SHELBYVILLE — Hope was the key word on Saturday.
With a loaded field of state-ranked programs competing at the Shelbyville Semistate, the New Palestine girls cross country team knew there was a shot at securing a spot in this year’s state finals.
The Dragons just needed a few teams to hopefully slip up and open the door.
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Unfortunately, despite a solid run, the Dragons couldn’t crack the advancing Top 6, finishing 10th overall with 232 places.
However, with every negative comes a positive, and New Palestine senior Brenna Shaw provided it, placing 17th overall and eighth out of the Top 10 runners from non-qualifying teams.
Her time of 18 minutes, 58.8 seconds kept her postseason run alive and has her set to compete in her third consecutive IHSAA state meet at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute this upcoming weekend.
“She was confident coming in, and she should be because I think she’s going to be an all-state runner, which is Top 25 (at state), and she definitely has a chance to do that,” New Palestine head coach Chuck Myers said.
“I think she would say, she didn’t run her best race on Saturday (at semistate), which is good, knowing that she advanced still. I think she has something left in her, and to get down to state, I think she’s going to do well. She’s going to show what she can do and improve off of what she did last year.”
As a freshman, Shaw placed 95th at state in her first go-around with a time of 19:55.9 seconds. Last year, she was 48th overall in 19:12.6.
A Top 25 finish at state would be her first, but Shaw, who recently committed to Purdue University as a walk-on, is used to setting new standards for the program and herself.
Shaw broke New Palestine’s Courtney Edon’s former 5K school record with a time of 18:27 while finishing second during the Hoosier Heritage Conference meet on Oct. 3.
This season marked her first-career sectional win on Oct. 10 at Mt. Vernon as she posted an 18:49.4. She followed up the run with an 18:31.8 at the Rushville Regional to win the event for a third straight year.
As a junior, Shaw ran a 19:00.7 at the Shelbyville Semistate to finish 14th overall and seventh among individuals advancing to state without a qualifying team.
This year, the times were faster than in 2019 and it had to do with the competition.
No. 2 Carmel won the girls semistate team title with 30 places, followed by No. 7 Franklin Central (125) and No. 5 Zionsville (135).
No. 10 North Central was fourth (179), No. 16 Noblesville was fifth (209) and Franklin Community claimed the final state-qualifying spot in sixth (211).
In the previous weekend, the 22nd-ranked Dragons (69 places) had three runners finish in the top 11 at the Rushville Regional to finish second behind Franklin Central (24) and ahead of Mt. Vernon (77).
The Marauders girls were 17th overall at semistate with 403 places led by freshman Alexandria Jenson (20:05.9), who crossed the finish line in 61st. Senior Esther Small had the second-best run for Mt. Vernon in 20:47.8 for 107th.
Greenfield-Central’s Audrey Brinkruff, a senior, ran the race in 21:02.6 for 119th.
New Palestine had two runners place in the Top 30 and four in the Top 65, and tied Pike (232) for ninth in the team standings, but the Dragons lost the tiebreaker with their sixth-runner’s time and placement.
Emma Mann ran the semistate in 19:16.3 for 26th. Kendall Mann was 63rd in 20:06.8. Courtney Study placed 64th in 20:07.7. Jocelynn Flagle placed 138th in 21:23.1.
“I thought we ran OK. I didn’t think we ran great. I didn’t think we ran terrible. We just were a little short as it turned out. The scores were pretty close,” Myers said. “There were very good teams there, and the Top 4 separated themselves, and then all the way to 12 were all right there together. We just ended up on the bad end of it.”
Shaw’s time at semistate was her highest so far this postseason, but her health played a role, according to Myers.
“She just wasn’t feeling her best. She fell off a little and didn’t finish well for her,” Myers said. “She was sitting at probably 10th place with about 600 to go and ended up 17th, so she lost a few spots there, but she’ll be ready this weekend, hopefully feeling a little bit better and ready to go.”
In the boys semistate race, Mt. Vernon finished 12th with 347 places, while Greenfield-Central was 17th overall with 465 places.
Brebeuf Jesuit won the event with 68 places ahead of Carmel (75) and Noblesville (107).
Mt. Vernon’s Austin Rush, a junior, paced the Marauders with a 16:48.2 for 56th. Junior Reyce Morgan was 81st in 17:04.3.
Mt. Vernon freshman Colin Strachman was 86th in 17:07.5, one spot in front of Greenfield-Central’s top-performer Griffin Wheeler, a sophomore, in 17:08.1.
Greenfield-Central’s Luke Mucherheide, a senior, was 112th in 17:26.3, while Matthew Wickham, a junior, placed 115th in 17:31.4.
Eastern Hancock’s Daniel Campbell, a senior, finished 140th in 17:56.4.
Shaw will be the county’s lone competitor at state on Halloween this year, but she won’t really be alone.
“As far as I know the team will be able to go as spectators like everyone else. Right now, the plan to get as many to go as possible on Saturday,” Myers said. “I thought the team did a great job this year. It was an excellent team. Conference champs again, sectional champs. We just came up a little short (on Saturday).”
The state finals begins on Saturday with the girls race at 11:30 a.m. followed by an awards ceremony. The boys race is scheduled for 3 p.m. followed by their awards ceremony.
