Springs Valley Community High School

What a night for Springs Valley Cross Country! The boys captured the 56th annual North Harrison Invitational title for the first time ever; school records were broken for both the boys and girls teams; and the boy’s team welcomed 2 new team members to bring their now 11-man roster to the most runners they've had on a team for many, many years. The progress the XC program is making took another BIG step forward at this meet. In the boy's race there were 19 teams represented with the top 5 being very strong teams in Jasper, Corydon, Perry Central and Brownstown, yet the Hawks were able to put on their best performance of the season to win the invitational title. Carson Brown led throughout the race for Valley with his older brother Grant Brown close behind. It came down to a sprint at the end to decide who would be the school record holder. Grant was able to push ahead at the end to lower his school record to 16:31 and place 4th overall. Carson’s 5th place time of 16:33 would have broken Grant’s previous record of 16:37 had Grant not squeezed him out at the end, but it was still nearly a minute faster than his previous best of 17:29. Carson's time puts him as the second fastest runner in school history. In fact 3 of the top 4 runners in school history are on this current team and 4 out of the top 9. The Brown’s got much help from their teammates as Alan Marshall finished in the Top 10 with a season best time of 17:09 and 10th overall. Andre Ayers was 18th overall in a new PR time of 17:48. He was followed by Harry Dybsetter in 26th and a new PR time of 18:30. Harry’s brother Henry, went under 20 minutes for the first time and finished in 47th with 19:56.. Dane Harris rounded out the top 7 with a 50th place finish and new PR of 20:12. In the girl’s race it was Sophie Harris setting the pace for Hawks. Sophie’s time was the fastest a girl has ever ran for Springs Valley as she crushed Hannah Greger’s previous record of 22:04 by 30 seconds to establish a new record of 21:34.84. She finished 15th overall in the race where our Valley girls placed 9th out of 19 teams represented. Addi Moffatt was second for the team and 49th overall in a new PR of 24:57. The Lynch sisters set new season best times as Keira and Jadyn continue to improve with every meet. Macie Mayhew, running in just her second varsity race rounded out the scoring for the team with a new PR time. In the Open Race, Matthew Woolsey went under 22 minutes for the first time ever and earned a medal for his efforts with a time of 21:47. In this race our newest XC members, Keaton Jones and Evan Brown, ran their first varsity race. Keaton ran a 22:25 and Evan was 23:54 to both earn medals and establish times to beat. Keaton Thacker ran a new PR of 23:55 as he and the rest of Valley runners continue their mission to be the best they can be, one meet at a time. Coach Derek Freeman commented, "It was an awesome night for all these kids. We feel like they all learned a little more about what they are capable of. They are a driven and determined bunch of athletes on both the boys and girls teams. We are so proud of them but also know we have room to improve. They are so fun to coach!" Next up for the Hawks, after the Labor Day break, is a trip to Southridge High School in Huntingburg on Tuesday for the annual Tri-County Meet featuring the 8 teams from the counties of Dubois, Orange and Crawford. All the results from the North Harrison Invitational can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/3rePDPH