Springs Valley Community High School

A new XC course greeted the runners on the campus of Southridge High School in Huntingburg for the annual Tri-County Meet featuring all the schools in the 3 counties of Orange, Crawford and Dubois. Gone was the course that wrapped around the campus and an adjunct cornfield where it always seemed to be about 10 degrees hotter and fans could not see much of the race without getting their allotment of daily steps. In its place is a spectator friendly, open course that zig zags in the old field to provide the opportunity for coaches and fans to easily see most of the race. Weather always seems to be a factor at this meet and today was no different. From the start of the boys race where it was a very hot and sunny 85 degrees to the end of the girls race where it was stopped after 20 minutes of running due to thunder and lightning. The boys race was first with 7 teams and 61 runners lining up. One team being the Jasper Wildcats. The Cats must have had revenge on their mind from last Thursday’s North Harrison’s Invitational because their intent was evident as they started the meet with their top 4 leading the pack early. Grant Brown of Valley and Bryce Jones of Orleans were able to work themselves into that pack to finish 2-3 but Jasper stayed strong on this day and finished 1-4-5-6 to win the meet. The Hawks placed second while Orleans was third. For the Hawks, Grant’s 2nd place time of 16:55 was 2 seconds behind the winner and 2 seconds ahead of 3rd place Jones of Orleans. Grant continually worked his way up through the field and was gaining on Calvin Seitz of Jasper but ran out of real estate. Alan Marshall was consistent throughout the race, coming in 2nd for Valley and 7th overall in 18:01. Andre Ayers ran a solid race to finish 3rd for the team and 9th overall 18:28. Carson Brown finished 4th and 12th overall in 18:59. Harry Dybsetter rounded out the top 5 for scoring with a 14th place finish in 19:53. Henry Dybsetter, who started near the back of the field was very steady, climbing all the way to 14th overall in 20:14. Dane Harris ran a 21:00 to finish in 25th. Matthew Woolsey ran a strong race at just over 22 minutes while Keaton Thacker finished in 25:55. By the time the girls race began, clouds with a nice breeze had rolled in to provide respite from the hot dry air. However as the race progressed those clouds brought thunder and lightning which ultimately caused race officials to stop the race after 20 minutes. As a result there are no girl’s times or scores. However for the 3 girls who started the race tonight they ran exceptionally well. Sophie Harris, fresh off her school record performance at North Harrison last week, started very strong and was in third overall at the beginning. She was in the top 10 when the race was called. Keira and Jadyn Lynch were working hard throughout the race, doing their best to push the pace and pass several runners as the race progressed. Although it was disappointing to not get an official time, the girls can certainly be proud of their effort. The girl’s team was missing 2 of their runners in Macie Mayhew and Addi Moffatt. Addi is playing 2 sports this Fall and was at the Volleyball game tonight. Coach Freeman said of the meet, “The kids faced the toughest conditions they have faced all year and we feel like they all learned something from it. Their effort was great tonight. They all came away determined to grow from tonight. Not every night goes the way you want it to but how you learn and grow from those kinds of nights is what sets you apart. This group of young men and women will set themselves apart as the season progresses.” The Hawks have this week to fine-tune before competing in the annual Heritage Hills invitational on Saturday. The boys results from the Tri-County Meet can be seen here: https://bit.ly/3ELlpqD