By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
Back in 1973, one of the big hit songs of the year was “Keep on Truckin’.” In the fall of that year, the Carmel boys cross country team made its first appearance at the state meet.
The Greyhounds made it back in 1974, but the Carmel convoy was stopped in 1975. It was a brief stop, however, and in 1976, the ‘Hounds trucked back to state.
Since then, there’s always been a lane for the Carmel boys at the state meet. This year marks the record 42nd consecutive appearance for the Greyhounds, and they enter as one of the favorites when the race starts at 1 p.m. Saturday at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.
Carmel has finished in the top two at state for five years running. The ‘Hounds won in 2012, 2013 and 2016, then were runners-up to West Lafayette in 2014 and to Fort Wayne Carroll last year. Both those schools are among the 24 teams qualifying for state, along with the only other two teams that have as many state appearances as Carmel.
Bloomington South will make its record 46th run at the big meet. The Panthers are ranked eighth in the state, and won the Brown County semi-state. Valparaiso joins the ‘Hounds in their 44th overall appearance at state. The Vikings are rated seventh and have won six state titles in the school’s history. The only programs with more are Anderson with nine and Carmel with 14.
The top-ranked Greyhounds swept to championships at the Noblesville sectional, Noblesville regional and the Shelbyville semi-state. But none of them were easy. In fact, one of the teams chasing the ‘Hounds at state has been chasing them throughout the post-season: Fishers.
The fourth-ranked Tigers placed second at sectional, with Carmel outscoring them 33-52. Then at the regional, No. 2 Cathedral joined the mix. The ‘Hounds won that level with 41 points, with Fishers getting second by a comfortable margin over the Irish, 72 to 98.
At semi-state, Carmel held on for another win with 46 points. This time, Cathedral pushed its way to second place with 64 points, while the Tigers scored 102 for third place. All three teams look to be among the contenders Saturday at Terre Haute.
No. 1 Carmel, No. 2 Cathedral, No. 4 Fishers – who’s missing? The third-ranked team is Westview, which is situated in Topeka, east of the South Bend area. The Warriors started their run with a win at the West Noble sectional, holding off the host school 28-43.
Returning to West Noble for the regional, Westview began to pour it on, taking the championship with a score of 37 points. The Warriors had five runners in the top 13, allowing them to run away from Carroll by 45 points. Westview won the New Haven semi-state, scoring 74 points. Matthew Yoder was the individual winner at all three levels, and his times have gotten faster throughout the tournament series: He ran 15:56.31 at the sectional, 15:43.72 at the regional and 15:38.00 at the semi-state.
Fifth-ranked Lowell accounts for the fourth semi-state winner. The Red Devils started their run with a victory at the Crown Point sectional, where they won with 24 points. Lowell then took the Crown Point regional with a score of 35 points, then edged out Valparaiso 81-91 for the New Prairie semi-state. Alec Fleming won the individual semi-state for the Red Devils as well, in a time of 15:25.6.
Hamilton Southeastern senior Gabe Fendel is one of three individual runners from Hamilton County that will be competing. Fendel holds the fastest time of the four semi-states, winning at Shelbyville in 15:08.2.
The next two fastest times came from Brown County. Junior Caleb Futter of Christian Academy of Indiana won that race in 15:08.9, holding off senior Matthew Schadler of Evansville Memorial, who clocked in at 15:09.5. Futter’s performance helped lead Christian Academy to its first ever state-meet appearance.
The other two county individual runners are Guerin Catholic’s Quinn Gallagher and Westfield’s Nick Leahy. Gallagher finished in at least the top six of all three previous levels of the tournament, while Leahy placed 11th in the semi-state after reaching the top 10 at the sectional and regional.
GIRLS PREVIEW
This will be the 37th edition of the girls cross country state meet, with the race to start at 1:45 p.m. Carmel has appeared in every one of them. Only once have the Greyhounds finished outside of the top 10.
Carmel has won 18 state titles, and is on a streak of seven consecutive championships. But the Greyhounds are actually coming into the meet ranked fourth in the final coaches poll of the season.
So who’s No. 1? Fort Wayne Carroll. The Chargers are pretty good. Carroll won the Fort Wayne Northrop sectional by sweeping the top five positions for a perfect score of 15 points.
At the West Noble regional, the Chargers scored 40 points to take the trophy at that level. Carroll then won the West Noble semi-state with 77 points, nicely ahead of Penn’s 131. This will mark the Chargers’ 15th consecutive appearance at state, the second-longest streak behind the Greyhounds.
The next two ranked teams are right in Carmel’s backyard. Brebeuf Jesuit is second in the poll, and has been perfect thus far in the tournament. The Braves won their own sectional with a score of 39 points to begin their run.
Then at the Noblesville regional, Brebeuf got everyone’s attention by winning the event. The Braves outdistanced Carmel 47-91 to take the trophy, then followed that up with a victory at the Shelbyville semi-state, scoring 70 points.
The Greyhounds were third at semi-state with 102 points. The second-place squad was Zionsville, which got past Carmel by scoring 95. The Eagles are the third-ranked team in the state, meaning that three of the top four teams competed at Shelbyville.
Zionsville finished first at the Ben Davis sectional, taking five of the top nine spots en route to 22 points. The Eagles returned to Ben Davis for the regional, where they squeaked past No. 8 Brownsburg to win, 29-38.
Actually, seven of the top 10 teams competed in Shelbyville. Sixth-ranked Hamilton Southeastern and seventh-ranked Fishers placed fourth and fifth respectively, giving them both a ticket to state. Brownsburg placed eighth. Noblesville is ranked 10th, but just missed going as a team to the big meet by placing seventh.
The Millers will have an individual at state: Senior Abi Little recently committed to Indiana University, and she will look to finish her high school career with a strong race. Westfield’s Gabby Dilick will also race at state as an individual; the senior finished second at the Noblesville sectional and has used that as a springboard to a solid run in the post-season.
Individual semi-state winners are led by Greencastle’s Emma Wilson, who raced home to the Shelbyville crown in 17:41.4. Bloomington North senior Grace Williams won the Brown County title in 17:53.0, with Lowell junior Jordyn Boyer taking first at New Prairie in 17:58.7. DeKalb senior Tyler Schwartz won at New Haven in 18:05.37; she was last year’s individual state champion.
Bloomington North finished first in the Brown County semi-state team standings, while Valparaiso was the winner at New Prairie.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Gabe Fendel (313, far right) had his eye on the field at the beginning, but had everyone’s eyes on him at the end of the Shelbyville cross country semi-state’s boys race last Saturday. Fendel won the race and is a contender for the individual championship at this Saturday’s state meet at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. (Kent Graham)
Noblesville’s Abi Little (85) and Westfield’s Gabby Dilick (110) will be competing as individuals at Saturday’s state girls cross country meet. Carmel’s Phoebe Bates (25) and Hamilton Southeastern’s Lulu Black (48) are competing with their respective teams. (Kent Graham)