The Seymour boys cross-country team gathered last week at the high school to put a bow on its 2022 fall season.

For the third straight year, senior Jude Bane earned all-conference in the Hoosier Hills.

“Which is unheard of in our conference,” head coach Randy Fife said.

Unsurprisingly, Bane was named as the Owls’ most valuable runner.

Bane was the top racer for Seymour all season long. In addition to being all-conference, Bane was seventh in the sectional with a PR time of 16:11.7. He also was seventh place at the regional and earned a top-30 finish at the semistate.

Another award Fife handed out was the leadership award, which was awarded to senior Carter Murphy. He spent much of the season as Seymour’s second-fastest runner behind Bane, and it was his job to lead that next pack of Owl runners, which Fife thought Murphy did a great job of doing.

The newcomer award went to Kylan Ellerbe, who ran track last spring and decided to come out for cross-country for the first time this fall. Ellerbe was running varsity in the postseason for the Owls this year.

The final award was academic all-state, and Lucas Jablonski earned that impressive distinction.

The past fall was a fun season for Fife, who got to see his team really grow as the season went on.

“I’m glad that being a part of Seymour cross-country is more than just racing on a Saturday morning and seeing how we finished. It’s more than just practicing, running and racing,” Fife said. “I’m glad that these guys have fun. I’m glad they learn about setting goals. I’m glad that they form friendships that will last a lifetime. I’m glad they enjoy being together.”

Fife knew all along this would be a team that took some time to gain some traction. The Owls were able to place second at the sectional and third at the regional to qualify for the semistate as a team.

“I’m also glad they figure out that they can persevere, they can endure some discomfort, some pain and not give up, not give in,” Fife said.

Fife quoted Henry Ford in saying “There isn’t a person anywhere who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can.”

“I hope these boys learned that this year. Hopefully, these are lessons they can draw on the rest of high school, college and all through life,” Fife said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the No. 1 runner or the No. 15 runner, you can set goals and make progress. Seeing the boys work hard, seeing them gain confidence, seeing them believe in themselves and then seeing the results at the finish line, that’s what makes a coach proud, and we did that this year.”