The Seymour boys and girls cross-country teams both advanced to the semistate meet this season, and leading the way in that race were Jude Bane for the boys and Vivienne Siefker for the girls.

Bane and Siefker both came just a couple spots shy of individually qualifying for the state meet.

They were both the top runner for the Owls all season long, and each earned the team-voted most valuable runner awards.

As a result for their sustained success this season, Bane and Siefker have each reaped one more award.

Bane has been named The Tribune’s boys cross-country Runner of the Year, and Siefker has been named The Tribune’s girls cross-country Runner of the Year.

For Bane, he did what most runners hope to do, and that’s make the last race their fastest.

At the semistate, Bane ran a personal record of 16:19.7.

“I was looking for a PR all year,” Bane said, tying his PR at the regional the week before semistate. “Felt good to finally get one this year.”

He had a lot of confidence it was going to come on that crisp, cool morning in Brown County.

Bane’s 16:19 is the ninth fastest time in school history, and it’s the fastest time run by an Owl since 2013 when Jack Tormoehlen and Daniel Hauersperger did it.

Head coach Randy Fife told a good story about Bane at the team’s award banquet.

Bane earned all-conference this season for the Owls, and before the race, he asked Fife if he thought he could make it.

“Jude asked me the week leading up to the conference meet if I thought he could make all-conference,” Fife said. “I said, ‘Jude, it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what you think. I didn’t think you would make it last year and you did.’ I’ve learned not to doubt Jude Bane.”

On top of his accomplishments on the course, Bane also earned academic all-state honorable mention this season.

The success for Siefker this season dates back to the spring.

Siefker qualified for the regional in the 2-mile, but her season ended on a sour note as she didn’t run as well as she hoped.

Head coach Spencer Sunbury had a talk with her after track and field season concluded about how to maximize her potential. Siefker took that to heart during the summer, and it resulted in an impressive cross-country season.

“I started to get more confidence in myself and rely on myself more,” she said. “Before, I would run with people for practices and rely on whatever they were feeling. That’s how I would feel. Once he (Sunbury) told me that, I realized I had to start picking it up. He has faith in me, and I need to keep on going and just take that.”

Siefker’s PR on the season was 19:22, and she was a couple seconds shy of that at the semistate meet.

Like Bane, Siefker also earned all-conference for the Owls.

“It was great,” she said of her season. “I honestly felt super close with this team. We trusted each other a lot, and we were really excited from the beginning. We thought we had a chance to make it to state. We didn’t get it, but we were still super proud of each other.”

This new mentality Siefker has brought to her training and racing will only help propel her this coming spring in track and next fall in cross-country.

Something she wants to continue to work toward is being a leader.

“It’s going to motivate me to be a leader,” she said. “I’m going to take this and be really encouraging to everybody. From the beginning, encourage everybody to run hard and work hard and have confidence.”

Remaining members on the cross-country all-county team

Boys

Michael Proffer, Seymour, Sr.

Chance Ratliff, Brownstown Central, Fr.

Shane Ratliff, Brownstown Central, Fr.

Sam Rockey, Seymour, So.

Ty Tormoehlen, Seymour, Fr.

Wes Proffer, Seymour, Fr.

Traven Wellman, Brownstown Central, So.

Cameron Day, Brownstown Central, Sr.

Dirk Crater, Crothersville, Fr.

Girls

Kinsley Folsom, Seymour, Jr.

Hayley Harpe, Seymour, Sr.

Samantha Jacobi, Seymour, Sr.

Grace Lewis, Seymour, Jr.

Paige McKain, Brownstown Central, Sr.

Maddy Schepman, Brownstown Central, Jr.

Kaylyn Holman, Crothersville, Sr.

Ella Plasse, Crothersville, Sr.