Bulldog Harriers Win Batesville Invitational

Although we had record high heat today, with the humidity still pretty high tonight, the Batesville Bulldogs fought through and were crowned champions of both the boys and the girl varsity big schools race.  The boys scored a low of 30 points beating Seymour with 43 points.  Rushville followed in 3rd at 69, East Central-83 and Franklin County with 115.  Individually, the Bulldogs captured the first two spots with Adam Moster leading the way with 16:56, followed closely by teammate Ean Loichinger in 2nd (17:01), Benjamin Moster placed 6th, Joshua Myers 10th and Dillon Murray was 11th.  The girls competed just as well, as the lady Bulldogs also finished with a 1-2 punch as well.  It was Lily Pinckley leading the way in 20:23 and Ava Hanson close behind at 20:27. Maria Lopez took 5th, then Batesville went 10-13th place with Trysta Vierling, Katie Olsen, Sarah Ripperger and Carley Pride finishing respectively. This performance led them to a victory of scoring a low 25 points, beating the field by over double this amount of points as Franklin County place 2nd with 53, Rushville 3rd with 73, Seymour 4th-83 and East Central was incomplete.

There was also a small schools category.  Jac-Cen-Del boys took this victory with 28 points beating Oldenburg Academy who had 37. Damon Hughes from JCD was first in the small school category at 18:00.  On the girls side, it was the South Ripley Raiders to claim first place with 34 points beating JCD with 43. Lanie Nickolson from the Raiders was the first female in the small category at 21:12.

Although they did not score the JV race, awards were given to the top 10 and Batesville’s JV claimed almost half of them as they took home 9 ribbons.  On the boys side Luke Esser was the first Bulldog to cross the line barely getting beat at 19:02 and taking 2nd place. Alex Livers, who ran a personal best on this hot night was 3rd, Nathan Villani-5th, Will Nuhring-6th and Luke Nuhring-8th. On the girls side, Batesville’s Jada Eisert won followed by Hope Kroen in 2nd, Carla Patapat in 3rd and Kali Wickersham-5th. Besides Alex Livers, Mason Enneking also ran tough and earned a personal record.  Congratulation to all!

Courtesy of Bulldogs Coach Lisa Gausman.

The Wildcats girls varsity cross country team was able to push through the hot temperatures to earn 2nd place at the Batesville Invitational. Lauren Kelley ran a strategic race, finishing 3rd place with a time of 20:59. Senior, Katelyn Meyer, has earned the nickname, The Finisher, due to her beautiful sprint finishes that are able to overtake nearby competitors. She had that kind of an all-out sprint finish at the Batesville meet and placed 6th with a time of 22:17. Sophomore, Katherine Apsley, ran a steady race and finished in 13th place with a time of 25:21. Sophomore, Emma Cabezuela, ran her best race, yet, earning He ra personal record time of 25:29 and 14th place. Junior, Josie Selm, rounded out the top 5 Franklin County finishers and earned 17th place with her time of 26:19. This is the first time that 5 girls have earned top 20 awards in a race.

The Franklin County boys had mixed results at the Batesville Invitational. Junior, Drew Grant, gave a strong performance despite the heat, finishing in 12th place with a time of 18:48. Sophomore, Ben Maze, gave a consistent performance with his time of 19:04 which earned him 19th place. Senior, Harvey Marshall, continues to run strong with his time of 20:07, giving him a 27th place finish. Right behind him was sophomore, Adam Grant. Adam placed 28th with a time of 20:28. Senior, Kyle Seibert, came back from a tough race performance on Saturday to earn the 5th Wildcat team spot at Batesville. His time of 20:50 earned him 29th place. Freshmen, Harmon and Hunter Marshall, both struggled with the heat. They finished with times of 21:17 and 21:57. This is not typical of their normal performance and they will be ready to run on Thursday at Greensburg with much faster times.

Courtesy of Wildcats Coach Stacey Nobbe.