Shelbyville senior Hannah Wright and Morristown freshman Audrey Van Dyke qualified for girls regional races while Waldron’s Will Larrison advanced with another strong performance Saturday at Blue River Memorial Park in Shelbyville.
At the Shelbyville Sectional, Wright (photo, left) lowered her personal-best time by over 20 seconds to finish second among runners not on a top-five finishing team.
The top five teams and the top 15 individuals not on advancing teams at each sectional qualified for regional events.
Wright finished 18th in the sectional race in 20 minutes, 52 seconds to earn a regional berth on the same course this Saturday. She will need another top-15 performance from a non top-five team to advance to the State Finals.
Also scoring points for Shelbyville but not advancing were Aerin Garcia-Santiago (23:00), Kat Seal (23:54), Courtney Gross (26:05) and Haylee Barnes (26:31).
Riley Price was the top Waldron runner. She finished 56th in 23:35. Maxine Higdon placed 73rd for Southwestern in 28:21.
Center Grove was the sectional champion with 65 points. Also advancing to the regional were Franklin, Whiteland, Roncalli and Indian Creek.
In the boys sectional race, Larrison (photo) finished 16th overall in the field in 17:03 to earn an advancing position to the regional.
Shelbyville had a pair of top-50 performances but it was not enough to advance.
Blake Hughes (18:14) and Shia Veach (18:16) finished 45th and 46th, respectively. Logan Reinhart (18:31) was close behind in 56th. Also scoring points for Shelbyville were Ben Hinojosa (19:46) and Jonah Anspaugh (20:26).
Koty Claiborne led Southwestern with a 68th-place finish in 18:57. Triton Central’s Liam Thompson placed 88th in 21:25.
Center Grove was the sectional champion with 38 points. Also moving on to the regional were Indian Creek, Perry Meridian, Franklin and Greenwood.
Mt. Vernon Sectional
Morristown competed at the Mt. Vernon Sectional where Van Dyke (photo) was the 13th regional qualifier. She completed the course in 22:40.
In the boys race, Morristown’s Ryan Crisman finished 57th in 19:55 but did not advance to the regional round.
The IHSAA eliminated the Semistate round of races this season meaning the five regional races around the state Saturday will determine the field for the state championship races.
The Shelbyville Regional will feature sectional qualifiers from Noblesville, Mt. Vernon, Connersville, Shelbyville and Southwestern (Hanover). The boys race at Blue River Memorial Park will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the girls race to follow at 11:15 a.m.
In other prep events Saturday:
Volleyball
Waldron Sectional
Oldenburg Academy def. Morristown, 25-19, 25-17, 25-20
Kate Weber had 14 kills and Rachel Suttman finished with 12 kills to lead the Twisters to a sectional semifinal win over the Yellow Jackets.
Weber also had a team-high 21 digs and Kenlee Martin collected 24 assists to improve Oldenburg Academy’s record to 25-7.
Maycee Cole led Morristown (11-20) with six kills. Madison Espich finished with a team-high 11 digs and Katie Theobald had 13 assists.
South Decatur def. Waldron, 25-19, 25-22, 19-25, 25-15.
The Cougars improved to 17-7 with their second win over the Mohawks (5-20) this season.
Oldenburg Academy defeated South Decatur in the sectional championship match, 25-14, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23. Weber and Suttman combined for 31 kills.
Oldenburg Academy (26-7) will face Greenwood Christian Academy (22-13) in the second Edinburgh Regional semifinal match Saturday.
In the regional opener, Shakamak (17-10) takes on Indiana Deaf (26-9-1).
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