NEW PALESTINE — She willed her body to move, but her legs just wouldn’t cooperate with her mind.
Against the early-morning heat, compounded with humid air, a tough course and a couple of cheetah opponents from Franklin-Central, New Palestine’s Brenna Shaw summoned all the will she had left to run faster. The sophomore managed to accelerate slightly before dashing across the finish in 20:02.4 to claim third place.
With a crew of Dragons following up behind her, New Palestine was set to continue to next week’s regional race.
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The New Palestine, Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central cross-country teams each saw success in both sectional races Saturday. For the girls, the top five advancing teams to compete at regionals were Franklin Central, with a final total time of 1:41:53, New Palestine, 1:45:18, Roncalli, 1:53:00, Mt. Vernon, 1:59:02 and Warren Central, 2:02:05.
Greenfield-Central’s Audrey Brinkruff, who finished in 20:56.2, also will advance to girls regionals as an individual runner. Joining Brinkruff are Sarah Muckerheide and Emily Wright from the Cougars, and Ashton Willis and Annie Lindsay from Eastern Hancock.
For the boys, both the New Palestine and Greenfield-Central teams came out strong against conference competitors in Saturday’s sectional race, earning first and fourth respectively. The top five advancing teams for the boys are New Palestine, who ran 1:28:45, Franklin-Central, 1:29:56, Warren-Central, 1:30:24, Greenfield-Central, 1:30:23 and Roncalli, 1:30:06.
Advancing as individuals for the boys are Mt. Vernon’s Colin Brown, Rielly Glassing, Tyler Strantz, Ryan Strantz and Jacob Benz. Eastern Hancock’s Skyler Schrope and Daniel Campbell also advanced.
New Palestine’s girls didn’t run their best race by any stretch of the imagination, head coach Chuck Myers said.
They were simply out-competed by Franklin-Central, but they still came out with plenty of fire, he said. If they draw upon the speed and endurance they’ve managed to develop this season, they’ve got a real chance at being some of the top competitors in the state; a feat no Dragons’ girls cross country team has achieved to date.
“It’s exciting, it’s been our goal to get to that state level,” Myers said. “They’re working well as a team, and I think we’ve got a shot.”
The boys ran hard as well to earn that first-place spot, Myers said. They came out with a goal to have three or four in the top 10, and they hit that goal.
“That’s what we were looking for,” he added. “Just a great effort again, coming off of the county and conference championships. We’re just going to keep it rolling.”
Greenfield-Central’s boys really stepped up, catching up to their speedy rivals, head coach Aaron Smith said. He told his runners to focus on staying ahead of the Mt. Vernon group, who run as a pack, and they fought their way right past them along the back half of the course.
The Cougars are shooting for third place in their upcoming race at Warren Central. The five teams that made it out of our sectional are likely candidates for semistate, he said, and there are still a few competitors that they can’t quite cut out yet.
But they’re getting closer with every race, Smith said.
“Today was all about competing, and we really came out and competed today,” Smith said. “They really stepped up today, and I’m proud of them.”
