SALEM — The Ratliff twins have placed 1-2 in most of the races the Brownstown Central boys’ cross-country team have run this fall.

It happened again on Saturday when Chance Ratliff finished first and Shane Ratliff placed second to lead the Braves to a second-place finish in the Mid-Southern Conference meet at Salem High School.

Silver Creek, with three runners in the top six, won the meet with 43 points, the Braves scored 51 and Corydon was third with 55.

The Corydon girls finished 1-2-3 and had a score of 25, Silver Creek was second with 47 and the Lady Braves scored 80 to finish third, three points ahead of Charlestown.

Chance Ratliff’s winning time was 16:15.8, and he said that was six seconds off his PR (personal record).

“We wanted to make sure we got a good, hard start,” he said. “We’re usually pretty good at that, but today especially since it’s conference, and we had some good guys to race with. We wanted to put the hammer down early on to make sure we got a good lead.

“When I knew we were dropping the Silver Creek guys that gave me all the confidence I needed to keep going because I knew they had some great speed, so I had to get ahead of them before the end here.

“Shane and I raced really well. We stayed on it; we pushed up the hills and used the down hills and it led to a pretty good race and a pretty good time.”

Chance, who won the 3200 in the conference track meet at Silver Creek in the spring, said he enjoyed the weather on Saturday.

“I couldn’t have asked for better conditions today. We’re definitely going to have much better competition (at the Bedford Sectional on Saturday), so we’ll have more guys to race with, so it’s definitely going to be more competitive.”

He talked about being in the best physical shape of his career.

“It is a much bigger difference than last year,” he said. “I feel really, really good.”

Shane’s time was 16:30.1. Both Ratliffs and Eli Crockett, who was eighth at 17:33.4, were first team all-MSC and teammate Damien Owens, who was 18th at 19:03.5, was honorable mention.

Braves Coach Bailey McIntire said having the Ratliffs finishing 1-2 was great to see.

“They really push each other a lot. It’s great to see them going back-and-forth like that,” McIntire said. “They raced really well and today they both ran a really smart race and that is going to help them going into the sectional and regional and hopefully to state again.”

“Now they’re getting into that discussion of being in the top 25,” he added. “That is kind of what we’re looking at, but there is a lot of work to do, and I think they’re doing a great job.”

McIntire liked the team effort.

“All-around I think it was a great effort,” he said. “Just about everybody did what we’ve been looking for all season, they raced tough, they raced together and kept their heads up.

“I think everybody was right on where they needed to be, one through seven. Our seventh guy PRd by one minute, and our sixth guy was racing tough. I’m really happy the way they raced today, especially going into sectionals.”

Kaylee Steward led the Brownstown girls by placing ninth at 22:00.2 to earn all-MSC honors. Trinity Cody was 15th at 22:55.3 and Lana Whisler was 20th at 23:58. They were both all-conference honorable mention.

Steward said spoke on her performance

“I had a good start. I went out fast, and it got me into a good position,” Steward said. “Once we got settled in, I stayed ninth.”

She said out on the course she felt pretty good.

“I felt myself slowing down a little bit, and whenever a girl caught me, I sped up more,” Steward said. “My finish was good. I sprinted the last 200 meters”

Steward said her time was three seconds off her career best.

“I’m definitely going to work on some hills because I know BNL has a lot of them.”

She said this is her first season running cross country, and the reason she came out is because she enjoyed running distance races with the track team last spring.

“I enjoy running long distance just because the environment is really good, and the people are really nice, and they encourage you,” Steward said.

Coach Kylee Wischmeier said the team was excited to have Kaylee.

“We saw her run track so we kind of recruited her from track,” Wischmeier said. “She has been nothing but an asset to the team.

“I thought we had a good race. I was very proud of my girls. We’ve had several girls coming back from injuries, so I was pleased to see everybody out racing good races.

“We had several PRs today, and we got third overall, so I’m very pleased the way we performed today. They need to keep practicing hard for the sectional. Hopefully, we can get a couple girls to the regional.”

Mid-Southern Conference Meet – Salem

Girls’ Team Scores

1, Corydon Central, 25. 2, Silver Creek, 47. 3, Brownstown Central, 80. 4, Charlestown, 83. 5, Austin, 124.

Girls’ Individual Results

1, Katherine Hauner, 20:31.00, (Eastern). 9, Kaylee Steward 22:00.2, (BC). 15, Trinity Cody 22:55.3, (BC). 20, Lana Whisler 23:58.00, (BC). 24, Chelsie Combs 24:35.8, (BC). 31, Claire Schepman 26:37.6, (BC). 42, Jessica Pitts, 30:44.7, (BC).

Boys’ Teams Scores

1, Silver Creek, 43. 2, Brownstown Central, 51. 3, Corydon Central, 55. 4, Austin, 110. 5, Salem, 121. 6, Charlestown, 144. 7, North Harrison, 173. 8, Eastern, 218.

Boys’ Individual Results

1, Chance Ratliff, 16:15.8, (BC). 2, Shane Ratliff 16:30.1 (BC), 8, Eli Crockett 17:33.5, (BC). 18, Damien Owens 19:03.5, (BC). 23, Logan Chavarria 19:24.4, (BC). 40, Chase Blann 24:09.8, (BC). 44, Kaden Lingenfelter 25:17.3 (BC).