Hunter Ingle takes his own route to success in college

By RICHIE HALL
Hunter Ingle took his own college route, and it wound up working out pretty well for him.
The Noblesville graduate and cross country/track runner started at Vincennes University, and left with an associate’s degree. Ingle headed south to Flagler College, located in St. Augustine, Fla., where he ran on the cross country and indoor track and field teams.
Ingle’s path started at Vincennes, a junior college, although it wasn’t something he relished at first.
“I remember not really being proud of what I was doing after high school, especially coming from Hamilton County,” said Ingle. After all, this area is well-known for producing state champions and All-State runners, many of whom go to Division I schools.
“You tell people, it’s not a very proud thing to state,” said Ingle. “It’s something you don’t brag about.”
But things worked out, both academically and athletically. He got good grades and completed an associate’s degree in Advanced Manufacturing, “which was cool because I had something,” he said. Now, Ingle is proud he went to Vincennes, because had he not gone that way, he would’ve never wound up at Flagler.
“I’m really happy I didn’t settle,” said Ingle.
Once it was time to start looking at his next steps, Ingle chose Flagler because it seemed like a good fit to him. It was also in an area that he was familiar with: Ingle’s grandparents lived in St. Augustine, which is about a half-hour south of Jacksonville, right on the Atlantic Ocean coast.
Ingle’s grandparents owned a house and condominium at the time, so his family would stay with them whenever they came on vacation. Ingle noticed that the area around St. Augustine – which was founded in 1565, making it the oldest city in the contiguous United States – has grown tremendously since Ingle was a kid.
“We have our quiet time every now and then,” said Ingle. “There’s a lot of people down here. Everyone learns about a really cool area, it makes all the magazines, everyone hardly remembers what it looked like before.”
Something people associate with Florida, be it the northern, southern or inland part of the state, is humidity. High temperatures in St. Augustine average around 90 degrees during July, and the 80s linger as an average high into October. Ingle had to get used to that on a full-time basis once he arrived in Florida two-thirds of the way during the summer between his sophomore and junior years.
“You definitely feel the difference, especially at first,” said Ingle. “The humidity makes it so hard to breathe. Definitely that first summer was a challenge and a lot to adjust to.”
But after a full year, Ingle got used to the weather. He said working out in the Florida weather gives one an advantage, especially if he’s racing against a team from the Midwest or the North. If those teams were to race in a southern climate, “it definitely gives you an edge, like kids that train at altitude,” he said. “A lot runners call humidity the poor man’s altitude. It’s definitely something you have to adapt to.”
Once at Flagler, Ingle delivered solid results for the cross country team. He started with a 30th-place finish at the 2018 Border Clash XC meet, which took place at nearby Valdosta State University, just over the border in Georgia. The Saints finished second out of nine teams at that meet.
The Border Clash XC Meet was unusual in that it was a 7,250-meter race. The next four races that Ingle competed in were all the more typical 8,000-meter (8K races). Ingle ran his career-best 8K time at the Royals Challenge, hosted by Queens College in Charlotte, N.C., clocking in at 26:42.0. He finished the 2018 season at the Peach Belt Conference championships, placing 54th. The Saints finished third as a team.
In his senior season, Ingle ran in two races, despite dealing with a stress fracture. He ran for the second time at the Peach Belt Conference championship, this time in Lumberton, N.C. Ingle placed 30th, helping the Flagler to a second-place finish. The Saints then competed at the NCAA Division II Southeastern Regional in Wingate, N.C., finishing in fourth. In the 10K race, Ingle placed 121st in a time of 36:56.0.
Ingle said he didn’t notice many differences between junior college and a four-year school, “especially since I went Division II and I went to a smaller school.” His decision to attend Flagler resulted in another athlete attending the school: Marcus Graham, a standout at Perry Central High School, also went the junior college route, running at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa.
After two good years at Indian Hills, Graham followed Ingle down to Flagler. He ran in seven races, including a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division II regional, earning him a spot at the national championship in Sacramento, Calif.
“This previous year was his first year down here at Flagler,” said Ingle. “You definitely have those strong bonds like any team. He had some really good D-I offers, but just because we had such a strong bond, he decided to follow me down here and trust in the coaches down here. We painted a pretty good picture on his visit.”
Ingle noted that Graham came from a smaller school, and sometimes small-town runners don’t like to go to a big school environment. Graham had offers at Texas Tech and Eastern Colorado before heading to Flagler.
“It just kind of depends on how you fit,” said Ingle.
In addition to cross country, Ingle also competed in a handful of indoor meets at Flagler. His highest finishes have come in relays; during his junior year, Ingle he joined the Saints’ 4×400 relay team for a fifth-place finish at the Gene Anderson Invitational at the University of North Carolina, then helped Flagler’s 4×400 team to take seventh at the JDL College Kickoff at Winston-Salem, N.C.
In his senior season, Ingle placed 13th in the mile run at the Mondo College Invitational, then was part of the fifth-place 4×400 relay team at the JDL College Team Challenge; both meets were also at Winston-Salem.
Ingle is majoring in business, and said he realized “I wanted to something more along the lines of the business world,” and will be attending Flagler for a fifth year to finish up his degree.
“I decided to opt for the fifth year, especially since I saved so much money going to junior college,” he said.
And why not, since Ingle’s route wound up being the best route possible for him.
“Looking back on it, I chose Flagler, just because if I did walk on to a D-I school, I wouldn’t have been able to stay on the team,” he said. Instead, he has a strong bond with his teammates, is happy with the school itself, the academics, the location, and still be able to help out and be a volunteer assistant – “happiness here that I might not have been able to get at other schools,” said Ingle.