Past Seasons' Results‎ > ‎2013‎ > ‎

'13 Team

 Meet Info Meet Notes/Details
 8/24/13 Early Bird Meet (BHSN Invitational, at Lavern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute.)

Boys: 4th/15 
Record: 11-3 (.786)

Girls: 11th/15
Record: 4-10 (.286)
BOYS RESULTS:
 The boys had a strong start to the season, improving our team standings from last year’s meet.  The top seven of Phillips, Weller, Gossett, Bower, Rund, Hardy, and Cottingham took 4th place.  Hank led the way for our guys by running a new PR (17:15) on the first race, on a pretty challenging course.  Tre Bower had a big breakthrough today, coming with in a few seconds of his PR, and running 4th for us.  He has worked his butt off, all summer long, and to see him make that kind of push as the race unfolded was exciting.  What really stood out to me today, watching the guys run, was that no one seemed to have a bad race.  Often, that first meet, there will be at least a couple of guys who get too amped up and take off too quick. The guys seemed to be pretty in control of their pace and they were finishing strong, which were both things that we had discussed throughout the week.  This was especially impressive to see the Freshmen and Sophomores in our group run with that kind of control.   The younger guys did a nice job of not getting too wrapped up in the excitement of their first 5K.  We had three guys (Weller, Rund, Phillips) set PRs; had a few others within 15 seconds of theirs; and multiple others who ran 1-2 minutes faster than at this same meet a year ago.  Definitely signs of progress were showing, and starts the competitive season in the right direction.

 

GIRLS RESULTS:

  The girls were led by an outstanding race from Hannah Sears.  All summer long she has been building her strength, and has really impressed her teammates (and coach) with what she is doing in practice.  It was great to see her start the competitive season on the right foot.  Running about 2:00 faster than her time here last year, Hannah is showing signs that she is now adjusted to the 5K distance and is ready to take her racing to the next level, as she has with her training.   For most of the other girls, this was really about establishing a starting point.  Only one (Stacy) had ever run a 5K, and she was doing so off of a few days being sick.  We just needed to get some times established, see them finish strong, and know that they could complete the race.  We also needed to get a whole meet experience under our belts so we could learn what to do (or what not to do) for our race-day routine.  Understanding how to race, not run, will be a key as the season unfolds.  But now we have a time to start from, we will be looking to build on that and start realizing the potential that these girls have.  

 8/31/13 Danville Hokum Karem

Boys: 5th/17
Record: 23-7 (.767)

Girls: 4th/11    
Record: 11-13 (.458)
BOYS RESULTS:
 The boys ran real strong today, continuing to show that we are well ahead of where we were at last season.  Last season's scoring pairs placed 12th, 50th, and 56th, which was good for 9th overall as a team.  Today, the pairs placed 13th, 19th, and 36th, good for 5th.  The scoring was led by the pair of Hank Phillips and Nathan Weller.  Both guys ran 1 mi times comparable to some of their individual 1600 performances in track this past spring.  They really set a tone for the rest of the guys, and Gossett/Rund followed them up with strong runs of their own.  Gossett, in particular looked much more "on it" today, compared to last week.  Rund kept those long legs turning, and just kept fighting all the way through.  He ran a real gutsy set of miles.  Hardy/Bower demolished their previous times from last year, and keep showing the signs of improvement that we have all seen throughout the summer.  One of the surprises of the race was Michael Houghton.  He is new to cross country, and as a senior he has a steep learning curve, but he really ran well in his first varsity race.  Much improved over last week. 

GIRLS RESULTS:
 WOW!  What a difference a week makes!  This looked like a different team on the course from what we had last week.  Girls were fighting for position from the gun, and keeping their partners in striking distance of the packs ahead of them.  Hannah Davis made a particularly strong move to stick with a pack, which allowed her partner to then run her mile in a pack, as opposed to trying to do it all on her own.  Litten looked much stronger today as well.  But the highlight of the meet for the Mustangs was undoubtedly the awesome run by the pair of Sears and Hornick.  Celine came through her first mile faster than she had ever run a single mile before...then she turned around and ran two more strong legs, racing in the front of the pack with legitimately fast runners.  She did not back down in the slightest, and just kept attacking.  That kind of fight and intensity makes this team so much stronger.  And what can I say about Hannah Sears???  How about "BEAST MODE"!?!  She has positioned herself through the summer to have a great season, leading the way for our team, and she certainly did that again today.  She has started to really find her rhythm during her races and has maintained her fierce focus, constantly tracking down whoever might be in front of her.  It is still very early in our season, but to see the girls make such drastic improvement in one week, further fuels my optimism about what this team can accomplish this year.  Keep up the good work ladies!
 9/3/13 
Mustang Invitational

Boys: 1st/8
Record: 30-7 (.811)

Girls: 4th/8  
Record: 15-16 (.484)
BOYS RESULTS:
 The boys set out with a goal in mind, and would not let anything stand in their way today.  It was our first ever home meet on this new course, and they did not want to let another team walk off with that trophy.  Gossett ran a real strong race, pushing the pace from the gun.  The 3K was about the point where Cole Chuddy from Lighthouse really took off and started to run away with the meet.  He is an extremely strong runner, from a program on the rise.  Gossett did an admirable job holding on, when he was tired in the latter stages of the race.  He looks like he is starting to round into shape though, and him running with confidence makes this whole team better.  He pulled Hank through the first stages of the race and really made Hank work to stay up near the front.  Phillips kept grinding (in typical Phillips fashion) and was able to hold on for second.  Taking 2nd and 3rd in a meet goes a LONG way toward helping win the meet.  Though the eyeball test did not show Weller feeling as good as previous couple of meets, he did work his way up through a pack that started to pull away from him in the first 1K.  He ended 10th, putting 3 of our scoring 5 in the top ten...again, a good way to help bring home the hardware.  Hardy and Bower rounded out our scorers today, placing 15th and 18th respectively.  David looked strong the whole race, while Bower really showed his stuff in the second half of the race.  As he continued to pick up positions, he closed the race strong, ending with a fantastic finish surge to pick off one final competitor.  Kyle Rund and Jayce Lloyd rounded out our Varsity boys with 25th and 44th place respectively.  This was Jayce's first race back, and he showed that he is legitimately putting himself in the mix for varsity spots.  But less than a minute back from him was Alex Michael and Michael Houghton.  These three figure to be vying for the #7 spot moving forward...that is unless some of the other guys start closing that gap, which I suspect will come in time.  

It is still early in our season, and we did not set out in the summer to peak at our invitational.  That being said, keeping the trophy on school grounds is a great way to start building momentum moving forward. 


GIRLS RESULTS: 
The girls were once again led by Hannah Sears, who led from gun, to tape.  It was clear before the 1K mark that she was determined to take hold of the race and not let go.  She ended up winning by more than 1:30!!  Now, to be sure, there is still a lot to work on as we move forward, but she is so focused and hungry right now, that wont be a problem.  Celine Hornick made a heck of a debut, placing 9th in her first ever 5K.  The time of 23:11 was a teriffic one, which placed her firmly in Edgewood's all-time top 20.  Watch for bigger things to come from Celine.  The rest of the girls raced much more like a team than we saw at Terre Haute.  It appeared that on the heels of the Danville meet, we are finally starting to get the importance of working with our teammates.  There was more than one occasion during the race where I saw two or three of our girls make moves to pass other girls.  The really tried to respond to the added benefit of pushing a teammate, rather than letting them fall off or blow by.  Still gonna be a steep learning curve as we figure out how to put a full 5K together.  

 9/7/13: Artesian Classic At Martinsville

Boys: 2nd/15 (ClassA)
Record: 43-8 (.843)

Girls: 5th/14 (ClassA)
Record: 24-20 (.545)		 BOYS RESULTS:
The boys came into the meet knowing that they could compete for the win in the Class A race.  They all ran well, but fell short of overtaking South Dearborn, who put all of their scoring 5 under 18 minutes.  However, we needed to come out of today knowing that we were still getting stronger, and we definitely did that.  Gossett and Phillips led our crew today with 8th/9th finish, and a strong number 3 run by weller in 16th.  Hardy, Rund, and Bower all came through in a pack from 18:30-18:33.  This was nice to see them racing well together, and pulling each other along.  Jayce rounded out our varsity runners, by running 19:01, just a few seconds off a PR in only his second race back from injury.  We know we have a lot of room to improve this season, yet this team continues to look like we are making strides in the right direction.  

GIRLS RESULTS: 
Hannah Sears was the leader for the Mustangs today, taking second in the race, smashing a school record in the process.  The old record of 19:49 by Becca Jacobs was bested by Hannah's 19:21.  Hannah ran a smart race, to hold onto second place, and was pulling away from the #3 runner in the final 1K.  Freshman Celine Hornick earned her third podium finish in as many races, as she placed 23rd for the Mustangs.   Her time of 22:15 gives her one of the top times by a Mustang freshman runner.  She continues to develop into a number two that this team will need moving forward.  The rest of the pack actually looked like a full, competitive team, for the first time this season.  The group of Davis, Litten, Collings, and Nethery all came in under 25 minutes, led by Davis' 24:02.  This group will have to continue to improve on a steep learning curve as the season progresses if we are to have a shot at the WIC title later in the season, but today was surely a fantastic step in the right direction.  We are starting to B> we were at the season's start.  
 9/12/13: Clay City Invite

Boys: 2nd/7
Record: 48-9 (.842)

Girls: 3rd/6
Record: 27-22 (.551)		Todays meet was in the middle of a tough stretch of training.  Our runners executed their plan and learned some things about themselves, as runners today.   We need to learn how to actually race, and today will definitely fit into our plan to do that.  

BOYS RESULTS:
To start, both Phillips (2nd) and Gossett (3rd) were about 30 seconds than last year's winning time, so hats off to Luke Sweet of Shakamak.  He ran a strong race.  Our guys got a chance to push themselves under the tough physical stress of this segment of our training, and did what they needed to.  Just about all the returning boys were 1-2 minutes faster than at this race last year.  All of our new guys ran times right in line with what our incoming guys ran last year, which continues a trend that shows continual imrovement.  Rund looked particularly strong coming in the final 2K, and congratulations to Michael Houghton on winning the JV race.  He just came out this year, but has really started to take big steps forward as a runner.  Harrison Cottingham also ran a faster time than his previous best, but came off the course knowing that he is still getting stronger as a runner. 

GIRLS RESULTS:  
Today was a day to test ourselves.  The girls did that today.  This is arguably their toughest week of training ever, and the girls ran a tough race.  As with the boys, our returning runners (Sears and Nethery) were each about 2:00 faster than their race here last year, and last year was not in such a tough stretch of training. Sears ran the race just like we wanted to see in the first half, to position herself to be well ahead.  Once that happened she found the rhythm she needed, en route to a win, posting a time that was almost 2:00 faster than last year, and which saw her win the race by more than 1:00.  Audrey Litten actually ran what looked like her strongest race of the season, even though Martinsville's time was faster.  She, Nethery, Davis and Collings are starting to form a more solid core to fill out the scoring spots after 1 & 2.


  9/14/13: Eagle Classic At Brown County

Boys: FR/SO 8th/14 (6-7)
Varsity 12th/21 (9-11)
Record: 63-27 (.700)

Girls: 9th/15 (6-8)
Record: 33-35 (.485)		BOYS RESULTS:
This meet is scored a little differently on the boys side, since we split our team today.  We ran three of our varsity members in the Freshman/Sophomore race, and had some JV upperclassmen in the varsity race.  Splitting the teams made the team results look worse than they boys really ran.  We needed to be smart out of the start, and work into the race today.  Our boys did that, but many actually got out a little on the slow side, and in such a large meet, passing was really difficult in the first mile or so.  That actually slowed most of our top runners down a bit today in their final times.  The eyeball test was that they ran really well and it left no doubt in my mind that our guys are ready to run much faster than they did today.  

That being said, there were still a lot of PR's, especially from our younger guys.  Trowbridge, Alex Michael, Cottingham, Michael Houghton, Kane McCloud, Seth Sears, and Jayce Lloyd all set new PRs today.  Alex, Harrison, and Kane, all ran times which will put some pressure on the tail end of our varsity boys moving forward.   Hank Phillips ran his first race ever under 17:00 today, and was really impacted by the bunched up nature of having 40-some teams on the start line.  He and Gossett worked real well together again, and are both poised to have big drops in the coming weeks.  They looked real strong in the last two miles.  

GIRLS RESULTS:
Man, did the girls take a big step forward today!  Sears ran a strong race, despite not being at 100%, and was good enough to take the runner-up spot in the Class A division.  Celine ran an outstanding race, continuing to show that this is a sport she can really excel at.  She has a tenacity that wont quit, and she is now ready to drop under 21 minutes, which places her firmly in the top ten all time, and with a shot at a top five spot by the season's end.  Stacy Nethery blew by her previous PR from last year by running 23:00, and then Collings, Davis and Litten were all within 30 seconds of her.  Our pack is starting to tighten up a little bit.  There is still a lot of work to do if we are going to be able to challenge for a WIC title, but today was a gigantic step forward from where we were just a few weeks ago.  Welcoming back Miranda Drake to the lineup will be sure to help things on race day as well, as the season gets into its latter stages. 


 9/21/13: Crawford County Invitational

Boys: 4th/29 (25-3)
Record: 88-30 (.746)

Girls: 7th/22 (15-6)
Record: 48-41 (.593)



 This was our first taste of what I call "true" cross country today...some hills, some woods, and some mud.  All adds up to a fun, challenging race.  Our teams continued their progression towards being greater.  Full results are figured by hand, and it takes a while to get due to the format of the races.  The freshmen/sophomores run one race, and the juniors/seniors run a separate race.  Team scores are figured by combining the results from both races, and scoring teams based on the 5 fastest times (not places) of each school's runners.  Once we get those I will post them on the site. UPDATE:  The full results have been posted.

BOYS: 
The 4th place finish by the boys was a strong showing.  We were 4th here last season, but it was out of 24 teams and this year it was out of 29.  We were also MUCH closer to the 2nd and 3rd place teams than we were last year.  Our strong sophomore trio of Weller, Hardy, and Rund had another pretty strong race, even though we still have room to improve.  Based on previous year's experience, this course typically sees times about a minute slower than PR times. (The winner today was around 16:20, after running low 15s a week ago at Brown County, just to give some grounds for comparison.)  Those three were anywhere between 7-30 seconds off of their PRs, which bodes well for us as we move forward, and need to start seeing the times drop heading to BNL next week. Freshman Alex Michael has started to show that he is throwing his hat in the ring for a varsity spot, and today definitely made a strong case for him.  His previous best of 19:19 was just missed with his 19:35 today.  It was easily the strongest he has looked all season.  We expected good things from him coming into the season, and it seems that he is starting to become that runner for us. 

The junior/senior race was highlighted by Michael Gossett's race which saw him challenge for the lead from the start.  After getting caught in traffic last week at Brown County, we wanted to work on better positioning early in the race.  Michael definitely did that, by throwing down the gauntlet.  Matching his time from a year ago, under less than ideal conditions, he has started to show some more consistency of late, and has returned to the form we have been accustomed to seeing the past couple of seasons.  Hank Phillips was looking very strong through the first half, and continued to pick up spots during the second mile.  Some bad cramps during the final stages of the race had him visibly hurting as he continued to fight through the finish.  Tre Bower bounced back from last week, by running more than a minute faster than his time here last year, showing that he has no intention of relinquishing his varsity spot.  His effort this summer continues to pay dividends for him as his times all are right on pace to be that kind of 5/6 runner we need for this team to be greater than we were.

GIRLS: 
Today's race put the girls back over the .500 mark on the season, led by another outstanding race today from Hannah Sears.  The decision at the first K (when she was in 5th place) to make a move to stay with the front three was an important move for her to make.  From there, she continued to stay focused on the girl ahead of her and was in attack mode the entire race.  Though she did not catch the eventual winner, she continued to close on her all the way through the final K.  With one mile to go, the leader was about 30 seconds ahead and Sears closed the gap to 13 seconds.  A year ago, this might have been a race where she would settle in and just hold position.  She has taken big strides in her ability to actually "race" instead of running.  Celine Hornick picked up a medal for her 9th place finish in the freshman division, and just continues to bring a toughness to the team that we have undoubtedly benefited from.  With such a young team, I was uncertain as to what leadership we would see from our group, and though she does not say too much, it is clear that we are a "tougher" team when she is in the mix.  Audrey Litten was challenged today to run like I have known she was capable.  She turned in her best race of the season, just missing a PR by 10 seconds.  She and Nethery picked eachother up and both ran like we need to see from our pack coming in behind Celine.  Though Hannah Davis did not feel like she found her rhythm during portions of the race, she found her focus and came back in a strong second half, as did Natalie Collings who was steadily moving up the field in the second half.  I just look back to where this group was a few weeks back, and to see them run like they did today and still be hungry, shows me that they are starting to believe in the potential that I have been seeing.  

 9/24/13: Dual @ O.V.

Boys: 1-0
Record: 89/30 (.748)

Girls: 0-1 
Record: 48-42 (.533)    		This was our first time seeing the course.  When we talk about a hilly course, this is it.  We did pretty well with it considering it was a day we had quite a few people out.  (just some little things and kids under the weather).  We really want to be ready to go on Saturday at BNL, so we just had to back off a few for the night. 

 BOYS:
Michael Gossett took control of the race after the big hill at the 1K mark, and never relenquished the lead.  He continued to push once he made his move.  The next pack of Weller, Hardy, Lloyd, and Rund was all competing for the 3rd place spot, just getting outkicked in the final quarter mile.  Bower and Alex Michael looked stronger in their second half, but learned the importance of not sitting back too long.  This was a race where the guys had a chance to learn some racing strategy, and I could see after the race that they had picked up some things to apply in future races.  

GIRLS: 
The girls were without a few of our runners today, and actually only had a scoring team because Christina jumped in and ran the race when called upon by her teammates...then she ran her fastest 5K ever, on the hardest course we run all season!!  Congratulations to her.  Hannah Sears once again took command of the race from the front and never let go.  She looked pretty strong through most of the race, and is continuing to show a focus and perserverence throughout the entire 5K distance.  Nethery also looked particularly strong today.  After posting a personal best of 23:00 a couple of weeks ago, she has had a  couple of real strong races on tough courses.  She is setting herself up nicely as we move towards the end of the season.  Though Litten and Davis struggled at times through the race, they continued to push.  It will definitely be a race that helps us with our season long goals, since we now have some  more experience in tough spots during a race. 
 9/28/13: Ted Fox Memorial Invitational @ BNL

Boys: 13th/27 (14-12)
Record: 103-42 (.710)

Girls: 12th/24 (12-11)
Record: 60-53 (.531)		 It was a beautiful, early fall day, just right for racing.  The teams ran a pretty solid race on both sides, though we still have room to improve.   

BOYS:
All of our varsity boys today ran much stronger than this race a year ago.  Michael Gossett led the way for the boys today with a really solid race. His splits were the most even he has run all season, and he looked real strong through the final stages of the race, which led to a PR by 17 seconds.  His time of 16:42 was enough to place him in 19th.  At our number two and three spot, Phillips and Weller ran just a few seconds off their PRs, and were faster than this race last season (24s and 43s), and improved finish position by 16 spots and 42 spots respectively.  Hardy and Rund came through in "official" time of 18:21 and 18:28, though there was a jumble at the finish and I believe both came through a few seconds quicker than that. Regardless, as with our first three, these two moved up the ranks from last years race: 114th to 99 for Hardy, and 150 to 108 for Rund.  We know that we still have some things to work on this week, but today another sign of the team moving in the right direction.

GIRLS:
The girls really bounced back well from the Tuesday night meet against OV.  It was a real tough course, and some of the girls were down about the times.  What we had to remember though was that each course adn each day  is different, and just because you run one way (good or bad) on one course/day, doesn't mean you are destined to repeat it.   The girls set out to make sure that was true.  Hannah's 5th place finish in 19:12 broke her own school record of 19:20 she set a few weeks back at Martinsville.  Celine Hornick continues to improve each race out.  The time was less than 10s off a PR, but the course is hillier, and typically a little slower than where her PR was set.  The same is true for Nethery, Litten, Davis, and Collings. We knew at the start of the season that the learning curve would be steep for this group and I still think we are waiting to see just how high the cieling is going to be for these girls.  The time to find out for sure is upon us.  WIC is next week and Sectionals to follow.  
 10/1/13: Monroe Co. Meet

Boys: 4th/4 (0-3)
Record: 103-45 (.700)

Girls: 4th/4 (0-3)
Record: 60-56 (.517)		 The course was in great shape, and it was a real nice day for racing for the first running of the Monroe County meet on our new course.  The team came into the race a little shorthanded, having a few people a little under the weather.  13 of the 15 that ran, were faster than the previous time on our course, back on September 3rd.  We like the progress we are continuing to see, all the way through this part of the season.  New course records were set by Kyle Burks of Bloomington South (16:20) and Kate Raphael of Bloomington South (20:00).  The Mustangs were led by freshman Celine Hornick today, in 17th with a time of 22:32.  Michael Gossett led the boys' effort with a 12th place finish (17:44).  

The meet on Saturday looks like it might shape up to be a tight race.  The team will be ready to go, as we head back to a course that we have all had a good deal of success on.  The quest to B> continues. 
 10/5/13: WIC @ Brown County

Boys: 2nd/7 (5-1)
Record: 108-46 (.701)

Girls: 2nd/7 (5-1)
Record: 65-57 (.533)		Both the boys and girls teams ran extremely well today.  Both teams turned in races that a coach is certainly proud to see.  They ran with heart, and raced strong, turning in the Team Runner-Up in both races, including strong runs by the JV runners as well. 

BOYS:
The Edgewood boys came into today knowing that it would be a tight race for the WIC title.  Today we were racing against a team on a mission.  Our prayers are with the family of Northview's former coach, who had resigned his position earlier this season for some health concerns. Their team has a good senior leader and they real a strong race, and our hats are off to them for a strong performance today.  

Taking the runner-up spot, our boys continued to show that we are still moving in the right direction and are still growing as runners and as racers.  Between Gossett's charge off the line; Phillips' gutsy final mile; and the sophmore trio of Weller, Hardy, and Rund pushing one another through the final stages, our team gave everything they had today.  Kyle and David really looked strong today.  It was a nice, complete race.  Fun to watch. Gossett really was going after it today, and then after surrendering the second spot during the final mile, he responded to edge out the other runner to take second.  That team effort was continued by Jayce Lloyd, who ran his strongest race ever.  He ran with a kind of focus that was evident in his performance.  It is a good sign that we have our number six runner starting to close up on the top 5.  Junior Tre Bower continued his strong season, showing continual progress from the previous season.  He improved time from this race last year by 30+ seconds. 
Freshmen Alex Michael and Kane McCloud keep improving all the time and are figuring out how to put races together. Harrison, Michael, Nick and Seth, and Kalem Tatem all have had fine seasons and have improved a great deal.  They have worked hard all season long.

GIRLS:
Hannah led the way for the field, finishing in 19:53, to take her second consecutive WIC title.  She took the lead at the start of the race and looked determined to hold it for the full 5K.  It was really cool to see her just go after it, and maintain that focus on it through the race.  It was a really incredible run!  Celine took a challenge today, and went with the front pack.  It was a real gutsy performance, that saw her work to hang onto the lead group, while pulling away from the second pack.  In that next pack Stacy held strong, turning in what was her best, most complete race of the season.  Stacy has really started to figure out how to race and continues to push to make improvements. Natalie, Hannah Davis, and Audrey ran well together again.  For this group to go into their first WIC race at this level, and have each other there to keep you going proved to be a big help.  They were withing range of one another through the first two miles of the race and helped pull and push each other to get to the final stage of the race, where there were still spots to be gained.  Strong finishes today helped secure the runner-up spot for the girls.  It was just a real nice, team race to watch, as a fan of races.

  10/15/13: IHSAA SECTIONAL @ BNL

Boys: 4th/12 (8-3)
Record: 116-49 (.703)

Girls: 5th/11 (6-4)
Record: 71-61 (.539)		 BOYS AND GIRLS TEAMS MOVE ON TO REGIONALS!!

BOYS:
The boys came into todays race knowing that they had a shot to advance, but that they would not be coasting through today by any stretch.  After being a little down for the past couple of weeks, Hank Phillips and Michael Gossett looked like they are starting to get a little healthier at the right time.  Hank, in particular looked like he ran his best race.  Though it was a second or two off his PR, he really started to show some of the form that we expected we would be seeing prior to his setback.  Nathan Weller ran a real strong race for us today in the number three spot.  He was just a few seconds off his PR, in conditions that were good but not as perfect as the previous best times he has run.  Junior Tre Bower picked up a lot of spots in the latter stages of the race, which was crucial for the boys team to secure the #4 spot.  Sophomores David Hardy and Kyle Rund had set themselves up nicely in the first half of the race, but struggled a bit in the latter stages.  Thought they held together pretty well down the stretch, it was one of those kinds of races that will definitely fuel their fire for the next time out.  Junior Jayce Lloyd also ran a strong race, as he has battled through some aches as the season has progressed.  The big thing for the boys is that we still have areas where we can definitely do better.  I know this group.  They are hungry.  They are feeling like things are starting to click a little bit, and that it is happening at the right time.  Saturday will be an exciting, challenging race, and it is one that our boys will surely be ready to take on.  

GIRLS:
Hannah Sears led the Mustangs today with a third place finish, sparked by a strong move prior to the two mile, which saw her pull away with the third spot.  Though she still has room to improve, and is still learning to trust in her abilities, she has continued to grow more confident as the season has progressed.  She has been making stronger moves to pass competitors and is learning how to position herself early in races to be competitive at the end. Freshman Celine Hornick was a strong number two for us today, taking 23rd.  She is such a tough runner, and what she lacks in race experience she definitely makes up for with a fight that wont quit.  Stacy Nethery and Audrey Litten were solid at the 3-4 spots for us, taking 32nd and 38th respectively.  These two have really started to solidify themselves in those spots and have continued to learn how to put together a complete race.  Hannah Davis ran a gutsy race today, and really had a strong finish which was important to secure the final advancing spot.  We talk all the time about the importance of each position and today was exactly what we were talking about.  The difference between advancing or not was a really slim margin, and it took the full effort of all five girls that were out there today to extend the season. 

   10/19/13: IHSAA REGIONAL @ BNL

Boys: 7th/10 (3-6)
Record: 119-55 (.684)

Girls: 7th/10 (3-6)
Record: 74-67 (.525)		SEARS, GOSSETT, and PHILLIPS ON TO SEMI-STATE!!

The fall cross country season just would seem quite right if we didn’t have some rain or cold or wind for some of the IHSAA state series meets.  The Mustang cross country teams were at the slightly muddy BNL course on Saturday for the Regional meet.  This is where we saw both teams’ seasons come to a close, with a 7th place finish for each side.  We knew that we would have to have some things go our way to advance beyond today, but that we had a shot.  The boys especially came into the meet looking to challenge for an advancing spot, and they did challenge for it.  We knew realistically that there were about five teams competing for the final two spots, but we had a good shot to make it happen if we ran like we are capable.  The race proved to be a tight one, as only 30 points separated the 4th from the 8th spot.   I have to give credit to Northview and Terre Haute North.  They ran well and did what was necessary to secure the final two spots.  We just came up a little shy of advancing the team, though we did have some excellent individual performances.

Hannah Sears was determined to lead her team from the front of the pack.  She kept with the front group from the gun, and was challenging herself to stay in that race through the first mile.  She did just that, and then some.  The more confident she races, the stronger she runs.  It is really fun to watch her race when she is in that attack mode.  As the season has progressed and she has continued to see improvement, she has continued to get more confident.  As a result she has taken more chances, and has been more willing to push outside of her comfort zone a little more.  Today, that translated into a faster race than on Tuesday, even though the course had some sloppier conditions.

Celine Hornick capped a fine freshman season with one final, strong race.   Celine was just one spot (4 seconds) from advancing on to the Semi-state meet with Hannah.  Seeing where she is at as a runner and a competitor right now, it is amazing to back to the first start of this season.  The goals she set for herself were realistic at the time, but she has far surpassed them, and made a huge contribution to the teams success this season.  Nethery was a solid three, Davis had a nice bounce-back race in our four spot, Litten rounded out our scoring five today, and Natalie was our final varsity competitor today .  The experience gained by running in this meet today, will prove to be important for the girls moving forward.

 

In the boys race, Michael Gossett and Hank Phillips were once again the leaders for Edgewood’s boys.  Michael made a strong move at about the 1K that put him in contention with some of the right people.   In a race like this it can be difficult to determine what kind of pace to set but he did an excellent job at keying on the people around him and racing the positions, not necessarily a time. Hank had the same idea and gave a great effort.  Hank is such a competitor and will grind out some races that other kids would check out on.  The tough and scary thing about cross country is that when the gun goes off, there is no time out.  Once you are in the middle of a race and you see things not going exactly the way you had hoped, you have to regroup on the fly.  Hank is excellent at doing that, which is why he has been so consistent throughout the season, and todays finish was a result of that approach.  Things could have gotten away from him but he never quits, and keeps pushing all the way through the finish. 

 

Nathan Weller continued his progress this season, making dramatic improvement over his performance in this race last season.  Time aside (19:19 to 18:10), he just ran much smarter.  At a point early in the race when he realized that he was further back than he wanted to be, due to a slower than expected start, he responded with a surge to move himself up the field immediately.  As a result, he was competing with faster competitors during the rest of the race.  That move early in the race was a crucial moment for him, and is one that helped ensure he was holding a solid number three spot for us.  David Hardy and Tre Bower came through as our next two runners, rounding out our scoring, with both improving over their race here last year.  Jayce Lloyd ran a real strong race for us in the six spot today, and it ended up being the difference between a 7th and 8th place finish, as the final score came down to a tie-break.  He was fighting for position through the final mile of the race and one of the kids he passed during that stretch was the number 6 from Shakamak, who we beat out due to that tie-break.   Kyle Rund gutted out one final race for his sophomore season.  I recognize that as the coach there are some things I will have to improve on to help our guys run stronger at the end of the season, but after dealing with a major setback last season, he solidified his spot on the varsity roster with a lot of improvement this year.  It was a successful season for this group and one in which I think we have positioned ourselves to do some big things in the future. 






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