COLUMBUS
Kaylyn Holman refused to be intimidated by runners from bigger schools and proved once again she can run with anybody.
On Saturday morning, the Crothersville junior took eighth place overall in the Columbus North Regional cross-country meet at Ceraland, covering the 5-kilometer course in 19 minutes, 5 seconds.
The time was a school record and a personal best, improving on the 19:14 Holman ran as a freshman. This is the third time Holman has reached semistate.
“I felt really good today,” Holman said. “I was ready to be top four and hoping to break 19 minutes.”
Crothersville did not have either a boys or girls team advance out of sectional competition last week, but the Tigers will be sending two boys ahead to semistate next Saturday along with Holman.
David Rose finished 10th in the boys race in 16:39, and Elijah Plasse was 22nd in 17:09.
The top five placing teams and the top 10 runners who are not aligned with a team continue competing. Holman, Rose and Plasse all advanced in the latter category.
Plasse initially worried he didn’t qualify, but most of the top spots in the finish area were grabbed by teams, so things worked out fine for him. He is the first Crothersville freshman boy to ever qualify for cross-country semistate, and this is the first time the Tigers have had two boys reach semistate in the same year.
Rose said the opening pace set by the leaders was so swift, he purposely eased off the gas pedal and then passed other runners late on the mostly flat course.
“I thought they all started too strong,” Rose said. “I cut my pace. It’s a pretty flat course.”
Rose did voice one reservation about next Saturday’s race at Brown County. As the coronavirus continues to spread, he said, “I hope it doesn’t get canceled.”
Holman also said she hopes Indiana’s government does not increase the state or area’s alert status and the race goes off as scheduled.
“Definitely next week,” she said of cracking 19 minutes. “Brown County is my favorite course.”
Brownstown Central had two entrants in the girls race. Jazzlynn Yeadon was 54th in a season-best 22:50.
“I was pleased with that,” coach Maria Conklin said.
Tori Lokey was 77th in 25:19.
“I was very excited for her (for qualifying),” Conklin said.
The only Brownstown runner to move on to semistate was senior Nathan Koch. His 16:49, a personal best by one second for the distance, gave him 13th place overall in the boys race and put him high on the list of individual runners going forward.
“It was hard,” Koch said of the pace. “I knew I had to keep up with the Seymour boys (who finished all around him).”
The Braves had not qualified for regional as a team since 2013, and the Braves were glad to be the ones to advance this far.
“I feel awfully tired,” said Andrew Wheeles, who ran 19:13 in 66th. “I think I did all right. It has been crazy that we’re here. It was fun.”
The other Brownstown guys were Cameron Day (47th in a personal-record 18:27), Bradley Edwards (65th, 19:13), Waylon Lutes (73rd, 19:54), Aaron Fernandez (79th, 20:29) and Dylan Wischmeier (83rd, 20:45).
“The guys fought hard,” Brownstown coach Derrick Koch said. “As a season, we came a long way. We put in a lot of miles.”