Tigers’ Dakota Lee makes it as an individual
By RYAN WALKER
UPLAND — The IHSAA eliminated the cross-country semi-state race, making it more difficult to advance in the postseason. But the Bluffton, Norwell, and Southern Wells boys didn’t let that phase them one bit.
The three beat the odds Saturday morning at Taylor University in the sectional meet. The Tigers (second) and the Knights (third) were projected to head to next week’s regional in Fort Wayne, according to online projections, and hit. The Raiders, on the other hand, were given less than a 20 percent shot to do so.
As a representative from Delta read off the top five schools over the loudspeaker in front of all 27 boys and girls teams, came Southern Wells in fifth place. The boys and girls in red and blue jumped for joy and cheered.
Head coach Monica Edgeman shared her excitement for what could be the best team in school history. She was also proud of their hard work as a tightly-knit group.
“Great group of kids — they work really hard,” Edgeman said. “We’re running more miles than we ever have, and they’re fun to be around. They’re like family.”
Southern Wells was one of, if not the smallest, school of the 13 participants. Due to the IHSAA having only one class for cross country, the Raiders have less opportunity to make noise in the postseason compared to schools even double and triple in size.
Despite that, they came out and proved they belong with the big teams at the sectional, but Edgeman still voiced per opinion on classes.
“We’re probably one of the smallest schools here and (we) did some calculations and saw that at regional if we did divisions, we’re the smallest school getting first place at regionals in our class. So, I would still love to see two classes broken up into our state. We have our best team we’ve ever had in our school, and we’re getting fifth. If we’re not the best, and we’re just an average school, you might as well forget getting anything. It’s pretty discouraging.”
Both Tigers and Knights head coaches, Michael Vanderkolk and Cody Hannie, echoed one another in separate interviews that their boys did what they were asked to do in advancing, but resting their bodies to stay fresh for next week.
In terms of making it to next week, Hannie knew the Knights would have to have “something catastrophic” to have happen to not make it, but he also shared some displeasures with online projections like the Raiders.
“There were websites saying that we weren’t going to. That always adds a little extra motivation,” Hannie said.
The top individuals in the county started with Bluffton’s Tyler Godwin, who legged out Delta’s Tyler Dillon at the finish line to earn second place. His time was an impressive 16:28, down 15 seconds from the ACAC run the week prior.
Levi Johns (9th) and Jude Baumgartner (11th) also represented the Tigers on the big stage, earning ribbons for their top-20 finishes.
Gage Reinhard (13th) of Norwell and Joshua Bricker (18th) of Southern Wells also earned ribbons.
Complete individual and team results will be listed at the end.
For the girls, only Norwell placed in the top five to advance to the regional, placing third. Bluffton was 13th as a team, and Southern Wells had only four runners out of the five necessary for no team score.
Four Knights cracked the top 20 for ribbons: Ashley Waldman (10th), Elizabeth Norris (13th), Brooklyn Meyer (16th), and Haleigh Reinhard (18th).
Head coach Vanessa Hannie is a firm believer in pack running, which challenges the team to run together and push one another. That strategy paid off, though some of them went off trail after two miles.
“Pack it up — that’s what we were saying,” Hannie said. “Just pack it up, and they did OK through almost two (miles). They split a little bit, but they had great finishes, and so we’ll take it. We’ll take it and see what we can do this next week.”
Even though Bluffton did not make it as a team for the girls, Dakota Lee made it to the next round as an individual. She placed 30th with a time of 22:30,
“Today’s just a big moment for Dakota Lee,” Vanderkolk said. “(She) qualified to regional. She’s worked her tail off; all these girls have worked their tail off. They’ve all pushed her, and the support that they’ve given her the boys given her the support and encouragement as well. (Its) really just kind of propelling her, and she had a great race today. Just incredibly proud and excited for her this opportunity and excited to see what this can do for the rest of the program as well.”
The four teams will compete at the PLEX in Fort Wayne at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 21.
sports@news-banner.com
Individual placers
Bluffton
Boys: Tyler Godwin finished in second place with a (16:28.8), Levi Johns ninth 17:11.2), Jude Baumgartner 11th (17:28.4), Ayden Teeple 36th (18:10.2) Aidan Graves 40th 18:23.6), Brett Kuhlenbeck 46th (18:42.1), and Jackson Rockwell 57th (19:10.0).
Girls: Dakota Lee finished in 30th place with a time of 22:30.1, Amarah Robles 64th (24:33.2), Reagan Harris 65th (24:38.4), Kierstynn Reed 75th (26:08.1), Lucia Corkwell 76th (26:10.3), Alydia Bertsch 81st (27:18.4), and Sophia Mayne 90th (30:28.0).
Norwell
Boys: Gage Reinhard finished in 13th place with a time of 17:30.4, Elijah Jacob 27th (17:53.0), Gavin Threewits 29th (17:57.7), Lukas Mashuda 35th (18:08.4), Luke Johnson 38th (18:15.9), and Parker McCartney 72nd (19:46.0)
Girls: Ashley Waldman finished in 10th place with a time of 6:43.2, Elizabeth Norris 13th (21:07.1), Brooklyn Meyer 16th (21:20.3), Haleigh Reinahrd 18th (21:29.3), Addison Meyer 39th (23:06.2), Alana Cady 41st (23:12.0), and Teagan Lesley 59th (24:19.0).
Southern Wells
Boys: Joshua Bricker finished in 18th place with a time of 17:38.8, Andrew Aker 23rd (17:44.8), Jarin Frauhiger 34th (18:07.5), Kelton Barr 48th (18:46.6), Colter Kiel 52nd (18:54.5), Kane Jenkins 53rd (19:00.0), and Dalton Stephan 61st (19:20.8).
Girls: Alexix Leidig finished in 63rd place with a time of 24:31.3, Ella Lahr 84th (28:03.1), Chanie Mounsey 87th (28:42.3), and Shaylinn Geesaman (29:27.8).
Team Scores
Boys: Wapahani finished in first place with a team score of 58, Bluffton second (96), Norwell third (138), Bellmont fourth (160), Southern Wells fifth (169), Delta sixth (172), Monroe Central seventh (174), Adams Central eighth (177), South Adams ninth (185), Eastbrook 10th (218), Jay County 11th (240), Blackford 12th (252), and Winchester Community 13th (309).
Girls: Adams Central placed first with a team score of 59, Monroe Central second (91), Norwell third (95), Eastbrook fourth (121), Wapahani fifth (150), South Adams sixth (161), Randolph Southern seventh (200), Delta eighth (201), Bellmont ninth (215), Blackford 10th (233), Winchester 11th (265), Jay County 12th (296), Bluffton 13th (301), and Southern Wells incomplete.
