OFF TO THE RACES

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GREENFIELD-CENTRAL BOYS

Coach

Aaron Smith

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Key leaders

Parker Niemeier, Conner Kinnaman, Luke Muckerheide, Will Wickham

Promising newcomers

Gage Guenin, Ethan Enoch, Caleb Short, Micah Smith, Jonah Fletcher, Tyler Osborn, Matt Wickham

Outlook

Smith said that last season was a bit of a disappointment for the team; despite a few elite athletes running at semistate individually, for the first time in seven years they did not make it as a team. This can be credited to several team injuries alongside a few bad races run during their sectional meet. Unfortunately those flukes caused the team’s season to end on a bad note.

But there’s hope as the new season comes around, he said.

“We’ve got a whole pack of newcomers,” Smith said. “This year we’re going to have a lot more depth.”

At least 10 of the new runners will be vying for the top five spots, to include a competitive sibling duo as freshman Matt Wickham joins his older brother Will, a senior. Hopefully, a friendly rivalry will motivate the rest of the team, Smith said. After not even placing at their regional race last year, this year the team is striving to recover from the bump in the road in stride.

“We’ve been stressing consistency this season,” Smith said. “That’s kind of our focus for the year.”

GREENFIELD-CENTRAL GIRLS

Coach

Scott Burton

Key leaders

Audrey Brinkruff, Sarah Muckerheide, Lindsey Pope

Promising newcomers

Erin Hodnett, Emily Wright, Gia Valenzano

Outlook

The Greenfield-Central girls team is on the young side going into this season, but Burton believes that the team’s top three runners will help make up the points in the season’s bigger meets.

Last season Brinkruff was all-county, all-conference, all-sectional and all-regional. Muckerheide and Pope, both returning seniors, are also dependable runners that Burton hopes will show the incoming underclassmen what cross country is all about, he said.

As usual, Burton said he doesn’t put much stock into early meets when the team is still evaluating themselves. Come September and the county meet, Burton said they’ll be able to come into their own and keep pushing.

“Audrey, Sarah and Lindsey are who we’re looking for to lead by example,” Burton said. “They need to leave it all out there and bring the younger ones into the team.”

EASTERN HANCOCK BOYS

Coach

Rex Putt

Key leaders

Skyler Schrope, Nick Edwards, Daniel Campbell

Promising newcomers

Skyler Sexton, Luken Edwards, Luke McCartney, Caleb Matthys

Outlook

Sending the Royals to regionals is a tough task, but Putt thinks his team is up for it this year.

Leading from the front is senior Skyler Schrope, who is returning from competing at semistate last year. With a race run time of 17:09, Schrope is on track to beat the school’s record of 16:54.

A small school like Eastern is usually short a good fourth and fifth man, but Aaron Surburg, a strong sophomore runner, has the chops to fill the slot and put that regionals goal within reach, Putt said.

Another newcomer is Skyler Sexton, who had a superb track season as a sophomore, Putt said. After clocking in one of the best low-hurdles times in school history, they we convinced him to come out for cross-country as a junior, Putt said.

“Many of our guys are inexperienced, so we’re hoping to show improvement over the year,” Putt said.

EASTERN HANCOCK GIRLS

Coach

Rex Putt

Key Leaders

Grace McCartney

Promising newcomers

Annie Lindsay, Lilly Combs, Ashton Willis, Olivia Hancock

Outlook

After losing their top two girls to graduation, the lady Royals will have one returning senior on the roster, Grace McCartney, who was the team’s third-best runner last year, Putt said.

Accompanying her will be four freshmen girls, two of which were talented runners in middle school. Putt said he’s familiar with the newcomers’ capabilities, and once they grow accustomed to the newer, longer distance, he has a real opportunity as a coach to craft an incredible team, he said.

“In cross-country, it’s so important to have a team that runs well together, and that’s what I envision happening for these freshman girls,” Putt said.

“I’m very optimistic,” he added. “It’s going to take some work on my part to get them ready, but they’re one of the most fun groups I’ve ever worked with.”

MT. VERNON BOYS

Coach

Bruce Kendall

Key leaders

Tyler Strands, Ryan Strands, Jacob Benz

Promising newcomer

Michael Damer

Outlook

The Marauders face a great, unknown challenge in the season ahead, Kendall said. For 41 years, Mt. Vernon has competed at the Pendleton Sectional, but this year they’ll be racing the course at New Palestine.

Adjusting to a new course and completely different opponents after running at Pendleton more than 70 times is daunting, Kendall said. They’ll need to do some serious adjustment when tournament time arrives, he said.

“Our vanity, our mindset and everything, we’ll have to beat,” Kendall said.

The boys also lost their first, third and fifth runner last year to graduation. But with a team of 25, Kendall has at least 10 or 12 who could easily compete as varsity runners at any given time.

Mt. Vernon has competed in more than 25 semistates and won one back in 1984, he said.

“Making semistate, that’s the expectation. Not the goal,” Kendall said.

MT. VERNON GIRLS

Coach

Kean Coy

Key leaders

Cameron Eason, Rilee Hartman, Reagan Woodruff

Promising newcomer

Lydia Carrell

Outlook

While still unsure of the exact capabilities of the host of other sports athletes arriving on the team this season, Coy said the raw potential of the incoming team has him excited.

Coy has 17 runners this year, compared to last year’s nine. Only three lady Marauders will be returning from last season, but Coy managed to recruit several athletes from the basketball, softball and track teams this summer.

Another newcomer, freshman Lydia Carrell, is a promising contender after a successful running career at Horizon Christian Middle School, Coy said.

It’s difficult at this point to see what the upcoming season will hold, Coy said. But provided that the team stays healthy, this season will serve as a forge for a successful future, he said.

“We kind of limped our way into the postseason with a lot of injuries last year,” Coy said. “We want to be competitive, don’t get me wrong. But we can also use this season as an experience builder for all these underclassmen coming in.”

“A lot of these new girls are really important to the whole culture of Mt. Vernon cross-country,” he added. “There’s a lot of diversity; many of these girls have never hung out with one another in their entire lives. But they’re getting along and building new goals.”

NEW PALESTINE BOYS

Coach

Chuck Myers

Key leaders

Tyler Harrison, Drew Austin, Caleb Stern, Josh Collins, Devon Whitaker

Promising newcomer

Collin Darley

Outlook

Last season, the boys team were runner-up in sectional, regional and county conference competitions. They followed it up with a successful race at semistate. With several strong returning seniors this year, Myers said the outlook for both cross-country teams is looking good this year.

With four returning seniors and one junior, the overall experience of the team is going to give them a massive advantage in the conference when the time comes for them to hit the trail, Myers said.

“We didn’t lose a lot of people to graduation, so I’m seeing a lot of excitement ahead for both teams,” Myers said. “We’ve got a pretty good outlook on the season, and we’re eager to get started at Zionsville on the 18th. We’ll see how it goes from there.”

NEW PALESTINE GIRLS

Coach

Chuck Myers

Key leaders

Brenna Shaw, Kendall Mann, Hailey Rickey

Promising newcomers

Kaylin Casner, Victoria Crowder, Emily Adam

Outlook

The Dragons girls are also coming off of a victorious season, ranking top two in the county conference and advancing to semistate alongside the boys team.

The ladies have an excellent mix of returning leaders and powerful newcomers; Myers said this year he expects another return to semistate later on down the line.

“I expect this team to do some really special things this season,” Myers said. “We’ve got a bunch of great kids, and I really expect to have a great year.”