GREENFIELD — The one-of-a-kind runner from Greenfield-Central continued her dominance of the event with a one-of-a-kind name.
Cougar senior Audrey Brinkruff —who became the program’s first state qualifier last year — won the team’s only home event of 2020, the Greenfield-Central CougarPalooza Invitational, held at Brandywine Park, Wednesday.
It was the third straight year she has won the event. She was runner-up as a freshman.
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The Greenfield-Central boys made it a clean sweep, individually, and added a team title for the second straight year. The Cougar girls placed second to Roncalli.
Junior Matt Wickham led the way for the guys as seven Cougars finished in the top 13. It was also the second straight year a Greenfield-Central runner has won the individual title. Recent grad Conner Kinnaman was last year’s champion.
“I think it was a pretty good race, considering it was pretty hot,” Brinkruff said of her run. “It’s really great when I am able to represent our school. When you get to win at home, it’s always fun.”
It was a sunny, hot evening with temperatures in the upper 80s. Brinkruff was the lone runner in the girls’ race to break 20 minutes in the 5K run. She finished 90 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
“It’s always a little more difficult when you are running by yourself because you don’t have people around you to help you stay at a certain pace,” Brinkruff said. “I stayed in the 19 minutes and I’m happy with that. In our first meet of the year I was in the 20s, so I am happy to able to stay in the 19s in these conditions.”
Sophia Moss was fourth overall and second for the Cougars. She finished in 22 minutes, 34.97 seconds.
Roncalli, Greenfield-Central and Warren Central each had two runners in the top six, but Roncalli had the rest of the top 10 and won the event with 29 points. Greenfield-Central edged Warren Central for second, 48-51. Rushville was fourth in the six team event. Scecina and Knightstown did not have enough runners for a team score.
“Today wasn’t a day to worry about time,” Greenfield-Central girls’ coach Scott Burton said, referring to the hot conditions. “We wanted to go out there and compete and see how close we can match up with (Roncalli and Warren Central, who are in our sectional). We wanted to see where we’re at and where we need to work on things in the next month.”
Greenfield-Central boys’ coach Aaron Smith said his team took a similar approach, working on strategies ahead of trying to earn personal-best times.
It worked. His top three runners were able to finish in the top four. Wickham, who said he enjoys running in the hot weather, led the way with a time of 17:14. Sophomore Griffen Wheeler was third in 17:45. Senior Austin Nigh was fourth in 17:46.6.
“I felt great,” Wickham said. “I felt relaxed the whole race. I told myself to relax my eyelids, my arms, my legs. I was smiling the last mile, I felt great. I feel I really peak in the heat when others fall.”
Senior Luke Muckerheide placed ninth (18:28.14) and frosh Chris Ross was 10th (18:28.85) to round out the five-scoring runners.
Greenfield-Central finished with 27 points, 30 ahead of second-place Rushville (57). Roncalli was third with 58. Scecina had 103 points. Knightstown competed, but did not have enough runners for a team score. Warren Central only competed in the girls’ race.
“With the heat, we were just trying to go with placings,” Smith said. “It’s our home meet, Senior Night, we want to win we weren’t too worried about the times.”
It was the final home race for Brinkruff and Ava Grass for the girls’ squad. The G-C boys have five seniors. Along with Nigh and Muckerheide, the other Cougar classmates are Gage Guenin, Jonah Fletcher and Tyler Osborn.
Burton said the name CougarPalooza was given to the meet in either 2011 or 2012, by former coach Hunter White. “It was a unique name that he popped in with and it has stuck ever since.”
White coached the girls’ program in 2010 and the boys’ team in 2011-13.
