TERRE HAUTE — Mt. Vernon’s Hannah Hauser and Greenfield-Central’s Josie Kinnaman and Lexie Copeland ended their 2023 seasons at Saturday’s IHSAA Girls Cross Country State Finals at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
A great way to end the year, but the best may be yet to come.
All three girls are underclassmen.
Only a sophomore, Hauser led the trio of Hancock County runners with an 82nd place finish in the 5K race.
The Hancock County race champion, and the county’s top finisher in the conference, sectional and regional meets, placed 82nd with a time of 19:11.9.
There were 249 runners in the race.
She had a great race to end the season,” Mt. Vernon girls cross country coach Lydgia Palmer said. “She looked strong, went out well, she did trip and fall between the 3K-4K but got back up and finished well. She finished in the top half of the field, that’s a nice end to her year.”
Hauser was Mt. Vernon’s first cross country state finalist since Amye Adcock qualified to compete in 2005.
Earlier in the season at the Nike Twilight Invitational, on the state championship course, Hauser set a school-record in the 5K with a time of 18:50.
Kinnaman is a freshman. She was close behind Hauser, finishing in a career-best run of 19:14.8, in 92nd place.
Kinnaman had ran a 19:15.2 at the Hoosier Heritage Conference Meet in Shelbyville earlier this year.
Greenfield-Central coach Scott Burton said Kinnaman did a great job of showing progress throughout the race.
“(She) went out fast, and was in 147th place after the 1K,” Burton said. “I had warned them all week, instead of having 5-10-15 people going out at your pace, you’re going to be in a field where there are 150 runners all going at your pace and how are you going to respond to that.
“Throughout the race, she made great improvements. By the 2K she was up to 120th, 3K around 100th, and at 4K she was in that top 100 and was able to push on to the finish.”
The Cougars ran their season-opening race at the Gibson course. In that meet, Kinnaman ran a time of 20:29.
“She dropped 75 seconds from the first meet at Terre Haute to the last meet at Terre Haute,” the coach said. “Seeing that time drop and seeing her build throughout the season to get there has been fun to watch.”
Copeland, a junior, finished 197th with a time of 20:22.5.
“She got out OK,” Burton said. “(I think the) early pace got to her. She had to put forth maximum effort last week to make it out of that regional and I think that had some lingering effects from that, sore legs, things like that.
“(Lexie) came into the season with her best being a 20:50 and she was 30 seconds faster than that, and 30 or so off her lifetime best and only about 12 seconds off her best on that course. She’s had a great season and had a good run (Saturday). I think it was just that all of them are to a point where it’s been a long season and they want to put a bow on it and move on to the next thing.”
It was the first time Greenfield-Central had multiple runners in the state meet and just the second time the Cougars have advanced to state. In 2019, Audrey Brinkruff ran in the state finals.
Indian Creek’s Libby Dowty won the race in 17:06. Team-wise, Homestead won with 108 points, edging Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran with 114.
