified for the second year in a row. If it wasn't evident yet, Notre Dame has one of the best recruiting classes in the country fueled by Indiana talent.

Mallory Weller would also secure a top 24 position where she finished 21st with a 18:14.80 to be Indiana's 4th finisher.

Team Indiana would finish 2nd out of the 7 states that scored a team with Hadessah Austin's 31st place finish with a 18:36.43 being 5th for Indiana.

Girls State Scores
1st: Michigan - 37 points
2nd: Indiana - 62 points
3rd: Wisconsin - 105 points
4th: Illinois - 108 points
5th: Ohio - 169 points
6th: Minnesota - 222 points
7th: Missouri - 473 points

Other Indiana Girls in the Top 75 include:
Caterina Perego finishing 35th with a 18:40.15, almost getting a PR
Jessica Hegedus finishing 39th with a 18:49.09
Joey Rastrelli finishing 43rd with a 18:59.41
Scout Newman finishing 45th with a 19:02.80
Mackenzie Steele finishing 51st with a 19:13.93
Hannah Crain finishing 58th with a 19:34.45


On the boys side senior Cameron Todd and senior Tony Provenzano added to Indiana's list of top 5 finishers with this duo placing 3rd and 5th with times of 15:03.97 and 15:07.60 respectively. Senior Liam Bauschke also had a great race and just misses qualifying with a 12th place finish.

Todd could be seen with his usual strategy of working his way up through the field as he started the race in 21st at the mile where he was about 4 seconds off the lead. He would move up to 7th by the 2 mile before picking off 4 more in the final section of the course. Wearing a Victor Oladipo Pacers jersey it could be argued that Todd was running just to qualify for nationals today. Regardless of his intent, he is a NXN and 2x FootLocker national qualifier and will get style points from us and other Indiana basketball fans. He will look to improve on his 6th place national finish from last season.

Provenzano also worked his way up throughout the race well as he could be seen running just ahead of Todd at the mile in 18th place and the 2 mile in 5th place. In the final wooded section Tony would be able to get around Benjamin Anderson from Colorado while also getting passed by Todd. Provenzano rebounded after a tough NXR Midwest race two weeks ago where he finished 21st. He also avenged his Foot Locker peformance from last year as he was the 3rd finisher out with a 13th place finish one year ago.

Liam Bauschke almost qualifed after finishing 40th in the midwest region last season. He was only 3.15 seconds off of advancing this year in an effort that would lower his PR, which was previously from the NCL Championship back in September, to a 15:15.91.

Team Indiana would also finish 2nd out of the 8 states that scored a team with a very close race against Michigan. Noah Bontrager and Ian Baker would be Indiana's 4th and 5th scorers. Both narrowly missed the top 24 positions with a 25th place finish in 15:32.80 and 26th place finish in 15:34.15 respectively.

Boys State Scores
1st: Michigan - 66 points
2nd: Indiana - 71 points
3rd: Colorado - 89 points
4th: Missouri - 107 points
5th: Ohio - 127 points
6th: Minnesota - 133 points
7th: Illinois - 208 points
8th: Wisconsin - 232 points