SHELBYVILLE — The veterans were up front and the kids weren’t too far behind.
Greenfield-Central’s senior trio of Chris Ross, Carter Crouch and Liam Brinkruff took the top three spots in Saturday’s Hoosier Heritage Conference boys cross country meet.
Added to the low-stick performances from the vets, the Cougars put two freshmen in the top 15 to claim their first conference boys cross country title in 23 years.
Greenfield-Central scored 32 points and Mt. Vernon, which had won the last four conference titles, placed second with 54. Yorktown, with 81 points, edged Pendleton Heights, with 85, for third place. New Palestine finished sixth with 149.
“I’m super-excited, definitely for the seniors,” Greenfield-Central coach Aaron Smith said. “The three up front, they’ve put in so much hard work over the four years. I’m blessed to have those guys, and everybody on this team. We have a great group of guys. The freshmen (Braylon Mumaugh and Henry Rahe), they’re the second and third fastest freshmen we’ve ever had.
“I’m thankful that the Lord has given me this team to train them and entrusted that to me. They work hard every day. They’re doing what they need to do. (A conference championship) is one thing we can check off and get ready for the next thing.”
The G-C seniors have been running up front all season, but the continued improvement of the first-year runners proved to be crucial in claiming the crown for the first time since 2000.
Ross won with a 5K time of 15:40.66. Crouch was second in 16:02.36 and Brinkruff followed in 16:04.37. Mumaugh was 12th, running a personal best time of 16:45.91. Rahe placed 14th in 16:54.45.
At the Hancock County race last month, Mt. Vernon placed all seven of its varsity runners ahead of the freshmen, and even though the Cougars were without Ross for that race — and had a 1-2 finish from Crouch and Brinkruff — his presence wouldn’t have stopped the Marauders from becoming county champions.
On Saturday, following the big three, Mt. Vernon was able to only place three runners in front of Mumaugh. Colin Strachman was sixth in 16:24.34. Cooper Hunziker was eighth in 16:36.98 and Caden Cassada placed 11th in 16:45.11. One other, Xaiden Jenson (16:54.45) was between Mumaugh and Rahe.
After the seniors outran the entire field, the freshmen did their part to help the program get its first title in a very long time.
“Our freshmen stepped up big,” Smith added. “We had three freshmen as our No. 4, 5, and 6 [Bryce Cotterman was 21st in 17:29.12] runners. I’m excited for the future. They’ve got a good mindset, kind of like our three up front. It’s really, really hard to get guys to have that killer instinct. These two freshmen we have, have that. The pressure doesn’t get to them. They competed well and ran well for us.”
The Cougars ended a stretch of four straight HHC championships by rival Mt. Vernon.
“I could have closed the distance but not erased the distance,” Mt. Vernon coach Bruce Kendall said. “They were the better team today and I couldn’t have pulled anything out of the magic hat to change that. I could have made it closer, but I couldn’t change the outcome. Congratulations to them.
“Ross has had all kinds of different (injuries) he’s had to overcome a year ago. For him to win, what an outstanding win for an outstanding individual. That’s really cool. I can’t say enough nice things of how Greenfield has had to overcome so much and produced such a great team. They have a great shot getting to state, and we’ll do the best we can to close that gap from now to when we see them again at the sectional.”
Ross is the program’s second individual champion. Brandon Plavka won the individual title in 1997. Ross’s time of 15:40.66 was the third-fastest HHC championship-winning time, trailing only Pendleton Heights’ Brock Hagerman in 2004 (15:19) and 2005 (15:29).
“It feels good and it feels good to be running for God and being able to glorify God in that way,” Ross said. “I’m really blessed to be able to support Greenfield. Not just me, but to have our top three finishing 1, 2, 3 in conference is awesome. Other teams see that and being able to really grow our program is great.”
“We’ve worked so hard every single day to achieve this,” Ross added on getting the team title. “The seniors, we’ve worked four years … Our freshmen, we weren’t really sure how’d they do this year. They’ve consistently done really well. It was nice they were able to have a fantastic race today and be able to do that for us.”
The Cougars had been close a number of times, but could never quite get by Mt. Vernon or New Palestine or Pendleton Heights in previous years. Smith, who has been with the program 12 years, 10 as head coach, said, during that time, G-C has had six runner-up finishes and some thirds and fourths.
“It’s great to finally be able to get everything to come together,” Brinkruff said. “For all the years I’ve been here, we’ve had a chance at it. It didn’t work out the last two years. (Mt. Vernon) really had an incredible frontrunner [Tristan Trevino, now running at Marian University]. We have something special this year that I don’t think we’ve had. Going 1, 2, 3 in all this competition, it’s great.”
The top 15 all earned All-HHC honors. New Palestine’s top runner, Jake Cooper, finished 15th in 16:58.28.
Mt. Vernon’s final scoring runner, Brayden Strantz, just missed an all-conference ribbon by finishing 16th in 16:58.89.
Other scorers for the Dragons included, Gavin Smith (27, 17:48.54), Jacob Collins (39, 18:09.79), Sam Ragsdale (43, 18:27.28), and Ryan Cain (54, 19:23.27).
Greenfield-Central, Mt. Vernon and New Palestine will run in Saturday’s Nike Twilight race in Terre Haute.
–
2023 Hoosier Heritage Conference Boys Cross Country Championship
Team scores: Greenfield-Central 32, Mt. Vernon 54, Yorktown 81, Pendleton Heights 85, Delta 144, New Palestine 149, Shelbyville 189, New Castle 228.
Top 15 (All-HHC): Chris Ross, Greenfield-Central, 15:40.66; Carter Crouch, Greenfield-Central, 16:02.36; Liam Brinkruff, Greenfield-Central, 16:04.37; Wyatt Turner, Yorktown, 16:15.16; Jonathan Loney, Yorktown, 16:15.88; Colin Strachman, Mt. Vernon, 16:24.34; Tyler Dillon, Delta, 16:33.32; Cooper Hunziker, Mt. Vernon, 16:36.98; Will Coggins, Pendleton Heights, 16:37.96; Benson Davis, Pendleton Heights, 16:41.51; Caden Cassada, Mt. Vernon, 16:45.11; Braylon Mumaugh, Greenfield-Central, 16:45.91; Xaiden Jenson, Mt. Vernon, 16:54.45; Henry Rahe, Greenfield-Central, 16:54.93; Jake Cooper, New Palestine, 16:58.28.
