By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – Friday night was a perfect night for racing, and hundreds of Indiana’s best high school runners took to the track at Carmel Stadium for the second annual Carmel 3200 Showcase.
The conditions were fantastic – clear, not too warm and (finally) not too chilly. As a result, many of the runners produced some great times, and there were several personal bests as well.
Two of those new best times came from the top two Hamilton County girls finishers. Guerin Catholic junior Bridget Gallagher finished third in that race, zooming home in a time of 10 minutes, 51.24 seconds. Delta’s Nicki Southerland won the race in 10:30.44, with Brebeuf Jesuit’s Kendall Martin the runner-up in 10:42.47.
“I think I ran pretty well,” said Gallagher, who also said was trying to stay up with the top two finishers as long as she could.
“I just tried to stick with them for as long as I could and I knew that as long as I just stayed connected, I’d get a good time,” said Gallagher. She had already run a sub-11 minute 3200 during the indoor season, but this was the first time she broke that barrier in an outdoor race.
Gallagher had been dealing with an injury, but seems to be recovering well.
“I still have some aches and pains and I’m doing a lot of physical therapy, just working on my strength,” said Gallagher. She said she’s “trying to get stronger and I’m definitely feeling a lot stronger, but I still feel like I have a lot of work to go.”
Breaking barriers was a theme for Westfield sophomore Liz Smith. She placed seventh in the race with a time of 11:01.57, which shattered her previous personal best of 11:24.
“I fought hard,” said Smith. “That’s always been my problem is that I gave up easily. I think this race was just a big milestone for me, just pushing past and getting past my barriers and everything.”
Next for Smith is getting under the 11-minute mark, which is now in her sights.
“I’ve been patient for a while,” said Smith. She is focused on every race and getting “one step closer to my ultimate goal.”
Several schools had runners finish in the top 15 in the girls race. Alivia Romaniuk was Carmel’s top runner, placing ninth. Maggie Powers led Hamilton Southeastern by taking 13th and Brooke Lahee finished 14th for Noblesville.
The boys race was also fast, with the top two runners both breaking nine minutes. Ryan Watts from Edwardsville, Ill. finished in 8:54.09, just ahead of Columbus North’s Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff by over a second.
Carmel’s Kole Mathison placed third in a time of 9:01.31. The junior said he knew he might have to lead for most of the race as he ran against the other two runners. He led the first six laps.
“I was feeling good,” said Mathison. “I started to feel it with about a K to go and it fell apart towards the end. “I tried to go with Ryan when he made the move with two laps to go, but I just didn’t have the legs under me. And then it came to one lap left and I was hoping that I might have an extra gear, but it just didn’t come for me today.”
Mathison said he was still happy with the result – a 9:01 is a great time. Mathison had won the mile race at last Friday’s Franklin Central Showcase, and he agreed that all these races are good preparation for the post-season, which is only a few weeks away.
“I definitely think that they’re preparing me really well,” said Mathison. “It’s fun to race really good competition in the middle of the season because then when it comes to those championship races during the state tournament, you’re prepared and ready to run fast and race strategically. These are the races to test strategies and see how things work. And then when it comes to the state tournament, your tactics are refined and you’re ready to run good races.”
Two more county runners landed in the boys top 10: Carmel’s Charlie Schuman placed sixth and Noblesville’s Asher Propst finished eighth. Top finishers for each school included Southeastern’s Bennett Dubois in 14th, Fishers’ Tate Meaux in 23rd and Westfield’s Kai Connor in 24th.
RACE RESULTS
Girls 4×800 relay: 7. Westfield (Maya Francisco, Sydney Klinglesmith, Ava Britton-Heitz, Mary Kate Sloan) 10:53.31.
Boys freshman 3200 run: 4. Ronnie Neal (Noblesville) 10:11.04, 6. Josh Cale (Carmel) 10:28.62, 8. Caden Jackson (N) 10:30.66, 9. Jack Shinneman (N) 10:34.13, 11. Cooper Mohr (Fishers) 10:35.80, 12. Jack Strong (N) 10:35.80, 13. Owen Mohler (W) 10:35.98, 15. Charlie Naas (W) 10:37.82, 16. Luke Moster (Guerin Catholic) 10:38.03, 24. Henry Wood (F) 10:53.69, 27. Parker Welling (F) 10:59.60, 30. Brady Livingston (N) 11:22.65.
Girls 3200 run: 1. Nicki Southerland (Delta) 10:30.44, 2. Kendall Martin (Brebeuf Jesuit) 10:42.47, 3. Bridget Gallagher (GC) 10:51.24, 7. Liz Smith (W) 11:01.57, 9. Alivia Romaniuk (C) 11:14.94, 13. Maggie Powers (Hamilton Southeastern) 11:19.48, 14. Brooke Lahee (N) 11:22.83, 15. Olivia Mundt (C) 11:24.41, 16. Paige Hazelrigg (N) 11:25.45, 17. Nadia Perez (N) 11:25.49, 19. Jamie Klavon (C) 11:32.25, 20. Jasmine Klopstad (C) 11:32.82, 21. Brinkley Cooper (N) 11:38.47, 27. Kennedy Applegate (N) 11:44.56, 33. Ella Gaddis (C) 11:51.84, 39. Summer Rempe (N) 11:57.80, 44. Elise Herman (HSE) 12:04.50, 47. Emerson Weaver (C) 12:08.43, 48. Kelly Pesyna (W) 12:08.67, 49. Riley Flynn (N) 12:11.64, 51. Samantha Taylor (W) 12:14.42, 53. Robyn Schemel (W) 12:18.93, 54. Sydney Klinglesmith (W) 12:19.34, 55. Hannah Pensyl (W) 12:20.19, 58. Emily Loiselle (W) 12:38.94, 59. Zoe Dinius (N) 12:41.75, 60. Ella Wirkner (N) 12:49.21, 62. Megan Meinerding (N) 13:42.62.
Boys 3200 run: 1. Ryan Watts (Edwarsville, Ill.) 8:54.09, 2. Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff (Columbus North) 8:55.22, 3. Kole Mathison (C) 9:01.31, 6. Charlie Schuman (C) 9:14.40, 8. Asher Propst (N) 9:15.61, 14. Bennett Dubois (HSE) 9:20.62, 19. Joel Mumaw (N) 9:26.71, 21. Will Marquardt (HSE) 9:27.33, 23. Tate Meaux (F) 9:29.34, 24. Kai Connor (W) 9:30.65, 25. Sam Quagliaroli (F) 9:31.82, 26. Andrew Knight (HSE) 9:33.33, 30. Charlie Leedke (C) 9:37.60, 31. Thomas Biltimier (C) 9:38.15, 34. Nolan Satterfield (HSE) 9:42.32, 40. Jack Weber (GC) 9:45.32, 43. Luke Shinneman (N) 9:46.47, 44. Garrett Mowry (W) 9:47.01, 45. Ethan Hines (GC) 9:47.25, 46. Connor Heagy (C) 9:47.54, 49. Connor Mallon (C) 9:49.59, 51. Caden Carpenter (F) 9:52.45, 54. Caden Click (N) 9:54.67, 55. Liam Oman (C) 9:54.72, 58. Colin Lakomek (W) 9:55.66, 60. Cooper Kane (F) 9:56.95, 62. Sam Rinker (N) 9:57.21, 65. Alec Moor (N) 9:58.89, 73. Matthew Kim (F) 10:02.42, 74. Jack Capes (C) 10:02.63, 76. Josh Barnett (W) 10:03.77, 77. Connor Sarkovics (HSE) 10:03.87, 78. Kyle Grove (C) 10:03.97, 81. Nick Pulos (F) 10:04.67, 82. Max Weisner (C) 10:05.30, 85. Hayden Nagel (C) 10:07.44, 87. Kiefer Jay (C) 10:08.56, 95. Ethan Nix (F) 10:16.23, 96. Sam Hinds (W) 10:17.58, 97. KJ Sweeney (C) 10:18.90, 98. William Cummings (W) 10:19.47, 108. William Gilhooly (C) 10:25.55, 109. Owen Flynn (W) 10:53.00.