King of cross country: Mt. Vernon’s Rush is county’s top boys’ runner

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WhitelandÕs Will Jefferson(696) and Mt. VernonÕs Austin Rush(457) leads the pack at the start of the Shelbyville Boys Semi-State Cross Country meet at the Blue River CC Venue.(Rob Baker/Daily Reporter)

FORTVILLE — Long-time Mt. Vernon cross country coach Bruce Kendall has a special way to describe the season turned in by junior Austin Rush, the 2020 All-Hancock County Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Rush was the leader of the talented Marauder team that won Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference titles and advanced as a group to the Shelbyville Semistate.

Rush was the No. 1 Marauder in most of the team’s races, but had just the Rushville Invitational to show for as an individual triumph.

He was runner-up in the Monroe Central Invitational, Pendleton Heights Arabian Roundup and Marion Invitational along with the county, conference and Mt. Vernon Sectional meets.

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“Rush had a great season,” Kendall said. "I can’t point to a (specific) time, because he didn’t win. He’s kind of like a lion. He’s not the fastest animal. He’s not the biggest. He’s not the tallest. He’s not the strongest, but he’s the king of the jungle.

“That’s kind of like Rush.”

Rush was the top-county runner in the conference, sectional, regional and semistate races. He finished third overall at the regional, leading the Marauders to a second-place finish and berth into the Shelbyville Semistate.

“The more and more I got runner-up, it made me, even though I couldn’t do it this year, think about how I can be better,” Rush said on the second-place finishes. “There’s a lot of good runners out there. I’ve got to see what I can fix to make me better as a runner next year.”

He finished behind two seniors from Franklin Central, Justin Healey and Jackson Andry, and completed the 5K course at the Rushville Regional in 16 minutes, 40.6 seconds, 24 seconds behind winner Healey.

For Rush, though, it wasn’t who he finished behind, but who he beat.

Rush called the regional performance the highlight of his season, as he was able to overtake New Castle’s Andrew Fewell for that third spot. Fewell had finished ahead of Rush to take the HHC title in Shelbyville a few weeks earlier in a race Rush believed he could have won.

"We had a hard workout that week. When I finally passed (Fewell) that was the highlight (for me)," Rush said.

Rush had a strong run a week earlier at the Mt. Vernon Sectional. He finished 10 seconds behind Healey, running the home course in 16:42. He broke up a pack of Franklin Central runners, as the Flashes had five of the top six places.

Rush was 56th at the semistate, crossing the finish line in 16:48.2. The closest-county competitor was junior teammate Reyce Morgan, who placed 81st in 17:04.3.

He was the leader of a very deep Mt. Vernon team. Twice, Rush finished second to senior Evan Rappe — at the Arabian Roundup and county meets — who was unable to run in a few meets in the latter part of the schedule.

“There were times I had to keep pushing myself harder than I thought I could,” Rush said of his successful season. “I didn’t do that the first two years of my running career (at MVHS).”

Kendall said he’s seen that push before in the Rush family, dating back to watching Rush’s father, Eric, run at Bloomington South.

“His dad ran at Bloomington South and beat a kid from Ben Davis who never lost. The first time (the Ben Davis kid) lost was to Rush’s dad. He’s a lot like his dad, he could push the pace.”

Austin’s dad was a state champion distance runner in track. His mother, D’Lee Rush, was a top college runner, too. In fact, mom and dad met as runners at Indiana State University. His older brother, Aaron Rush, was a standout runner for the Marauders, graduating in 2016.

The future looks good for the younger Rush as he has a junior track and field season and a senior campaign awaiting him down the road.

He’s come a long way in a short time. He agreed with his coach that he wasn’t a strong runner in his initial season under Kendall as a freshman Marauder.

Kendall said he could see Austin’s improvement during that first year. “To say he’s come a long way is an understatement,” the coach said. “He used to groan all the time now he doesn’t groan anymore.”

“My freshman year, I was quite bad,” Austin said. “I started out eighth on the team now this year I was No. 1 for almost every race. I think I’ve significantly improved.”

And, he’s looking forward to increasing on that production next year, not only for him individually, but as a senior leader.

“I know we have so much potential for our team to be very good. I believe every one of our runners can be an outstanding runner,” Austin Rush said. “Colin Strachman was a freshman this year and he was amazing. I know he’ll be very good and I want to be able to lead them to have good seasons.

“I know since all this COVID stuff has been going on some guys have lost motivation. I want to give this team spirit and give insight to the freshman coming in. That’s my main goal, motivate our team and lead them.”

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2020 All-Hancock County Boys Cross Country Team

First Team

Name;School;Year

Austin Rush;Mt. Vernon;Jr.

Reyce Morgan;Mt. Vernon;Jr.

Evan Rappe;Mt. Vernon;Sr.

Colin Strachman;Mt. Vernon;Fr.

Tyler Strantz;Mt. Vernon;Sr.

Matthew Wickham;Greenfield-Central;Jr.

Griffen Wheeler;Greenfield-Central;So.

Second Team

Name;School;Year

Liam Brinkruff;Greenfield-Central;Fr.

Daniel Campbell;Eastern Hancock;Sr.

Hayden Isaacs;New Palestine;Jr.

Luke McCarty;Eastern Hancock;Jr.

Luke Muckerheide;Greenfield-Central;Sr.

Austin Nigh;Greenfield-Central;Sr.

Sam Wilson;Mt. Vernon;Jr.

Coach of the Year: Bruce Kendall, Mt. Vernon

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