Saturday was a great day for the Batesville High School Cross Country team as they competed in our 8 team Eastern Indiana All-Conference Meet (EIAC). Finally, the humidity has broken and some fall weather has arrived. In fact, it started off just a little chilly on Saturday. If you are a runner, you know how much the weather, especially the temperature and humidity can effect your race. The Bulldogs did not let the opportunity of the great weather pass them by as they took every advantage of it. The girls varsity were the first to step up to the start line and race. Batesville runners started off the morning with 6 out of 7 girls running a personal record, allowing them to be crowned Conference Champs, beating Greensburg by 6 points, 55-61. East Central was close behind with 67. Batesville was led by Liz Loichinger taking 2nd running a personal best of 19:27. She was followed closely by teammate Lily Pinckley at 19:36, also a personl best. Sarah Ripperger was the last of the ladies named to the All-Conference team at 14th, running a personal best of 20:54. Just missing out of being in that top 15 and making the All-Conference team was Trysta Vierling and Katie Olsen, placing 17th and 19th respectively, but running a personal best. Finishing out the top 7 running in the varsity race was Maria Lopez placing 23rd with a personal best and Ava Ralston at 40th. Winning the meet by a commanding lead and setting not only a new meet record but a new school record was Brenner Hanna from Greensburg flying past the finish line at 18:35. Congratulations Brenner!
The boys were the next to compete and Batesville had 6 boys place in the top 15 making the All-Confrerence Team with Ean Loichinger leading the way and named the individual Conference Champ. Ean crossed the finish line at 16:25. Adam Moster was the 2nd Bulldog to come through at 16:40 in 3rd place. Then within hundredths of a second was Joshua Myers and Benjamin Moster taking 5th and 6th place respectively both crossing at 17:07, a personal best for Banjamin. Next for the dogs was Adam Hollowell in 10th place, also running a personal best at 17:35, followed closely by Dillon Murray in 13th at 17:42. Our 7th runner, Nathan Eckstein, although running a personal best, just missed out on making the All-Conference team crossing the finish line at 21st. The Bulldogs scored a low 25 points, beating 2nd place Rushville by 17 points as they scored 42. Greensburg took 3rd with 75 points.
Although the JV race was not scored, the top 10 individuals were recognized and Batesville had 3 girls and 5 boys finish in the top 10 with Daren Smith winning the boys race running a personal best of 18:00. Others in the top 10 were, Britany Venis, 5th, Alyssa Linville, 8th (personal best), Carly Fitzpatrick 9th, Luke Esser, 3rd (personal best), Nathan Villani, 6th (personal best), Luke Nuhring, 8th (personal best) and Alex Livers, 9th (personal best). There were also other JV runners, although were not in the top 10 ran personal best times and they were: Will Nuhring, Kasin Hughes, Elliott Mertz, Zach Gutzwiller, and Levi Lowery. Congratulations to all the Bulldogs on an awesome day!
Batesville has a quick turn around as they will host their Batesville Invite this Tuesday. They will also be honoring their 5 seniors, Sophie Brown, Carly Fitzpatrick, Kate Poltrack, Britany Venis and Nathan Eckstein. Come on out and cheer on the Bulldogs and help us honor our seniors!
Courtesy of Bulldogs Coach Lisa Gausman.