HANCOCK COUNTY — Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central return four All-Hoosier Heritage Conference runners each. Eastern Hancock may have the area’s top newcomer, and New Palestine welcomes back a top runner after a one-year hiatus.
The storylines are interesting heading into the 2021 season for the Hancock County’s boys cross-country teams.
Here’s a look at what’s in store for area teams as they begin the upcoming campaign.
Mt. Vernon
The Marauders have won seven HHC titles, but last year’s victory was extra special being the first time they won in back-to-back years.
Along with the league crown, Mt. Vernon won the county race and was runner-up to Franklin Central in both the sectional and regional.
Austin Rush, last year’s Hancock County Runner of the Year, leads a quartet of MV seniors. Rush finished second in the county, conference and sectional races and placed third in the regional.
Seniors Reyce Morgan and Sam Wilson are two other returning all-conference runners. Morgan placed fourth in the HHC meet. Wilson was 11th. Both had Top-20 races at the sectional
Another senior, Joseph Blagrave, came on late last season. He not only filled in with runners out in the postseason, he ran close to the front. He placed 23rd in the sectional meet and 26th in the regional.
Sophomore Colin Strachman had the 10th-best time of all freshman in the state last year. He is back after finishing third in both the county and conference races. He had a ninth-place run in last season’s sectional.
Veteran coach Bruce Kendall believes he has a solid top five, but he’ll need some promising newcomers to fill out the rest of his varsity lineup. He’ll not only want them to score points but to challenge his top runners.
“We have two things going,” Kendall said. “No. 1, we don’t have the depth. So, if anyone is off, we pay dearly. No. 2, we don’t have the depth. So, there is no threat to those running up front.
“We’re every bit as good as a year ago, but in the back of your mind, if you have a bad day you’re still running the next varsity meet. Last year, you couldn’t say that. If you have a bad day, you might get left out. Without that threat, without that depth, I don’t know what kind of team we are.”
A strong freshmen class has four early-season candidates to take varsity spots and create that in-house competition. That group includes Landon Willis, Ahmed Saled, Xavier Jensen and Matthew Cousar.
“I think what will happen is, we’ll get slapped around early, and then it’ll bring us back to our senses and we’ll do well late,” Kendall said.
Greenfield-Central
All last season, the Cougars found themselves right behind the Marauders, finishing second in both the county and conference meets and third in the sectional and regional.
Like the Marauders, the Cougars have a nice group of talented returning runners, though G-C may have more veteran depth.
Senior Matt Wickham, junior Griffen Wheeler and sophomores Liam Brinkruff and Chris Ross earned All-HHC (Top 15) honors a year ago.
Wickham was last year’s top Cougar runner. He was sixth in the conference, 13th in the sectional and seventh in the regional.
Brinkruff and Wheeler were 14th and 15th, respectively, in the sectional. Wheeler was just behind Wickham in the regional, finishing eighth.
Ross finished 13th in the conference race.
Coach Aaron Smith has a lot to choose from to fill out the rest of that varsity lineup.
Early season practices have seniors Lucas Tutrow and Jacob Presser and sophomore Carter Crouch running in the top seven, but Smith believes there are five others, seniors Adam Bright, Morgan Flanagan and Mason Kojima and sophomores Liam Flanagan and Elliot Ryba that could step in if any of those three fall back.
“I think we’re definitely going to run better than we did last year,” the coach said. “We’re just looking to improve on what we did last year.
“At the end of the season we want to be more competitive with Mt. Vernon and (sectional, regional champion) Franklin Central. Going into the season we’re probably still third in the sectional and regional and second in the county and conference, but I think we’re going to be a lot closer. We want to put ourselves in a position where, if something happens, we’re ready to go.”
Eastern Hancock
The Royals graduated their No. 1 runner in Daniel Campbell, who earned All-Mid-Eastern Conference honors a year ago.
EH placed fourth in the MEC meet with Campbell leading the way in eighth. The Royals placed sixth in the sectional with Campbell finishing 28th. He was 32nd in the regional, earning a spot in the semistate race.
They do return two regional-qualifying runners in seniors Luke McCartney and Luken Edwards. They finished 46th and 65th, respectively in the regional meet.
McCartney and Edwards are joined by one of the area’s top freshmen.
Preston Markley comes in off an undefeated middle school season.
“If he can adjust to the longer distances (running 3,000 meters in middle school to 5,000 meters in high school), he’ll be one of our top runners,” coach Rex Putt said.
The Royals have six runners this season. John Henry Gray, a sophomore, and Brandon Cross, are returning runners.
Sophomore Brandon Metz, a move-in from Zionsville, is expected to help out, too.
“Last year we were fourth in the conference. Hopefully we can move up,” Putt said.
New Palestine
The Dragons welcome back senior Colin Darley.
Two years ago, Darley finished third in the county championships and was the team’s No. 1 runner by the end of his sophomore year. He was 10th in the 2019 sectional meet.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an illness in his family, he chose not to run last fall.
The Dragons had a young group in 2020 and will still be youthful this season.
Darley is one of only three seniors on the team, which includes Hayden Isaacs and Harrison Holloway. Isaacs was one of two NP runners to qualify for the 2020 regional, along with junior Connor Lapenta.
“I think we’re going to be improved,” coach Chuck Myers said of his team that finished seventh in last season’s sectional meet. “The big thing is having Colin Darley back. I think he’s going to be a big contributor for our team.
“He does all those little things that a leader does,” Myers added on Darley. “He’s also playing on the tennis team again. He’s just a great, competitive athlete and it’s fantastic to have him back on the team.”
Myers thinks most of the remaining varsity group will come from some promising freshmen, sophomores and cross-country newcomers. Ten of the team’s 24 runners are freshmen.
Among the youngster that could be part of the New Pal varsity pack are sophomores Cameron Mann and Jacob Collins and junior first-time runner Cody Crawmer, who is doubling up with the soccer program.
The county meet is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 21 at Eastern Hancock High School. The Royals run in the MEC meet on Oct. 2, at Blue River Valley.
New Palestine, Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central compete in the HHC Meet, at Delta, also on Oct. 2.
The tournament series of races begin with the sectional at Mt. Vernon High School on Oct. 9.
