Crothersville’s Dirk Crater (1682) runs in the lead pack at the Hardy Lake Invitational Tuesday afternoon. He placed 12th individually with a time of 19:36.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Cheyenne Campbell of Trinity Lutheran placed 12tth in the girls race at the Hardy Lake Invitational Cross-Country race Tuesday afternoon.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Crothersville’s Josh Reynolds stays ahead of a Scottsburg runner as they head for the finish line Tuesday afternoon.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Crothersville’s Beau Napier runs along the lake at the Hardy Lake Cross-Country Invitational Tuesday. He was the Tigers’ second finisher.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
SCOTTSBURG — Trinity Lutheran’s Cheyenne Campbell and Crothersville’s Dirk Crater wanted to turn in strong performances Tuesday in the Hardy Lake Invitational cross-country race and both runners said they felt like they performed well.
Both sophomores placed 12th individually. Campbell was the only girl from Jackson County competing. The Crothersville boys only had four runners competing so the Tigers did not have a team score.
Campbell said this was her first race of the season and she ran a 24:38.
“I feel like it was pretty good for my first meet,” she said. “Practice is hard for me working around volleyball. I have to practice in the evenings after volleyball. I usually run at Freeman Field (on Seymour’s course.)”
She said she enjoys running at Hardy Lake.
“It’s very hilly in the back, but it’s my favorite course. I like that it is flat around the lake and I like hills because you go up a hill and there is always a down-hill,” she said. “My goal is to pass everyone in front of me. I see someone and I’m like ‘I’m going to pass them.’ I just take it one-by-one.”
Cheyenne Campbell of Trinity Lutheran placed 12tth in the girls race at the Hardy Lake Invitational Cross-Country race Tuesday afternoon.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Campbell is looking forward to running in the Eagle Classic at Brown County on Saturday.
“My goal is to get 23 minutes,” she said. “I’m going to practice hard. I like the variety of courses. I like track but I like cross-country because every course is different.” ]
Crater led the Crothersville runners by placing 12th in 19:36.
He said, “My goal was to break my sectional PR, which is my course PR here (19:48), and I did that. I always want to get out in the front pack and don’t get sucked up in the middle, and just let it go, give it all you’ve got.”
Crater continued on his racing tactic, saying, “there is no pacing at this point. I want to get a good first mile so I’m not stuck anywhere and whatever happens happens. Where I’m at now is fine. As long as I get in the 18’s come sectional (Oct. 8) we should be good. I need consistency. That is the main thing. Hardy Lake is not easy but if you know what you’re doing it’s a good course. You want to lengthen your stride on the down hills and press on the up hills.”
Crothersville coach Carl Bowman said he likes the improvement he is seeing from his runners.
“I think Dirk ran a little bit better than he did last time (at Salem). Beau (Napier) said one of his calves started hurting and he had to stop to stretch it so he kind of got out of the running for that,” Bowman said. “The other guys, as long as they just continue to improve and hang in there, I think they enjoy looking at their times and see how they improve.”
Napier, Josh Reynolds and Cody Reynolds were the other runners that competed for Crothersville on Tuesday.
Carl Bowman said “Marc (Bowman, middle school coach) pretty much sets the practice schedule on what he wants the kids to do and he knows pretty much what they have to do to lower their times. As long as they stick with it we’ll be OK.”
The Tigers will run in a meet at Waldron on Saturday.