CHARLOTTESVILLE — Brenna Shaw continues to reign supreme when it comes to the Hancock County Cross-Country Championships.
The New Palestine senior won her fourth straight individual title and the Dragons won their fourth straight girls’ team crown at Tuesday’s event held at Eastern Hancock High School.
Mt. Vernon, with runners taking the top-three spots, won the boys title; its 12th overall and second in a row.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“I think it’s really special to be able to say that I was the Hancock County champion all four years of my career,” Shaw said. “I think it’s a great accomplishment and I’m really proud of it.”
As usual, Shaw got her biggest challenge from Greenfield-Central’s Audrey Brinkruff. The two represented Hancock County in last year’s IHSAA girls cross-country state finals.
Shaw finished the 5K course in 19:28.33. Brinkruff, who was third in each of the last two county races, was the only other runner to break 20 minutes, finishing second in 19:32.14.
Both believe they bring the best out of each other when they compete.
“We’ve been back and forth,” Shaw said of her competition with Brinkruff. “We’ve been racing together for all four years. I can always count on her to push me in races. It’s a good friendly competition and always fun to race her.”
“i know I’m always going to have a good race when I run against her because she’s always there to push me as I’m there to push her,” Brinkruff said of her races with Shaw. “It’s nice to know you’re going to have someone to run with. I need to push more in the middle Ks. That’s where she usually starts to pull away from me.”
New Palestine and Mt. Vernon each had four runners in the top 10, but the Dragons benefited of having three in the top five.
The Dragons beat the Marauders by eight points, 29-37. Greenfield-Central was third with 62. Eastern Hancock had just one runner and did not have a team score.
Joining Shaw in the top five were third-place finisher Kendall Mann (20:42.17) and fifth-placer Courtney Study (20:47.57). Mt. Vernon was led by Lydia Carrell, who came across in fourth place with a time of 20:44.99.
“Having that many up top (was important) today,” New Palestine coach Chuck Myers said. “We ran OK today. We were expecting to run pretty well. Mt. Vernon is a solid team and they had beaten us early on at the (Pendleton Heights) Arabian Roundup. They’re a good solid group.”
Mt. Vernon had places sixth through eighth with Alexandria Jenson (21:05.11), Melinda Cornelius (21:20.07) and Morgan Tharp (21:46.98).
New Palestine’s Emily Adam (21:48.73) and Greenfield-Central’s Sophia Moss (21:50.69) rounded out the top 10.
The lone Royals’ runner, Ashton Willis, placed 16th in 23:27.99.
It was all Mt. Vernon in the boys’ race.
The Marauders had all seven runners in the top nine. Evan Rappe (17:16.60), Austin Rush (17:19.27) and Colin Strachman (17:25.15) took the top-three spots.
Two Greenfield-Central runners broke up the Mt. Vernon pack with Matthew Wickham (17:35.62) and Austin Nigh (17:36.14) finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Mt. Vernon had a quartet of runners on the two Cougars’ heels. Taking spots six through nine were Reyce Morgan (17:39.77), Tyler Strantz (18:16.70), Sam Wilson (18:25.13) and Colin Brown (18:25.51).
Greenfield-Central’s Griffen Wheeler was 10th in 18:25.96.
The Marauders finished with just 19 points. Greenfield-Central was a distant second with 42. New Palestine edged Eastern Hancock for third, 98-99.
The win was Mt. Vernon’s fifth team title of the year. The Marauders have also won the Marion, Rushville and Monroe Central invitationals along with the Arabian Roundup.
Mt. Vernon head coach Bruce Kendall said the depth of his team has been important, especially with restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Like it has been for other sports, he said, you do not always know who is going to be available to compete.
“That’s the thing about us,” Kendall said of his deep roster. “I didn’t know what to expect today. You’re always missing somebody, but today we weren’t missing any of our first nine.
“You could wake up tomorrow and your team can’t compete, but this is happening in every sport everywhere. You have to be selling it to your No. 8, No. 9 and No. 10 runners that they have to be ready.”
Luke McCartney was Eastern Hancock’s top finisher, placing 14th in 18:43.07.
New Pal’s leading runner was Harrison Holloway. He was 17th in 19:12.73.
