FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon showed it had front runners and depth at Saturday’s Mt. Vernon Invitational/Hancock County Championships girls cross country meet held on the Marauders home course.
Sophomore Hannah Hauser won the county individual title for the second straight year and was third in the invitational. Frosh Makenna Laffey was county runner-up and fourth overall.
The Marauders seven scoring runners finished ahead of all but two opponents’ second runners in a clean sweep of the team events.
It was a different configuration of Hancock County meets from previous years.
Traditionally scheduled in the middle of the week with just the four county schools, Saturday’s race was a combination invitational/county championship event. It included runners from Whiteland, Cathedral, Lapel and Morristown and was scored both as an invitational and a county meet.
Mt. Vernon dominated the county competition scoring just 22 points. Greenfield-Central was second with 45 and New Palestine had 69. Eastern Hancock did not have enough runners for a team score.
In the invitational, the Marauders scored 35 outdistancing Whiteland (64), Cathedral (69), Greenfield-Central (80) and New Palestine (127).
“We’re right where we wanted to be and where I thought we could be,” Mt. Vernon coach Madison Roeder said. “The goal was to win the invite and to win the county. I really wanted our No. 4 through No. 7 to work on pack running and they did a good job of that.”
After a week that had teams practicing before school due to extreme heat, Saturday morning’s races were contested in much cooler temperatures, though humidity was high.
“It was a little bit harder to breath because of the humidity, but I think practicing in the morning made it easier to race this early. It really wasn’t too bad,” Hauser said.
Hauser was one of three runners, and the only county runner, to finish the 5K course in under 20 minutes (19:40). She was also the fastest underclassman in the race.
“It feels pretty good (to be county champion for the second straight year),” she added. “I’m just really proud of our team and how we’ve improved and have gotten more depth to our team.
“I just tried to pace with some of the girls in the front most of the race and use that to help pace me throughout the race.”
In a sprint to the finish, Whiteland senior Victoria Jackson (19:29.4) edged Cathedral’s Lucille Marquart (19:29.5) for the invitational win.
Laffey finished in 20:10.6, just ahead of another county frosh, Greenfield-Central’s Josie Kinnaman (20:20.6).
“I knew Hannah would do what she did today. I challenged Makenna, our freshman, all week to start inching that down a little bit more. I gave her that sight line of (Greenfield-Central freshman Josie) Kinnaman. If you’re around her and beating her you know you’re doing well,” Roeder said. “(Kinnaman’s) a solid runner. I think Makenna is going to inch that gap down a little bit on Hannah as the year goes on and I think we’re going to have a great 1-2. And, Emma Gale is coming back into form after having a little preseason slight injury set her back a little bit. Now she’s back to where she needs to be. Our top three are going to be pretty tough.”
Gale, a junior, finished seventh overall and fourth in the county with a time of 20:43.1. New Palestine senior Courtney Study was next in line with a time of 20:55.2. G-C junior Lexie Copeland was ninth/sixth with a time of 21:06.5 Mt. Vernon had the next four runners in junior Tenley Benz (21:10.4), sophomore Lily Quinn (21:15.1), junior Julia Iserloth (21:19.6) and senior Emma Gasiorek (21:21.0).
Only a runner from Cathedral kept it from being five straight Marauders with sophomore Kenydi Russell running her 5K in 21:35.6.
Freshman Sydney Johnson (23rd/15th) was the top Eastern Hancock runner with a time of 22:26.8.
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2023 Mt. Vernon Invitational (Girls)
Team scores (invitational): Mt. Vernon 35, Whiteland 64, Cathedral 69, Greenfield-Central 80, New Palestine 127
Team scores (county): Mt. Vernon 22, Greenfield-Central 45, New Palestine 69
Individual results (Top 10 county runners in bold)
Place;Name, School;Time
1.;Victoria Jackson, Whiteland;19:29.4
2.;Lucille Marquart, Cathedral;19:29.5
3.;Hannah Hauser, Mt. Vernon;19:40.0
4.;Makenna Laffey, Mt. Vernon;20:10.6
5.;Josie Kinnaman, Greenfield-Central;20:20.6
6.;Lena Shipp, Whiteland;20:35.9
7.;Emma Gale, Mt. Vernon;20:43.1
8.;Courtney Study, New Palestine;20:55.2
9.;Lexie Copeland, Greenfield-Central;21:06.5
10.;Tenley Benz, Mt. Vernon;21:10.4
11.;Lily Quinn, Mt. Vernon;21:15.1
12.;Julia Iserloth, Mt. Vernon;21:19.6
13.;Emma Gasiorek, Mt. Vernon;21:21.0
