BEDFORD
The Seymour girls placed three runners in the top six and two Seymour boys finished in the top nine, and the Owl teams used those high finishes to finish second in the Scott Hiles Invitational on Monday at Bedford North Lawrence High School.
Seymour’s Ethan Dippold kept pace with Bloomington North’s top two runners for the first half of the boys race before placing third overall with a time of 17:23.3. Nolan Bailey of North was the individual winner in 17:08.2.
Dippold was pleased he hung close for a long stretch of the 5-kilometer race.
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“I was with them for the first two and a half miles. Then I felt off a little bit," Dippold said. "I think I went out pretty good. It was the time I wanted to go out at. It was a good race overall. It’s a little hilly, and the heat doesn’t help, but we held on pretty good."
Bloomington North with six boys among the top seven finishers easily won the race with 18 points. The Owls scored 54, Bedford was third with 115, Eastern Greene was fourth with 121, Brownstown Central was fifth with 142, followed by Mitchell 149, Orleans 187 and Linton-Stockton 198.
Seymour boys coach Randy Fife liked Dippold’s aggressiveness.
“Ethan did a nice job of setting his sights with the lead pack, running up there in the 2-3 spot the whole time, and he ended up finishing third against a good Bloomington North team," Fife said. "That’s a good run for him."
Fife said the mixed group of runners from different schools caused some guys to end up running on their own a little bit.
"You get on your own out here in the hot sun and it’s hard to maintain your focus and competitive energy," he said.
Fife said that circumstance might have been a factor.
“So we have to do a better job of being disciplined to know that we’re racing even when there is nobody around," he said. "It was a warm day, and they competed. I’m happy with that.”
Jude Bane was the Owls’ second runner, ninth overall at 17:58.5, and was followed by Brandon Kleber, 11th at 18:10.2, Connor Harriss, 16th at 19:07.7; Michael Proffer, 19th at 19:29.1; Clay Greenawalt, 20th at 19:34.5; and Elijah Osborn, 21st at 19:37.2.
Pacing Brownstown was Nathan Koch, who finished eighth in 17:57.2. Next for the Braves were Andrew Wheeles, 33rd at 21:06.7; Cameron Day, 34th at 21:07.8; Bradley Edwards, 44th at 22:10.6; Waylon Lutes, 45th at 22:16.2; Aaron Fernandez, 49th at 22:47.8; and Hudson Fritz, 63rd at 24:42.4.
Bedford North Lawrence scored 58 points to Seymour’s 64 in the girls race. Mitchell scored 83, Eastern Greene 84, Lawrence County Christian 116, Linton-Stockton 148, Orleans 155 and Brownstown 186.
Seymour’s Kinsley Folsom took third in 22:49.6. Other Owls were Hayley Harpe, fourth in 24:22.4; Lillian Sunbury, 6th in 24:45.9; Savannah Stoffregen, 25th 28:43.3; Grace Lewis, 26th in 29:08.7; Eliana Baker, 27th in 29:13.6; and Caitlin Thomasma, 35th in 31:26.1.
“This race was a lot hotter (than last Thursday at Seymour)," Harpe said. "I’m not really used to this weather yet, so I’m still trying to get into the swing of things, but I think I performed pretty well. My first mile, I definitely went out strong and finished well."
Harpe said one thing she likes about cross-country is the variety of courses, but admitted, “Sometimes, I get confused because I’m not used to running on all of these, but I enjoy running.”
Jazzlynn Yeadon led Brownstown in 16th place at 26:41.1. Next for the Braves were Karcyn Trueblood, 37th in 31:45.9; Tori Lokey, 40th in 33:45.2; Camryn Thompson, 46th in 36:49.9; Brooklyn Isaacs, 51st in 41:05.8; and Rehgen Stuckwisch, 53rd in 42:34.3.
“I think we ran about the same (as at Seymour)," Braves coach Maria Conklin said. "Some of them were a little slower. This was our first race running in the heat, so I think that really affected some of them, but the effort was there.”
Trinity Lutheran’s Abby Hildreth was 31st in the girls race in 29:50.1.
She said her time wasn’t quite as good as the race she ran last Saturday at Southwestern (Shelby) but was better than her last race at the BNL course.
“The fact that it’s such a hilly course and it’s always hot at this race, I definitely need more endurance," she said. "I need to find some hills to practice on. I’m making progress.”