High school roundup
CROSS-country
North girls take second
TERRE HAUTE — Columbus North was the top Indiana girls team and finished second overall in Saturday’s Nike Valley Twilight meet at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, site of the state finals.
Beavercreek (Ohio) won the girls meet with 53 points. The fourth-ranked Bull Dogs edged Yorkville (Illinois) 107-108 for second, and third-ranked Carmel was fourth with 117.
Brianna Newell led North with a 13th-place finish in 18 minutes, 46.4 seconds for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles). Lily Baker took 17th in 18:52.0, while Mackenzie Barnett was 20th (19:00.9), Olivia Morlok 23rd (19:04.6), Jessica Meza 41st (19:37.2), Aric Tong 51st (19:48.6) and Kennedy Kerber 81st (20:25.0).
The Bull Dog boys finished sixth. Elmhurst (Illinois) York won with 78 points to 113 for No. 3 Carmel, 187 for No. 6 Bloomington South, 188 for No. 8 Brownsburg, 198 for No. 9 Fishers and 205 for No. 7 North.
Matt Newell finished sixth in 15:42.4 to lead the Bull Dogs. Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff took 23rd in 16:00.0, while Evan Carr was 58th (16:31.9), Collin Pruitt 61st (16:34.5), Andy Stohr 66th (16:37.8), Austin Pulkowski 80th (16:42.4) and Will Kiel 104th (16:59.2).
Meanwhile, the North girls won the Freshman-Sophomore Girls race with 21 points to 43 for runner-up Hamilton Southeastern. Ellen White finished third in 19:56.9, while Sydney Morlok was fourth (20:10.9), Abby Jacobi fifth (20:12.8), Julie Klaus sixth (20:19.2) and Katherine Rumsey eighth (20:35.5).
The Bull Dogs finished third in the Freshman-Sophomore Boys race with 89 points, trailing Bloomington North (33) and Hamilton Southeastern (53). Jacob Strietelmeier took 10th in 17:22.9, while Sam Hobbeheydar was 18th (17:37.8), Clayton Guthrie 19th (17:42.5), John Merritt 20th (17:42.5) and Kellen Hottell 23rd (17:44.0).
Tiebreaker fells Panthers
HANOVER — Jennings County missed capturing another Hoosier Hills Conference title by the slimmest of margins.
The 23rd-ranked Panthers matched No. 14 Floyd Central with 35 points, but the Highlanders won by virtue of a faster sixth runner. Columbus East finished sixth with 155 points.
Jennings’ Carter Leak won the boys race in 16:15. Lane Elsner took third in 16:24, while Gavin Hendrix was fourth (16:26), Drew Stroud 10th (16:46) and AJ Siener 18th (17:04).
Nick Walter finished 14th in 16:51 to lead the Olympians. Tyler Hertle took 33rd in 18:01, while Colby Hertle was 47th (18:25), Casey Bartholomew 50th (18:32) and Ryan Sadtler 51st (18:34).
The Columbus East girls, who were without injured No. 1 runner Olivia Linnemann, edged Jennings 95-98 for third place. No. 8 Floyd Central won with 15 to 74 for runner-up Seymour.
Chloe Krueger led the Olympians with a 13th-place finish in 20:39 and Laurel Knight took 14th in 20:41 to earn honorable mention All-HHC honors. Olivia Shoaf was 19th (21:27), Elizabeth Stevens 30th (22:42) and Jordan Spurgeon 33rd (23:01).
“We were pleased with how we did, considering we were missing some of our varsity runners,” East girls coach Jesse Shoaf said. We’ve been hit by the injury bug this year. But we had several PRs, so that was exciting.”
Emma Morrison finished eighth in 19:54 to lead the Panthers. Halee Franks took 16th in 21:14, while Elizabeth Walhman was 22nd (21:41), Heather Sea 24th (21:59) and Rilee Hicks 42nd (24:08).
Eagle boys finish third
ELLETTSVILLE — Brown County’s boys finished third in the Western Indiana Conference meet. Northview won with 25 points to 98 for Edgewood and 120 for the Eagles.
Chase Austin led Brown County with a third-place finish in 16:58.57. Rafe Silbaugh took 19th in 18:02.66, while Cameron Fox was 24th (18:30.78), Rhett Silbaugh 34th (19:01.36) and Waylon Patrick 40th (19:18.67).
The Eagles had four girls runners, one short of the number needed to score as a team. Hadley Gradolf finished second in 19:25.37, while Anna Fleetwood was 11th (21:25.75), Emma DeBord 17th (22:19.01) and Maris Wyman 23rd (23:00.55).
Lancer runners compete
FRANKLIN — Edinburgh had four boys and two girls compete in the Johnson County meet at Franklin. Center Grove swept the boys and girls team titles.
For the Lancer girls, Alyssa Funkhouser finished 74th in 29:10.99. Hannah File was 77th in 29:20.35.
Parker Young led the Edinburgh boys with a 107th-place finish in 23:17.75. Landen Burton and Bryce Abbett took 111th and 112th in 24:28.28 and 24:31.27, and Bryce Jett was 114th in 29:11.46.
VOLLEYball
Olympians split pair
GREENWOOD — Columbus East split a pair of matches in the North-South Invitational at Center Grove, falling to Hamilton Southeastern 25-11, 25-16, 25-20 and beating Noblesville 18-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13.
Allison Mack pounded a combined 24 kills in the two matches, while Regann Jessee recorded six blocks, Rilee Jessee tallied 31 digs and Cadence Gilley served four aces to lead the Olympians (13-8).
Also for East, Rilee Jessee and Regann Jessee each notched 13 kills, Mady Foster added seven kills and Gabby Dean had three blocks. Kenzie Foster contributed 27 digs and two aces, Mack added 24 digs, Gilley had 16 digs and Rilee Jessee served two aces.
BOYS SOCCER
Columbus Christian falls
Columbus Christian saw its season come to an end with a 3-1 loss to Evansville Christian in the semifinals of the ICSAA South Regional.
C.J. Reed scored on a penalty kick for the Crusaders (1-6-1).
FOOTball
Cougars down Pacers
GREENSBURG — Clayton McNealy scored two touchdowns and ran for 142 yards to lead South Decatur to an 18-6 Mid-Indiana Football Conference win against Switzerland County on Friday.
McNealy ran 1 yard for a score and returned a kickoff 95 yards for another touchdown that gave the Cougars (3-4, 2-1) a 12-6 halftime lead. Quarterback Wyatt Gatewood scored on a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter to put it away.
Jacobi Shook led the defense with nine solo tackles, two assists and two sacks. Kelby Shook had an interception in the end zone.
“That was the best defensive game we played all season,” South Decatur coach Rick Zimmerman said. “They were 5-1, and we played really well.”
Mustangs top Eagles
ELLETTSVILLE — Brown County led 7-6 in the closing minutes, but Edgewood scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion with 1:32 remaining to pull out a 14-7 Western Indiana Conference victory.
“We fought them tooth and nail,” Brown County coach Randy Minniear said. “They just got us at the end. It’s a tough one to lose when it’s that close.”
Cody Walsh scored on an 11-yard run, and Caleb Yager kicked the extra point early in the fourth quarter for the Eagles (2-5, 0-3).
