 |
The Paper photo by John Groth
Southmont High School senior Creasy Clauser won Saturday’s Ben Davis Regional in 19 minutes. |
|
Girls cross country
Saturday
IHSAA Ben Davis Regional
At Ben Davis HS
Team results: Brownsburg* 40, Pike* 71, Avon* 105, Southport* 121, Perry Meridian* 139, Ben Davis 170, Plainfield 175, Greencastle 181, Southmont 197, Cardinal Ritter 232
**Top 5 teams and top 15 individuals advance to IHSAA Franklin Central Semistate **
Winner: 19:00 Creasy Clauser SM
Top 15: 1. 19:00 Creasy Clauser SM; 2. 19:06 Lydia Greene PI; 3. 19:22 Abigale Halle PI; 4. 19:23 Veronica Goduto BR; 5. 19:29 Sydney Lesko BR; 6. 19:36 Madelyn Webster BR; 7. 19:43 Sutton Knapp DECATUR CENTRAL; 8. 19:46 Amanda McMahon INTERNATIONAL; 9. 19:49 Katelyn Walker PM; 10. 19:50 Jaclyn Lahr PI; 11. 19:57 Sophia Greene PI; 12. 20:00 Nicolette Crouch SO; 13. 20:13 Kristen Rush BR; 14. 20:17 Kylie Lippencott SM; 15. 20:17 Caylee Goetcheus PM.
Southmont results: 1. 19:00 Clauser; 14. 20:17 Lippencott; 54. 23:06 Dusty Lawton ; 69. 25:17 Shelby Detro; 70. 25:22 Kassie Hickman; 71. 26:01 Trinaty West; 72. 26:14 Katie Hunley
Boys cross country
Saturday
IHSAA Ben Davis Regional
At Ben Davis HS
Team results: Pike* 78, Perry Meridian* 92, Southport* 99, Plainfield* 100, Ben Davis *106, Avon 112, Brownsburg 166, Greencastle 221, Cascade 223, International 242
**Top 5 teams and top 15 individuals advance to IHSAA Franklin Central Semistate **
Winner: 15:55 Michael Jordan PI
Top 15: 15:55 Michael Jordan PI; 2. 16:03 Lance Nelson SO; 3. 16:12 Traishaun Johnson BD; 4. 16:12 Chris Surfus A; 5. 16:14 Scott Vicenzi BR; 6. 16:21 Nick McGrew PL; 7. 16:22 Craig Jordan PI; 8. 16:23 Luke Holt C; 9. 16:35 Kameron Casey PM; 10. 16:37 Noah Droddy I; 11. 16:37 Brian Jett PI; 12. 16:41 Ryan Griesenauer A; 13. 16:45 Michael Gearhart SO; 14. 16:47 Benjamin Wilson G; 15. 16:51 Lance Young PM.
|
|
IHSAA BEN DAVIS GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY REGIONAL: Two runners’ delight
South’s Clauser wins, Lippencott also advances to semistate
By John Groth
Sports Editor
INDIANAPOLIS – Creasy Clauser beamed with delight.
Standing in the mid-morning sun, she had run exactly the race she wanted and then some.
Southmont High School’s senior cross country runner got off to a torrid start, then motored on for her first Indiana High School Athletic Association Girls regional win.
Clauser won Saturday’s IHSAA Ben Davis Girls Cross Country Regional, finishing in 19 minutes flat – six seconds ahead of Pike’s Lydia Greene.
But this year and for the first time in her career, she’s got some semistate company with her.
Sophomore Kylie Lippencott made up six spots in the final half of the race, finishing in 14th place (20:17). The top five teams and 15 individuals advance to this coming Saturday’s IHSAA Franklin Central Semistate.
“I think I’m more excited than Kylie is,” said Clauser, who finished second in last year’s regional and beat her time by 21 seconds. “I was going to find someone to come with me. I **** practicing by myself.”
Brownsburg won the girls team competition with 40 points. Pike (71), Avon (105), Southport (121) and Perry Meridian (139) rounded out the top five and advanced to the Franklin Central Semistate. Southmont finished ninth with 197 points.
Clauser jumped out to the lead right from the start – zooming ahead of the pack and then maintaining a large gap until the last quarter of the race. She beat her first-kilometer best time by eight to nine seconds, then held off a late charge from Green at the end.
“I was trying to tell myself the last mile she’ll get discouraged and won’t try,” Clauser said. “Then someone was like ‘she’s gaining on you’, so I had to go faster. My starts are definitely the key. Every single race I’ve ran better because of my start.”
While Clauser raved about having another Southmont runner headed to semistate with her, her coaches raved about her time.
After missing the IHSAA South Putnam Sectional meet, Southmont assistant coach Lindsay Carlile was back keeping track of Clauser’s split times. He was amazed with her latest performance and acknowledged its significance.
“That puts her among the elite in the state,” Carlile said. “That puts her in the top. At the two-mile where I was at, she was eight seconds faster than the school record.”
Lippencott, meanwhile, acknowledged she didn’t feel well the entire race. She was tired and didn’t expect to advance. But somehow, over the last half of the race, she managed to find an extra boost
In 20th-place at the halfway point, she moved up six spots by the end – finishing in 14th and making the qualifying cut by one spot.
“I felt really tired,” Lippencott said. “I think [other runners] slowed down a little or I got more energy. I always pick it up at the end because the race is almost over.”
Southmont girls cross country coach Cassandra Hicks knew Lippencott had a chance to reach the top 15 but it depended on her finding that competitive fire.
“She has a lot of natural ability, which helps,” Hicks said. “Not many runners can be recovering from a stress fracture and place in the top 15.”
Those were the only two Mounties to place in the top 50. Junior Dusty Lawton finished 54th (23:09) while Shelby Detro, Kassie Hickman, Trinaty West and Katie Hunley all placed 69th or higher.
“Our main team goal was to get out of sectionals and we accomplished that,” Hicks said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the girls than I am this year, considering that five of our nine runners were not varsity runners until this year. They’ve done extremely well.”
|
