Springs Valley Community High School

The boys and girls XC teams will make that familiar trip to Crawford County High School on Saturday to participate in the Patoka Lake Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships. There will be a lot of history on the line at the PLAC meet this Saturday. In the 45 years that the PLAC conference has been in existence, not one time has a Springs Valley boys and girls team ever won the conference title. The good news is they both have a chance on Saturday but the teams have been here before. Since Coach Derek Freeman took over coaching the teams in 2016, his boys teams have performed very well finishing 2nd or 3rd five times, including last year’s 2nd place finish by 2 points to Perry Central. In all fairness, last year’s team wasn’t expected to win and was somewhat surprised by being so close to the title. They peaked at the right moment and used that as a catalyst to advance in the tournament all the way to the Semi-State. Senior Alan Marshall said. “Each meet is a stepping stone for us. We all grow together and prepare each other for the next meet and ultimately the next season”. Senior Grant Brown added, “What makes this year special is the talent and depth we have. Last year I believe we only won one meet. This year we've won around six meets”. The Crawford County course is familiar territory for our veteran runners. It is the place where they have participated in several invitationals, PLAC championships, IHSAA sectionals and regionals over their junior high and high school careers. Some say the cross country bus automatically steers toward Crawford County. This season the Valley varsity teams have been there once already with the boys winning the Crawford County Invitational 3 weeks ago. In addition to the PLAC on Saturday they will return there next Saturday for the IHSAA Sectional. “The Crawford County course is one of the better courses we’ve ever run on with its variety of terrain and its layout”, Marshall said. Junior Carson Brown says, “I personally love the course. It has many opportunities to pass and outplay the opponent, especially on the downhills”. “It’s my favorite course with lots of shade and several opportunities to pass,” said Keira Lynch. The kids are hungry for the title but know that cross country is a peculiar sport in that all things need to line up on that given day to win. This is especially true in small schools where the teams are smaller and the margin of error is much, much slimmer. Grant Brown said, “Winning the PLAC this year would mean a lot to our team and the previous teams. Going into the race we won't just be running for ourselves or even this team. We will be running for all of the teams that came before us. Ever since seventh grade I've seen our team get second again and again. This year hopefully we will change that”. Marshall added, “Not only would it mean a lot to Coach Freeman to win but it would mean a lot to all of us if we would win Springs Valley’s first PLAC Championship title. Plus it’ll give us an opportunity to show a little of what we are capable of before we truly head into the postseason”. Junior Sophie Harris says in talking about the girls team, “If the girls were finally able to win the PLAC, it would put us right up there with the boys. All year the boys have been getting some very well-deserved recognition for everything that they've been accomplishing, but the girls have been working just as hard. We are all in more than just Cross Country, with Addi also in Volleyball, Jadyn and Keira both in the band, and Maci working. Band and Volleyball are both very demanding activities and are constantly pulling Addi, Keira, and Jadyn away from us being able to practice as a full team, but they are all doing exceptionally well. They come to practice well after everyone else is done to get their workout in. There have been multiple meets where we haven't been able to compete as a team because someone is sick, or they have other obligations. This makes us appreciate when we are all together as a team, so by winning the PLAC it’ll give us some well-deserved recognition”. It won’t be easy with the girls only having 5 runners and other teams vying for the title but they do have 3 girls from last year's team that finished in 3rd place. That was the highest PLAC finish for a SV girls team in the last several years. This year Mitchell, Perry Central, Orleans and Crawford County all have teams that have a legitimate shot at the title. The SV girls beat them all at the large Crawford County Invitational 3 weeks ago by the slimmest of margins. This year’s girls conference race may be the most competitive, up and down the line, in the last few years. It’ll take a maximum effort by our girls and the stars will need to align but unlike in previous years, they have a good chance to compete for the title. Senior Macie Mayhew summed it up with, “Competing in the PLAC meet is a great opportunity to show ourselves, our coaches, and other schools what we are made of and the things we can accomplish even as a smaller school. Winning it would show that even small schools can achieve BIG things.” Individually Grant Brown and Alan Marshall will be chasing history as well. Never has a Valley cross country runner earned PLAC All-Conference 4-times in their varsity careers. In the 45 years of the PLAC only 2 other Valley runners, besides Brown and Marshall, have done it 3 times (Garron Gadau and Justin Curtis). Both Brown and Marshall have the chance to become the school’s first 4-time All-Conference XC runners if they finish in the Top 10 on Saturday. In the boys race Bryce Jones of Orleans will be the favorite to win the individual title since he is coming in as the defending champion having won the last 2 years. It should be noted that a Springs Valley varsity runner has never crossed the line in first place at the conference meet. Grant Brown who has finished 3rd the last 2 years at the PLAC meet said, “The Crawford County course is in better shape now than the previous seasons. I'm excited to run on it again”. The last time running the course, Grant and all of the boys set new course PR’s and are hoping for even faster times on Saturday.. Although the boys team has had remarkable success this season, the kids are taking nothing for granted and know that of all the things that need to go right, they can’t take that stress or burden to the line. Coach Freeman has told them many times, “Don’t worry about the things you can’t control. Just go out there and run your race”. As noted Freeman has been in this position many times before and knows of the pitfalls of determining a winner before a race. “It’s why you run the race because so many things can happen, but I certainly like our chances this Saturday.” The forecast is showing cooler weather for Saturday which usually translates into better times. It all kicks off at 9am EST on Saturday with the boys middle school race.