By RICHIE HALL
SHELBYVILLE – There’s always much at stake at an IHSAA regional in any sport, but that was amplified for cross country this year.
The semi-state round is discontinued in cross country as of this year, so that means the regional is the stepping stone to state. Several Hamilton County teams made that step, thanks to their performances at the Shelbyville regional last Saturday at Blue River Park.
Local teams triumphed in both the boys and girls races. The Fishers’ boys team used a 1-2 punch from Sam Quagliaroli and Matthew Kim to score their sixth consecutive regional title, while the Noblesville girls also defended their trophy thanks to consistent running from their top four.
Top two
Quagliaroli and Kim jumped ahead of the back right away and never relinquished their hold on the top two positions. Quagliaroli would go on to win the race in 15 minutes, 17.1 seconds, over 21 seconds ahead of his teammate.
“Really, what we wanted to do was just get through this meet, qualify for state and then really just set our sights towards state,” said Quagliaroli. “That’s what we want to do. We want to put some medals around our necks and that’s really the goal here.”
The Tigers closed the scoring by getting three other runners in the top 40. Nate Thomas placed 27th, Bryson Slagle was 30th and Parker Melling took 38th.
“We won, so there’s not a lot to be upset about,” said Fishers coach Nathan Warnecke. The Tigers claimed their eighth overall regional title in program history; they also won in 2007 and 2015.
The top five teams advance from the regional to the state meet. Hamilton Southeastern finished a close second to the Tigers, scoring 89 points. The Royals’ top five runners all placed in the top 31, with Liam Powers taking 11th and Andrew Smith placing 12th.
Noblesville took third place with 104 points and also punched a ticket to the state meet, which takes place Saturday at LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. Two Millers placed in the top 10: Samuel Rink finished seventh and Caden Click was right behind him in eighth.
The Royals qualified for their 18th state meet in program history. Fishers and Noblesville both advanced to their 13th state meet.
Guerin Catholic placed eighth as a team, but qualified Luke Moster on to state as an individual. The top 15 individuals not on an advancing team move on to the state meet.
Closing early
The Noblesville girls closed the door on the team championship early by scoring their first for runners in the top 15. Summer Rempe led the way with a ninth-place finish, followed by Riley Flynn in 12th, Ansley Applegate in 13th and Nadia Perez in 15th. Kennedy Applegate then finished the Millers’ scoring by placing 28th.
With the victory, Noblesville defended a regional title for the first time ever. It was the Millers’ third regional title; they won their first in 2016.
“They ran quite well,” said Noblesville coach Aaron Becker. The coach said his team “ran with confidence” and “made the team statement that they needed to make. They kept up a winning streak that they’ve had for about a month now.”
Four of the top five girls teams were from Hamilton County, which means they all advance to Saturday’s state meet. Hamilton Southeastern was a strong runner-up with 94 points; the Royals had the county’s highest-placing runner in Maggie Powers, who took third in 18:24.7. Elizabeth Butler joined Powers in the top 10 with an eighth-place finish.
Both the Millers and the Royals continued long state-qualifying streaks last Saturday. Noblesville is headed to Terre Haute for the sixth year in a row and 14th overall, while Southeastern qualified for the seventh consecutive year and 12th time overall.
Franklin Central broke up the county monopoly by taking third place. Westfield finished fourth, earning its 16th trip to state. The Shamrocks were led by Liz Smith’s fourth-place result (18:26.9), while Alivia Lozier finished in 10th place.
Guerin Catholic took fifth place, punching its ticket to state for the third time. Bailey Freese was 22nd and Claire Milam took 24th to lead the Golden Eagles.
BOYS MEET
At Shelbyville
Team scores: Fishers 85, Hamilton Southeastern 89, Noblesville 104, Center Grove 119, Franklin Central 146, Greenfield-Central 194, Mount Vernon 209, Guerin Catholic 266, Lawrence North 273, Perry Meridian 313, Milan 334, Indian Creek 351, Richmond 354, Greenwood 386, Westfield 391, Franklin Community 459, Cathedral 478, Madison 487, Batesville 515, Austin 524, Northeastern 550, Hagerstown 586, Henryville 617, Rushville 662, New Washington 703.
Race winner: Sam Quagliaroli (Fishers) 15:17.1.
Other Fishers runners: 2. Matthew Kim 15:38.8, 27. Nate Thomas 16:23.5, 30. Bryson Slagle 16:27.8, 38. Parker Melling 16:35.8, 60. Henry Wood 16:51.4, 100. Cooper Mohr 17:29.9.
Southeastern runners: 11. Liam Powers 16:07.8, 12. Andrew Smith 16:08.8, 25. Ian Ross 16:21.9, 26. Matthew Hemmerling 16:22.5, 31. Riley Schamp 16:27.8, 32. Michael Chalfant 16:27.8, 45. Isaac Smith 16:42.0.
Noblesville runners: 7. Samuel Rinker 16:02.0, 8. Caden Click 16:04.0, 23. John Libs 16:18.1, 37. Alec Moor 16:35.6, 43. Jack Strong 16:40.4, 52. Luke Mumaw 16:45.2, 56. Ronnie Neal 16:47.4.
Guerin Catholic runners: 14. Luke Moster 16:09.9, 46. Max Fish 16:43.1, 66. Johnny King 16:55.8, 96. John Constantino 17:26.8, 98. Hunter Kinzle-Gorman 17:27.7, 121. Sam Laferriere 17:42.9, 122. Luke Ross 17:43.0.
Westfield: 41. Jack Loiselle 16:37.5, 92. Landon Jones 17:25.4, 110. Tristan Hostetter 17:35.0, 118. Caleb Haney 17:39.0, 129. Will Snedeker 17:46.6, 133. Owen Mohler 17:50.6, 199. Owen Ferreri 18:52.3.
Hamilton Heights runner: 120. Isaiah Heuer 17:42.1.
GIRLS MEET
Team scores: Noblesville 76, Hamilton Southeastern 94, Franklin Central 115, Westfield 154, Guerin Catholic 165, Center Grove 198, East Central 201, Whiteland 264, Roncalli 266, Batesville 271, Pendleton Heights 286, Mount Vernon 304, Franklin Community 348, Cathedral 389, Greenfield-Central 403, Indian Creek 420, Lawrence North 442, Centerville 527, Charlestown 546, Richmond 567, South Dearborn 582, Southwestern (Hanover) 600, Rushville 639, Switzerland County 664, Madison 733.
Race winner: Libby Dowty (Indian Creek) 17:45.8.
Noblesville runners: 9. Summer Rempe 18:47.3, 12. Riley Flynn 19:04.3, 13. Ansley Applegate 19:06.4, 15. Nadia Perez 19:08.0, 28. Kennedy Applegate 19:45.8, 57. Gretchen Graham 20:28.4, 78. Kate Mumaw 20:59.4.
Southeastern runners: 3. Maggie Powers 18:24.7, 8. Elizabeth Butler 18:42.7, 20. Catherine Campbell 19:28.3, 29. Elise Herman 19:48.4, 37. Ciara Kepner 19:56.7, 50. Addison Smith 20:16.3.
Westfield runners: 4. Liz Smith 18:26.9, 10. Alivia Lozier 18:51.0, 46. Gianna Ferreri 20:07.7, 48. Maggie Naas 20:14,7, 55. Jordyn Landrum 20:25.5, 72. Emily Loiselle, 115. Ella Boazrth 21:35.3.
Guerin Catholic runners: 22. Bailey Freese 19:36.9, 24. Claire Milam 19:43.0, 32. Claire Flannagan 19:50.3, 45. Katie Kolb 20:06.8, 51. Keira Hines 20:16.9, 52. Camille Morrow 20:17.6, 90. Brinna Wolf 21:14.8.
Fishers runners: 39. Abby Lotter 19:57.9, 44. Isabella Murch 20:04.7, 81. Addison Kane 21:05.0, 88. Katelyn Thomas 21:12.5, Grier Swaim 21:26.4, 112. Elise Bryan 21:33.2, 129. Charlotte Lawrence 21:44.8.
Hamilton Heights runners: 68. Anna Monnin 20:39.9, 74. Allie Bushey 20:54.3, 93. Mary Ella Bichey 21:18.2, 102. Ayla Madara 21:27.6.
***
Over at Brownsburg, the Carmel boys and girls teams both advanced to the state finals after their performances last Saturday at the course at Brownsburg East Middle School.
The Greyhounds boys team dominated its division. Carmel scored 34 points, well ahead of runner-up Brownsburg’s 99 points. The Greyhounds had the race winner: Senior Tony Provenzano cruised to victory in 15:12.0.
Carmel had three runners finish in the top 10 and six in the top 20. Kyle Grove placed third in 15:22.6, followed by Thomas Biltimier in seventh with a time of 15:36.4. Jack Capes placed 15th (15:51.5), Kiefer Jay was 18th (15:58.8) and Max Meisner took 20th (16:01.3). Jonah Kaul placed 27th to round out the Greyhounds’ lineup, clocking in at 16:11.0.
Carmel’s girls finished as runners-up, scoring 88 points. North Central won the regional title with a score of 70 points.
The Greyhounds were led by Sadie Foley, who placed fifth in a time of 18:22.0. Audrey Ricketts was next in line with a 14th-place finish (19:04.7), followed by Larkin Taylor in 18th place (19:10.3). Carmel had three more runners in the top 30: Annabel Pollert (25th, 19:21.0), Cara Naas (26th, 19:21.8) and Emersyn Weaver (28th, 19:25.7). Charlotte Konow was 37th (19:56.2).
Carmel’s boys team won its state-leading 36th regional title and qualified for state for the 50th time in program history. The only school with more state appearances is Bloomington South, which qualified for its record 52nd appearance by placing fifth at the Evansville Mater Dei regional.
The Greyhounds girls made it to state for the 43rd time. Carmel has qualified for the state meet every year since the girls tournament began in 1981.
University had five boys and two girls compete at the regional. Running for the Trailblazers boys were Finlay Reid (85th, 17:10.2), Ben Gleason (96th, 17:17.3), Mario Buoscio (215th, 19:06.9), Henry Wang (230th, 19:41.5) and Walter Wilson (235th, 20:08.4). University’s girls runners were Emily Comparini (138th, 22:12.2) and Laurel Gough-McKeown (141st, 22:18.8).