NASHVILLE — The conditions were perfect at Eagle Park on Saturday for the Brown County semistate. The air was crisp and cool, the rain held off and the ground was solid as the times were quick when runners crossed the finish line.

That was true for Seymour’s Jude Bane, who ran a personal record time in 16:19.7.

That PR has been a long time coming for Bane, who tied his previous PR last week at regionals.

“I was looking for a PR all year,” Bane said. “Tied it last week, felt good to finally get one this year. Good race.”

It was good enough for 43rd place for Bane. When Bane ran at semistate in his freshman and sophomore seasons, he got boxed in, which cost him.

But on Saturday, he got off to a good start.

“This year, I just made sure I got out quick, and it paid off,” Bane said. “Definitely nice to have more competition. It definitely helps to have a good strong pack. I had a lot of confidence that it (his PR) was gonna come today. “

The Seymour boys team finished 19th place at the semistate, which ended the Owls season as the top six teams advanced to the state meet next Saturday in Terre Haute. Columbus North won the boys race.

The six other Seymour competitors were Michael Proffer 17:06.3, Sam Rockey 17:47.8, Ty Tormoehlen 17:55.0, Wes Proffer 18:08.9, Carter Murphy 19:03.2 and Will Proffer 19:50.7.

“I think we had like at least three PR’s and at least one season best, so we ran a pretty decent race as a team, too,” Bane said. “I’m happy with it.”

Brownstown’s Chance and Shane Ratliff also ran in the boys race as individuals on Saturday.

Chance ran a PR by eight seconds in 17:53.4.

“I didn’t expect to PR. I didn’t expect to get into the 17’s, but I did, so I’m happy with how I ran,” he said.

Chance got off to a slow start, too, so he knew he would have to pick up the pace throughout the race.

As for Shane, he was about 10 seconds off of his PR in 18:30.0

“I was about average,” Shane said. “I’m not a huge fan of this course, but I did better than I thought. Overall, I did pretty well.”

The Ratliff brothers are both freshmen, so they are excited for what the future holds in their careers after already reaching this point in their first year.

“Definitely something to look forward to,” Shane said. “We’re just gonna keep running and get better over the years.”

“This is the only the start, and we’re already running pretty well,” Chance said. “Definitely as the years go on, we’ll just put in the miles and the time, and from there we’ll just keep going up.”

Brownstown’s Paige McKain also competed as an individual in the girls race, and she ran a 21:23.2

“Overall, I was pretty happy,” McKain said. “I would’ve liked to run a PR, but I probably had the fastest start I had all season, but got a little tight my second mile.”

McKain, too, was excited to be competing in the semistate as it was her goal at the start of the season to reach this point in the postseason.

“Definitely very exciting,” McKain said. “I mean, this was one of my goals for the season, so I was excited to meet it.”

The Seymour girls fielded a full team at semistate and came just two spots shy of qualifying for the state meet. The Owls placed eighth place as a team with a score of 240. Bloomington South was seventh with a 238, and Princeton Community secured the sixth spot with a 201. Columbus North won the girls race.

Vivienne Siefker led the Owls with a 37th-place finish in 19:28.5.

She was hoping to get inside the 18’s.

“I started off really good,” Siefker said. “Normally when I start races off fast, I get really tired, but I felt good. Then, the energy of everybody in the race just kind of slowed down in the woods. We all slowed down, and I couldn’t get it back.”

The Owls had a solid 2-4 pack behind Siefker with Hayley Harpe (48th) 20:00.1, Samantha Jacobi (49th) 20:01.6 and Kinsley Folsom (51st) 20:04.0.

Folsom’s first mile was a 5:47, which she said is her fastest mile ever, even from a track and field mile.

“That’s weird to have in a race like this,” Folsom said. “But you had to get out.”

Folsom admits she tailed off in the second half of the race as well, but both Siefker and Folsom are pleased with the pack they have at the top.

“I like that we can kind of just trust each other and we can build off each other,” Siefker said.

“We’re not far off of each other,” Folsom said. “We have a good four-pack, it’s just the number five we need to get in there, and that’s what I’m looking forward to for next year.”

The fifth runner for the Owls on Saturday was Grace Lewis in 21:56.3, followed by Lillian Sunbury 22:30.3 and Ava Sunbury 23:28.8.

“Last year we weren’t as close to having a chance, and this year, we had a chance,” Siefker said.

“It’s weird to compare because last year we weren’t as close as a team as we are this year,” Folsom said. “We’re more together and compact, and we’re running better than last year strategizing wise and team wise.”