CROTHERSVILLE
David Rose never let the opponents get close enough to determine if he smells like the flower of the same name. He promptly rose to the top, or the front.
Rose burst from the starting line at Countryside Park and immediately put teammates and New Washington contenders in his rear-view mirror, then sprinted home to capture the 5-kilometer race Tuesday afternoon.
It was overcast with temperatures in the low 80s, though the humidity was otherworldly.
The No. 1 Tiger boys runner led the crowd in 17 minutes, 53 seconds in what amounted to hard competition but an odd meet. Southwestern was a no-show, New Washington brought only boys, but Crothersville did not have five runners to compile a team score.
Rose, second last Saturday at the Salem Invitational, just ran hard, spurred by the knowledge it will pay off in big meets later this season — and maybe beyond.
“We basically try to run these small meets to help us in the big ones,” Rose said.
Rose’s personal best time over the distance is 16:44, a mark he hopes to break this season.
“I’ve been faster this year (on courses he has revisited),” he said, so thinks that is likely.
Crothersville’s home course can be deceptive. Views of the start-finish line for spectators and the surrounding areas are flat; however, most of the route is in the nearby woods, and there are some major hills for runners to contend with that can’t be seen from afar.
“I’ll PR at a flatter course,” Rose said. “But I like both hills and flats. With hills, you can tell you’re doing better.”
Stronger runners can reel in slowing competition on the hills. Second place went to Tiger Elijah Plasse in 19:35, and he gazed at someone who suggested this gave the impression of being a flat course as if they were hallucinating.
“There are some of the steepest hills I’ve ever run on,” Plasse said. “It’s good training.”
Crothersville is an Indiana High School Athletic Association Class A school, the smallest classification, and there are 124 boys and girls at the 9-12 high school level. If not for an injury, the boys would have been able to field a team of five runners.
The girls have been getting used to alterations in the schedule, some said, when they learned Southwestern did not make the trip, and they were reduced to running essentially an intramural meet.
The nature of the circumstance meant the Crothersville girls left the starting line with the boys. Katyyn Holman, who won the girls Salem Invitational last Saturday and is one of the top small-school runners in the state, beat all of the New Washington boys runners, coming in just behind Rose and Plasse.
Although the humidity felt like 9,000%, the lack of sunshine and a temperature far below some recent 90-plus highs, Holman said, “It wasn’t too hot.”
Holman said she has lobbied school friends on recruiting missions to find one more girl for the team so the Tigers can score in each meet.
“I’ve tried,” she said.
Although there was no one around her, Ella Plasse, Elijah’s sister and the second girl in 25:38, dove across the finish line. The theatrical maneuver was preplanned.
“I always wanted to dive,” she said.
The situation where she had to lunge to pass an opponent had never come up in a meet for the junior, so she manufactured her own opportunity.
“I probably won’t do it again,” Plasse said, though she did believe the move was picturesque. “Yeah, I think it was.”
There were a few comments made about the stickiness of the air.
“That’s what gets you,” Elijah Plasse said. “In the end, you can’t hardly breathe.”
Kennadi Lakins, the fourth Crothersville girl finisher in 27:06, behind her sister, Kiarra, was on the same wavelength as Plasse.
“I’m sweating like crazy,” Kennadi Lakins said.
If it is working up a sweat that scares away potential runners for Crothersville in its quest to line up minimum teams of five, they should not talk things over with Rose. The senior is hoping he can keep competing four more years.
Rose took up cross-country competition as a freshman, and this is his fourth season running for the Tigers. He wants to keep running in college, and Tuesday, a representative of Anderson University was present to watch him run.
Rose could end up studying there or at Hanover College or maybe elsewhere, but he knows he wants to be part of his next school’s running team.
“It means quite a bit to me,” Rose said.