HANCOCK COUNTY — Graduation ended the high school careers of some of Hancock County’s top boys cross country runners, but there are plenty of other talented harriers ready and able to go to the front of the pack.
Greenfield-Central will have a youthful team after the graduation of three state finalists, Carter Crouch, Chris Ross and Liam Brinkruff.
Mt. Vernon loses state-qualifier Colin Strachman, but the cupboard is far from bare for the county’s top team, which includes a number of returnees coming off strong springs in track and field.
Eastern Hancock and New Palestine lost some runners to graduation, but both have their top guy back.
Preston Markley is the Royals fastest 5K runner in school history. He has the potential to be the program’s first state qualifier this fall.
The Dragons will have a young team with some high-potential freshmen, but they also return their top runner from last season in senior Jake Cooper.
Here’s a look at what the county teams have to offer in 2024.
Eastern Hancock
Markley has had a great career for the Royals. He’s been one step away from the state meet in each of his first three seasons, qualifying for semi-state as a freshman and sophomore and regional (under a new format) last year.
He holds the school’s 5K record at 16-minutes, 6-seconds. He was 10th in the sectional and runner-up in last year’s Mid-Eastern Conference meet.
“His goal last year was to go to state, but he hurt his ankle at the sectional and was about 25-30 seconds slower in the regional. If he’d ran the same time as in the sectional he probably would have made it last year,” Rex Putt said. “That’s his goal again this year.”
The Royals will miss graduated Brandon Metz, who was in the 16:30s last year, and John Henry Gray, the team’s No. 2 and No. 3 runners, respectively. Metz finished 70th to Markley’s 65th at last year’s regional.
No. 4 and No. 5 runners, Andrew Metz and Caden Powers return. Andrew Metz was also a regional qualifier last year.
Newcomers from the middle school expected to fill the lineup are freshmen Davis Decker and Jud West.
“We’re going to have to work with the freshmen and see if they can continue to improve as the year goes on,” Putt said.
Greenfield-Central
After years of having veteran teams, the Cougars will be very young in 2024.
Crouch was the Hancock County and Mt. Vernon Sectional individual champion. Ross, who is running at Lee University, was the individual champion for the Hoosier Heritage Conference race, and Brinkruff was a the lone member of the tremendous trio to be a two-time state qualifier.
Aaron Smith still has a good group of runners, but they are still learning, not just as runners but as team leaders.
Eleven of the team’s 17 runners are either freshmen or sophomores.
“We’re a really young team,” Smith said. “We were talking at camp about leadership. We’re definitely not as mature of a team as we have been … We’re going to have to work through the growth and maturity, but they saw those guys that were leaders. They didn’t have to think about being leaders, but they have to start becoming the leaders and impact the guys coming in.”
On the course, sophomores Braylon Mumaugh and Henry Rahe were both all-conference runners last season. Junior David Wasson and sophomore Bryce Cotterman also return after being part of last year’s varsity lineup. They are on track to be the team’s top four runners.
One of the older runners, Peter Hummel, a senior, had a strong track and field season. Due to injuries as a sophomore and junior, and not competing as a freshman, this is his first season in cross country and he looks to be a top five runner.
Freshmen Jack Wait and Otto Sickles have the upperhand on the final two varsity spots. Senior Ben Flora and sophomore Adam Shields could also see time with the varsity group.
Mt. Vernon
The Marauders lost Strachman, now running at Division-I Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., but they have a number of top runners back, including a healthier Ahmed Saleh.
Saleh, a senior, missed much of last cross country season, but really turned it up during the track and field season, and is ranked No. 3 in the state for 2025 in the 1600-meter run. Saleh spent some time as a sophomore as the team’s No. 2 runner.
Junior Caden Cassada is another veteran that has done well in both cross country and track and field. He is ranked No. 5 in the state in the 800-meter run.
Cassada, Cooper Hunziker, and Xaiden Jenson, who finished the year as the team’s No. 2 runner, are back and were All-Hoosier Heritage Conference runners in 2023.
Brayden Strantz, another returnee, was one spot away, finishing 16th, at last year’s HHC meet. He’s been a strong runner over the summer, spending some time at the team’s No. 1 spot.
Austin Baugh is back after an all-county season and Landon Willis, who was a varsity runner on the team two years ago, returns after competing at Martinsville High School last year.
Senior Matthew Cousar, junior Tyler Tharp and frosh Landon Dayhuff are all giving veteran coach Bruce Kendall a number of quality choices to fill out his lineup.
“There’s just a lot of depth,” Kendall said. “And, we’ve got some boys you’ve never heard of that are right behind these guys. Any other year they’d stand out.”
Mt. Vernon is ranked No. 13 by Indiana Runner and No. 15 on INCCstats.com.
New Palestine
Cooper was an all-county and all-conference runner and one of two Dragon returnees to qualify for last year’s regional, joined by fellow senior Gavin Smith.
Coach Eric Branch believes, along with the top returnees, he has some incoming freshmen with the potential to be among the team’s top runners.
Carson Cooper, Jake’s younger brother, Mike Bauer, Zion Koch and Gabe Silvey lead a good group of new runners from last year’s middle school team.
“They want to be competitive right away,” Branch said. “You can tell they’ve had a taste of it in junior high by the way they trained over the summer. They are coming in and really working hard at practice and really gravitate toward the upperclassmen and train well with them.”
Branch said the younger Cooper was running high-school type times in eighth grade and is expected to have a big role on this year’s team.
Older brother Jake should be one of the county’s top runners.
“He had a great offseason and has worked hard this summer,” Branch added. “We expect him to come out zooming from the start.”
Along with Cooper and Smith, senior Charlie Rigsbee and junior Sam Ragsdale are back from last year’s roster.
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2024 Boys and Girls cross country schedules
Eastern Hancock Royals
Date;Opponent;Time
Aug. 24;at Monroe Central Invitational;10 a.m.
Aug. 31;at Mt. Vernon Invite;9 a.m.
Sept. 7;at Union City Invitational;9:30 a.m.
Sept. 14;at Blackford Invitational;TBD
Sept. 17;at New Castle Invite;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 21;Eastern Hancock Invite;9 a.m.
Sept. 28;at Heritage Day Classic (Hauser);TBD
Oct. 5;at Winchester Invitational;9 a.m.
Oct. 12;Mid-Eastern Conference Meet (Blue River Valley);10 a.m.
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Greenfield-Central Cougars
Date;Opponent;Time
Aug. 17;at Valley Cross Kickoff (LaVern Gibson, Terre Haute);9 a.m.
Aug. 24;at Plainfield Invite (Boys);9 a.m.
Aug. 24;at Richmond Invite (Girls);9 a.m.
Aug. 31;at Mt. Vernon Invite;9 a.m.
Sept. 7;at Columbus North Classic;9:30 a.m.
Sept. 14;at IWU Wildcat Classic (Boys);9 a.m.
Sept. 14;at Jon Mitchell (Cascade) Invite (Girls);9 a.m.
Sept. 21;at Riverview Health Flashrock (Northview Christian Church);9 a.m.
Sept. 28;Hoosier Heritage Conference Meet (Shelbyville);10 a.m.
Oct. 12;at Delta Eagle Invite (Taylor University);10:30 a.m.
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Mt. Vernon Marauders
Date;Opponent;Time
Aug. 17;at Valley Cross Kickoff (LaVern Gibson, Terre Haute);9 a.m.
Aug. 24;at Plainfield Invite;8:30 a.m.
Aug. 31;Mt. Vernon Invite;9 a.m.
Sept. 7;at Marion Invitational;8:30 a.m.
Sept. 14;at Eagle Classic (Brown County);8:30 a.m.
Sept. 21;Golden Bear Invitational (Shelbyville);8:30 a.m.
Sept. 28;Hoosier Heritage Conference Meet (Shelbyville);10 a.m.
Oct. 5;at Nike Twilight (LaVern Gibson, Terre Haute);6 p.m.
Oct. 9;at Hamilton Southeastern;5:30 p.m.
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New Palestine Dragons
Date;Opponent;Time
Aug. 24;at Jon Cleland Invitational (Northview Church);8:30 a.m.
Aug. 31;at Mt. Vernon Invite;9 a.m.
Sept. 7;at Marion Invitational;8:30 a.m.
Sept. 14;at Whiteland Invitational;8:30 a.m.
Sept. 21;Golden Bear Invitational (Shelbyville);8:30 a.m.
Sept. 28;Hoosier Heritage Conference Meet (Shelbyville);10 a.m.
Oct. 5;at Nike Twilight;6 p.m.
Oct. 12;Dragon Invitational;10 a.m.
