FORTVILLE —Three Hancock County teams and an individual runner made it through Saturday’s Mt. Vernon Girls Cross Country Sectional to continue their seasons at this week’s Shelbyville Regional.
Hancock County teams earned three of the five advancement spots, with Greenfield-Central, Mt. Vernon and New Palestine placing third through fifth, respectively, and Eastern Hancock’s Sydney Johnson grabbed one of the 15 individual positions at the 5K course at Mt. Vernon High School.
Greenfield-Central sophomore Josie Kinnaman broke up a perfect score from the first-place Franklin Central team, placing fourth overall with a time of 19:12.1.
The Flashes won the race with just 17 points, taking the top three individual spots along with positions No. 5 and No. 6.
Savana Miller won the race in 18:22.9.
“Jokingly this week, we kidded with [Kinnaman] that her goal this week was to break up Franklin Central’s perfect score,” Greenfield-Central coach Scott Burton said. “She knew where she was going to be, that top three or four. Today was more about run and advance. The girls ran very well and were able to do that, survive and fight another week.”
Cathedral was second with 81 points. Greenfield-Central scored 95 and Mt. Vernon edged New Palestine 122 to 126 for fourth place. Lawrence North finished just outside the top five with 142 points.
Based on projections from best times throughout the season, the Dragons weren’t among the top five. In fact, coach Eric Branch said at least one cross country website projections had their chances quite slim.
“The girls were unbelievable. They came together at the right time. We knew we were on the outside looking in,” New Palestine coach Eric Branch said. “We had one goal, that was to get in the top five. We were able to beat Lawrence North and were losing to them halfway through the race but got them in the last mile.
“According to projections online, we had a .9 percent chance of getting out. We had less than 1 percent chance and we did it. We scored the meet and we were supposed to be in the 170s and our goal was to try to score 135, we got 126 and got the place we wanted.”
Branch had a number of runners have career-best races, including a pair of all-sectional runners (top 20) in 10th-place Abby Journay (20:07.9) and 14th-place Taylor Burke (20:33.4). Two track and field athletes running cross country for the first time.
Mt. Vernon was able to break into the top 10 with sophomore Chesnie Willis, who just missed the 19-minute mark with a time of 20:01.0.
Greenfield-Central’s team score was aided by the runs of Adalyn Cole and Kendall Barrett. Cole was 12th in 20:14.8 and Barrett took the final all-sectional spot by placing 20th in 20:48.2.
Also earning all-sectional recognition were Mt. Vernon’s Hannah Hauser, 16th in 20:39.0, and Eastern’s Johnson, who placed 18th in 20:46.1.
Johnson advanced by being one of the top 15 runners from teams that did not finish in the top five.
Like the sectional, the regional has the same qualification standards to get to the state meet.
The top five teams will advance along with the top 15 individuals not associated with the top five teams. Along with qualifiers from the Mt. Vernon Sectional, Noblesville, Rushville, Shelbyville and Southwestern (Hanover) sectionals will feed into the Shelbyville race.
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2024 Mt. Vernon Girls Cross Country Sectional
Team scores: Franklin Central 17, Cathedral 81, Greenfield-Central 95, Mt. Vernon 122, New Palestine 126, Lawrence North 142, Warren Central 175, Beech Grove 182, Morristown 229.
All-Sectional (Top 20): Savana Miller, Franklin Central, 18:22.9; Natalie Vandesteene, Franklin Central, 18:53.6; Dakota Miller, Franklin Central, 18:54.5; Josie Kinnaman, Greenfield-Central, 19:12.1; Camryn Simons, Franklin Central, 19:31.5; Kaitlyn Pettet, Franklin Central, 19:36.5; Aliegha Buendia Aguilar, Beech Grove, 19:41.6; Makenna Bowling, Franklin Central, 19:47.2; Chesnie Willis, Mt. Vernon, 20:01.0; Abby Journay, New Palestine, 20:07.9; Addison Field, Cathedral, 20:08.7; Adalyn Cole, Greenfield-Central, 20:14.8; Adalyn Bolin, Cathedral, 20:17.5; Taylor Burke, New Palestine, 20:33.4; Addison Stanley, Cathedral, 20:37.0, Hannah Hauser, Mt. Vernon, 20:39.0; Amaya Pittman, Lawrence North, 20:40.0; Sydney Johnson, Eastern Hancock, 20:46.1; Lacy Neberieza, Lawrence North, 20:46.1; Kendall Barrett, Greenfield-Central, 20:48.2.
Hancock County Results
Greenfield-Central (95): Josie Kinnaman (4th, 19:12.1), Adalyn Cole (12th, 20:14.8), Kendall Barrett (20th, 20:48.2), Lexie Copeland (24th, 20:59.8), Taylor Cooksey (39th, 21:50.7), Harper Rahe (56th, 23:22.9), Addison Gordon (62nd, 23:53.2).
Mt. Vernon (122): Chesnie Willis (9th, 20:01.0), Hannah Hauser (16th, 20:39.0), Lillian Quinn (28th, 21:13.7), Makenna Laffey (29th, 21:17.7), Emma Gale (44th, 22:23.4), Kendall Cagnet (46th, 22:35.7), Ella Sinn (50th, 22:50.5).
New Palestine (126): Abby Journay (10th, 20:07.9), Taylor Burke (14th, 20:33.4), Taylor Stone (33rd, 21:27.3), Heidi Bloomer (37th, 21:49.0), McKenzie Hacker (38th, 21:50.3), Evelyn Kell (47th, 22:40.2), Addison Uhl (59th, 23:42.3)
Eastern Hancock (inc.): Sydney Johnson (18th, 20:46.1), Kaylee Swan (45th, 22:34.7)
