Cross Country State Finals: Warsaw, Wawasee Stars Finish At State
Warsaw’s Lucas Howett (far left) runs with a group at the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals Saturday in Terre Haute. (Photos by Tim Creason)
By TIM CREASON
TERRE HAUTE – It’s all a matter of your perspective.
Lucas Howett finished 83rd in the boys race during Saturday’s state cross country finals. He was happy as can be.
Warsaw’s Mia Beckham
Mia Beckham finished 45th among girls. She was anything but.
At least the two Warsaw seniors could agree it was cold.
“Mia has been there before and she had some high expectations. This is the first trip for Lucas and he didn’t really have any expectations, because he didn’t know what to expect,” said Warsaw boys coach Jim Mills following the state meet at Terre Haute.
On a frigid, windy day at the Wabash Valley Sports Center, high school cross country season came to end for three local runners with none able to claim a Top 20 finish or a spot on the IHSAA awards stand.
Beckham, a senior, clocked 19 minutes, 0.1 seconds in her 5,000-meter race, far from her personal best.
Howett, also a senior, made it in 16:29.8, continuing to improve his best time.
Wawasee junior Luke Griner, meanwhile, came home 117th in 16:42.4 and hopeful of earning another trip next season.
“I looked back on the rest of the season and I did some good things,” said Beckham, who entered the contest with realistic hopes of making the girls awards stand. “I was hoping to finish up on a high note but after the first 2,000 meters, I could tell it wasn’t going well.”
Not that there’s anything wrong with finish among the Top 50 at state, of course. There are a lot of runners who would like to trade places with her.
In the team battle, Zionsville placed two finishers among the top 10 and edged the girls from Carroll (Fort Wayne), 118-129, for the championship.
Wawasee’s Luke Griner
Sadly, no area girls teams were able to crack the Top 12. Penn placed 14th, scoring 373 points. Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger was 15th, Homestead 18th, LaPorte 19th, Fort Wayne Concordia 22nd and Northridge 23rd.
Greencaste junior Emma Wilson – Indiana’s state track champion in the 1600 and 3200-meter runs – surged away from defending cross country champ Tyler Schwartz of DeKalb with about a half-mile to go and pulled away for a dominating victory, clocking 17:45.9.
Schwartz slipped to third at 18:07.9.
Hamilton Southeastern senior Gabe Fendel won a closer-than-expected battle against Cole Hocker of Indianapolis Cathedral for the boys individual championship, 15:17.2 to 15:19.5.
The boys team scores saw Westview finish third with 171 points, behind the 94 points of champion Carmel and 152 from Fishers.
Carroll (Fort Wayne) was seventh, Penn 13th, Fort Wayne Concordia 18th, and West Noble 24th.
After a season of moderate temperatures, Saturday’s freezing weather was a shock to many runners, including Beckham. “My arms and the balls of my feet were numb,” she said. “But I’ve run in cold weather before.
A tradition at the state finals, when the races are completed, seniors go down to a tree near the starting line and heave their shoes up into the branches. It’s supposed to signify their last cross country race, the same way a wrestler leaves his shoes in the middle of the mat after his last match, when he retires.
“I think my biggest problem today was not having my teammates around me, running with me. I just wasn’t mentally prepared for that.”
Howett’s race was a lot like last week’s at the New Prairie semistate. Just stick your nose in it and go.
Fendel and the other leaders took the race out at an insane pace from the gun.
“The level of competition was better this year,” said Mills. “I think Lucas ran a PR in the 1600-meter run today, and it wasn’t on a track.”
The main thing, Mills said, is that he never backed off.
“I think he did a great job and finished strong,” said Mills.
Griner hung back at mid-pack and tried to move up as the finish came into view.
IHSAA STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
BOYS
TEAM SCORES: Carmel 94, Fishers 152, Westview 171, Valparaiso 200, Indianapolis Cathedral 213, Bloomington South 216, Carroll (Fort Wayne) 256, Tell City 258, Indianapolis North Central 281, Avon 281, Christian Academy of Indiana 292, Lowell 321, Penn 347, Crown Point 348, West Lafayette 377 Jennings County 392, Columbus North 393, Fort Wayne Concordia 405, Zionsville 440, Chesterton 452, Pendleton Heights 458, McCutcheon 482, Bloomington North 504, West Noble 524.
TOP 25 FINISHERS: 1, Gabe Fendel (Hamilton SE) 15:17.2. 2, Cole Hocker (Indianapolis Cathedral) 15:19.5. 3, Skylar Stidam (Christian Academy of Indiana) 15:23.8. 4, Matthew Schadler (Evansville Reitz) 15:29.0. 5, Brennan Butche (Mississinewa) 15:31.1. 6, Caleb Futter (Christian Academy of Indiana) 15:33.7. 7, Jakob Kintzele (Chesterton) 15:35.5. 8, Austin Haskett (Edgewood) 15:36.6. 9, Richmond Stoltzfus (Westview) 15:39.3. 10, William Persin (McCutcheon) 15:40.8. 11, Ian Shaw (Bloomington South) 15:41.8. 12, Matt Yoder (Westview) 15:43.6. 13, Connor Goetz (Carroll-FW) 15:44.6. 14, Keelan Grant (Carmel) 15:45.9. 15, Samuel Kuhn (Fishers) 15:46.9. 16, Quinn Gallagher (Guerin Catholic) 15:47.4. 17, Nate Kaiser (Tell City) 15:49.8. 18, Colin Murphy (Carmel) 15:53.1. 19, Reece Gibson (FW Concordia) 15:53.3. 20, Michael Taylor (Anderson Prep Academy) 15:54.2. 21, Mitchell Rans (Caston) 15:58.8. 22, Evan Sorensen (Evansville Central) 15:59.1. 23, Isaiah Robyne (West Lafayette) 15:59.8. 24, Noah Hufnagel (Heritage Hills) 16:01.5. 25, Michael Crook (Southport) 16:02.5.
WARSAW FINISHER: 83, Lucas Howett 16:29.8.
WAWASEE FINISHER: 117, Luke Griner 16:42.4.
PENN FINISHERS: 65, Matt Long 16:22.9 … 80, Curtis Cornell 16:28.2 … 90, Chandler Neal 16:31.9 … 122, Colton Shail 16:44.7 … 151, Chad Piatt 17:03.4 … 170, Noah Cocquyt 17:19.8 … 183, Nicholas Sergeant 17:31.3.
SAINT JOSEPH FINISHER: 49, Amani Morrell 16:13.4.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES: Zionsville 118, Carroll (Fort Wayne) 129, Carmel 169, Indianapolis Brebeuf 196, Hamilton Southeastern 208, Fishers 209, Brownsburg 251, Bloomington North 257, Floyd Central 261, West Lafayette 264, Lowell 274, Valparaiso 284, Crown Point 336, Penn 373, Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger 376, Chesterton 385, Bloomington South 419, Homestead 437, LaPorte 438, Edgewood 442, Evansville Reitz 469, Fort Wayne Concordia 490, Northridge 520, Columbus North 542.
TOP 25 FINISHERS: 1, Emma Wilson (Greencastle) 17:45.9. 2, Phoebe Bates (Carmel) 18:00.0. 3, Tyler Schwartz (DeKalb) 18:07.9. 4, Katherine Modrall (Brebeuf) 18:11.6. 5, Kayla McCullough (East Noble) 18:17.3. 6, Annalyssa Crain (Edgewood) 18:18.8. 7, Sophia Rigg (Zionsville) 18:19.8. 8, Logan Ferngren (Valparaiso) 18:21.3. 9, Jordyn Boyer (Lowell) 18:23.0. 10, Katelyn Wasson (Zionsville) 18:25.7. 11, Margo Hornocker (Oak Hill) 18:26.0. 12, Erin Strzelecki (FW Dwenger) 18:27.6. 13, Shelby Bullock (Chesterton) 18:28.1. 14, Natalie Graber (Barr Reeve) 18:28.8. 15, Lauren Beckmann (DeKalb) 18:29.1. 16, Lulu Black (Hamilton SE) 18:29.6. 17, Mary Schultz (West Lafayette) 18:30.1. 18, Abi Little (Noblesville) 18:31.3. 19, Morgan Dyer (Elkhart Memorial) 18:33.1. 20, Mya Hagerty (Bloomington No) 18:34.3. 21, Hannah Wylie (Crown Pt) 18:34.8. 22, Abigail Lynch (Brownsburg) 18:34.9. 23, Halle Hill (Hamilton SE) 18:35.9. 24, Meagan Hathaway (Carroll-FW) 18:37.4. 25, Maddie Dalton (Carmel) 18:39.3.
WARSAW FINISHER: 45, Mia Beckham 19:00.1.
PENN FINISHERS: 42, Danielle Spring 18:56.3 … 57, Lauren Frank 19:09.2 … 118, Brooke Neal 19:43.2 … 133, Ellie Jankowski 19:58.2 … 161, Riley Keppler 20:20.6 … 177, Reagan Hoke 20:39.6 … 192, Aislynn Alkire 20:57.2
NORTHRIDGE FINISHERS: 65, Jenna Miller 19:12.2 … 129, Caitlin Clark 19:52.1 … 146, Mackenzie Adams 20:07.2 … 163, Keeton LeBaron 20:21.9 … 190, Alison Bache 20:52.8 … 194, Melissa Bailey 20:58.2 … 197, Samantha Moore 21:05.6.
ELKHART MEMORIAL FINISHER: 19, Morgan Dyer 18:33.1.
