SELLERSBURG
The Brownstown Central girls cross-country team came up with one of its best performances of the season Saturday to place second in the Mid-Southern Conference meet.
Host Silver Creek won with 31 points, the Braves had 73 and Corydon Central was third with 89.
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Marcie Stewart of Corydon Central was the individual winner in 20 minutes, 31 seconds.
Austin easily won the boys race with 33 points, Silver Creek was second with 56 and Brownstown finished sixth with 146 points.
Ethan Fugate of Austin was the individual winner in 16:40.
Brownstown’s Kaelyn Johnson placed sixth individually in 21:59, and Shauna Drake was 11th in 22:45. Both both earned All-MSC honors.
Grace Garland was 17th in 23:22 to earn honorable mention status.
Rounding out Brownstown’s five were Emma Winks, 21st at 23:43, and Claire Poulton, 25th at 24:11.
“We ran pretty well,” Braves coach Maria Conklin said. “It would have taken some all-time bests from everybody if we wanted to come out with a win, but Silver Creek ran strong, so I’ll take second place.
“All of our first miles were pretty fast. Some of them started to fade a little bit, but for the most part, we finished about where we wanted. I know some of them are disappointed in their times, so I’m hoping that will be some motivation for next week.”
Conklin said coming in, she was hoping for second place, and she knew it would be a battle between the Braves and Corydon Central.
“A lot of our top five were between their third and fourth runners,” she said. “Most of ours were right in there, so it really helped us take some places away. Hopefully, we can run well (at the Brown County Sectional) and make it on to regional.”
Mason Kellogg topped the Brownstown boys, taking 20th with a time of 18:41. He earned honorable mention honors.
Coach Derrick Koch said some of his runners were a few seconds off of their personal bests, and that kept the Braves from finishing in the top four.
Eastern was third with 89 points, Corydon was fourth with 121 points and North Harrison was fifth with 142, four points lower than the Braves.
“I was hoping for at least fourth today, and we ended up getting sixth, so I’m a little disappointed about that,” Koch said. “Overall, I felt like the boys gave some really good efforts. I think the effort was what I was looking for. Going into sectional, that’s really what I’m after. We’ve got a little bit of work to do to make sure we’re all working at the same level for the sectional. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the effort.”
Trey Hackman was second for the Braves, 28th at 19:07. He was followed by Nathan Koch, 31st at 19:16, Andrew Wheeles, 32nd at 21:17, and Cameron Day rounded out the top five in 35th at 19:22.