Springs Valley Community High School

As Grant Brown approached the steepest uphill climb of the Paoli cross country course for the final time on Tuesday, he knew it was time to turn on the jets. He’d been waiting for this moment all race, coasting in second place and biding his time. By the time Brown came back down that hill, he was in first place and he’d opened a lead. He rode that burst all the way to the finish line, beating Orleans’ Bryce Jones by nearly 30 seconds to win the first individual Orange County championship of his career. It was the latest accomplishment in a career that’s already featured state tournament runs and a Class 1A All-State honor and it’s a sign of Brown’s continued upward trend as he becomes more of a veteran for Springs Valley. “Recently I broke 17 (minutes) and I feel like that’s considered elite and I’ve been training elite for many weeks now,” Brown said. “I feel like I’m just mentally stronger now and I knew if I stayed right behind first, I could pass on the hill because we’ve been training at the cemetery on hills. I just knew that mentally I had it. I pushed, I continued to push, and I won.” While the county title is a big accomplishment for Brown, it will likely be far from the last one of his career. With that in mind, the junior is already turning his attention to what’s to come. “It’s an achievement, but I’ll just keep moving on to the next achievement. I just want to get better and better,” Brown said. “Just treat this as another race and the next day I’m going to train even harder.” The evening as a whole was a solid one for Springs Valley. The boys fell just short of a team title, losing to Orleans on a sixth-runner tiebreaker, but managed to have three of the top four runners in the county and five of the top 11. Alan Marshall and Carson Brown weren’t too far behind Grant Brown, taking third and fourth place respectively with strong performances. The girls also finished second, putting all five of their runners in the top 10. Keira and Jadyn Lynch each cracked the top five, placing third and fourth in that order. That was a good sign for Springs Valley coach Derek Freeman, who knows just how tough the hilly course at Paoli can be. That’s why he challenged his runners to take those hills head-on. “Our number one goal was to attack and to battle for positions and I felt like we did that for the most part,” Freeman said. “We always want to attack uphills and today I wanted to see them getting down those hills hard and I felt like every single kid did that so I can’t be disappointed. We had a good performance and they did what I asked them to do.” For the boys’ team particularly, Tuesday’s result will provide a lift. Over the course of the season the Blackhawks have gotten better and better as they’ve added new pieces to give them some depth. Seniors Owen Weisensteiner and Max Pendley have been important on that front, providing some stability in the back end of the top five and allowing Springs Valley to compete with quality competition like Orleans at the team level. “I feel like as a team we’ve been doing well. We’ve got more people and each race we just get stronger mentally and physically,” Grant Brown said. “This will help us a lot.” The Blackhawks will now gear up for the home stretch of their season. On Saturday they’ll travel to Crawford County for a tune-up at the course they’ll run at the Patoka Lake Athletic Conference meet on Oct. 1, then hope to run again in the regional round of the state tournament on Oct. 15. That will give them another opportunity to learn, which has been a major theme for a mostly inexperienced team. “When you look at us we’re a very young team. Even the two seniors are first-year runners, so we’re learning across the board,” Freeman said. “Today I feel like we learned a lot that will help us going toward the postseason.” Orange County Meet - Boys Orleans 28, Springs Valley 28, Paoli NTS Top Ten 1. Grant Brown, Springs Valley, 17:29. 2. Bryce Jones, Orleans, 17:56. 3. Alan Marshall, Springs Valley, 18:21. 4. Carson Brown, Springs Valley, 18:51.53. 5. Jayden Willis, Orleans, 18:51.72. 6. Xavier Alston, Orleans, 19:28. 7. Ammon Morgan, Orleans, 19:45. 8. Nate Brown, Orleans, 19:54. 9. Owen Weisensteiner, Springs Valley, 20:16. 10. Nolan Robbins, Orleans, 20:25. Other Springs Valley — Max Pendley, 21:01. Harry Dybsetter 23:52 (PR). Matthew Woolsey, 24:47 (PR). Keaton Thacker, 32:13 (PR). Henry Dybsetter, 36:27. Orange County Meet - Girls Orleans 23, Springs Valley 31, Paoli NTS Top Ten 1. Allison Hughett, Orleans, 23:47. 2. Ayla Steele, Orleans, 24:37. 3. Keira Lynch, Springs Valley, 25:02. 4. Jadyn Lynch, Springs Valley, 25:30. 5. Tessa Price, Orleans, 25:56. 6. Sophie Harris, Springs Valley, 26:31. 7. Jaden Blanton, Orleans, 29:24. 8. Alexis Courtney, Springs Valley, 31:21. 9. Alissa Hall, Orleans, 31:40. 10. Josie Robison, Springs Valley 32:56.