SEYMOUR
Runners, coaches and fans were optimistic the rain would hold off for Thursday’s Seymour cross country invitational.
Mother Nature did not oblige.
Still, the rain didn’t slow down the Owls’ Luke Plummer and Makenna Sunbury, who raced to individual titles in the muck and moisture. Plummer bolted in with a time of 17 minutes and 45.91 seconds while Sunbury was timed at 21:09.04.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Click here to purchase photos from this galleryBoth runners helped lead the Owls to a sweep of their lone home meet of the year.
Seymour boys coach Randy Fife was glad his boys were able to get their race done before it started to pour.
“We’re happy we got the meet in,” Fife said. “Also, we ran well. The course didn’t get too sloppy and our top six were only at about a minute, minute and five [seconds] gap there. I think that’s maybe going to be our strength this year, just having a lot of guys out front.”
Scoring runners for the Owls were all within the top 10. Finishing behind Plummer were Ethan Dippold in third, Michael Proffer in fifth, and Jude and Luke Bane in seventh and eighth for a team score of 24.
The Seymour girls team had a similar finish with all of their scoring runners finishing 10th or higher. Coming across the finish line behind Sunbury was Kinsley Folsom in third, Grace Rennekamp in fourth, Samantha Jacobi in seventh and Elizabeth Hougland in 10th for a team score of 25.
Coach Spencer Sunbury has seen his girls win this meet several times and, even in spite of irregular conditions, was very pleased with his girls’ first meet performance of the season.
“We still ran well,” Sunbury said of his girls’ effort despite the rain. “I was proud of the girls but disappointed in the rain. We’ve done a lot of work on [the course], so it’s much better than it was before, but there are still some slick spots back there.
“But I can’t say anything bad about the way we ran today.”
For Brownstown Central, both the boys and the girls took fourth. The boys were paced by Nathan Koch, who ran a 18:56.78 for 12th while the girls were led by Grace Garland, who finished 19th with a time of 25:30.10.
This, too, was the first meet of the year for the Braves, who were glad to finally get out and compete after being resigned to practice runs throughout the summer and early into the season.
“I just wanted to get our first race in,” Braves girls cross country coach Maria Conklin said. “With some of our new runners you just want to get a race in and then it started to downpour and I just told them, ‘Oh, well, go have fun.'”
Following Garland for the Braves was Emma Winks in 24th, Jazzlynn Yeadon in 25th, Zoe Fountain in 34th and Kylee Wischmeier in 40th for a team score of 129.
On the boys’ side, finishing behind Koch was Mason Kellogg in 18th, Andrew Wheeles in 29th, Patrick Barger in 31st and Cameron Day in 35th for a team score of 97.
Brownstown Central boys cross country coach Derrick Koch expected his boys to finish in the order they did after several weeks of training this summer. Still, he was pleased with their first go around this year.
“I was happy with the effort,” Koch said. “Going into the meet, I kind of knew which of them had the miles and which ones didn’t. So, I was looking to see how that panned out and it panned out about the way I thought it would. Overall, effort wise, I was really happy.”
Both Conklin and Koch remarked now they have a starting point to build off of going forward towards their goal of advancing out of the Brown County sectional this year.
All four teams will get a chance to keep building toward the postseason on Monday, Aug. 26 at the Bedford North Lawrence Invite at 3:30 p.m.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Girls Seymour Invite Results” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Team Scores
Seymour 25, Charlestown 59, Jennings County 68, Brownstown Central 129, Lighthouse Christian Academy 130, Bloomington Home School 145, Jeffersonville 150.
Seymour: Makenna Sunbury 1, Kinsley Folsom 3, Grace Rennekamp 4, Samantha Jacobi 7, Elizabeth Hougland 10, Lillian Sunbury 11, Kirby Hill 18.
Brownstown Central: Grace Garland 19, Emma Winks 24, Jazzlyn Yeadon 25, Zoe Fountain 34, Kylee Wischmeier 40, Karcyn Trueblood 49, Aubree VanCoutren 51.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Boys Seymour Invite Results” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Team Scores
Seymour 24, Jennings County 44, Henryville 82, Brownstown Central 97, Jeffersonville 130.
Seymour: Luke Plummer 1, Ethan Dippold 3, Michael Proffer 5, Jude Bane 7, Luke Bane 8, Brandon Kleber 10, Luke Hauersperger 17.
Brownstown Central: Nathan Koch 12, Mason Kellogg 18, Andrew Wheeles 29, Patrick Barger 31, Cameron Day 35, Trey Hackman 42, Edwards Bradley 50
[sc:pullout-text-end]