By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
While the experienced runners had their day at the Hamilton County Cross Country meet on Tuesday, the younger runners are making its move to the front of the pack.
One of those younger runners, in fact, made her mark. Sophomore Phoebe Bates won the girls race, leading the Greyhounds to the team victory at Tuesday’s meet, which took place at Noblesville’s Chinquapin Ridge course. Bates clocked in with a time of 18:26.95.
It was Bates’ first county meet – she was already on Carmel’s varsity last year, but the weather canceled last year’s county varsity event.
“I thought I ran pretty well,” said Bates. “Went out kind of slower than I anticipated, but then we picked it up in the woods.”
The Greyhound girls’ victory marked the first county meet for first-year coach Andy Dalton. His team scored 49 points to clinch the victory.
“We did exactly what we wanted to do today,” said Dalton, who noted that it was the first 5000-meter race for his team this season, “and we had a couple girls that we need this year to start stepping up. Some unknown names, like Lily McAndrews, Lindsey Roper, others like that really stepped up, and it’ll be great to see what they do down the road.”
Senior Maddie Dalton finished sixth, with the junior McAndrews placing eighth. Roper, also a junior, was 16th.
Bates led a talented group of runners to the finish line. The girls runner-up was Noblesville’s Abi Little, who finished in a time of 18:32.45. Little helped the Millers to second place in the team standings, edging out Hamilton Southeastern 73-75.
Little had solid support, with three other runners landing in the top 20. Junior Aubrie Deal finished 12th, sophomore Sophie Reichard placed 15th and junior Aubrey Swart took 17th.
Noblesville coach Dennis Scheele was thrilled at his team’s finish, calling the Millers’ performance “very encouraging,” especially when one considers how tough this county is in cross country.
“Who performs on the right day, that’s what it’s going to come down to,” said Scheele. “But this is a good start for us.”
The Royals had two runners in the top five. Junior Lulu Black placed third and
BOYS MEET
Team scores: Carmel 28, Fishers 53, Hamilton Southeastern 94, Noblesville 109, Westfield 119, Guerin Catholic 149, Hamilton Heights 230, University 242.
Race winner: Gabe Fendel (HSE) 15:14.95.
Carmel runners: 2. Colin Murphy 15:31.00, 5. Benjamin Miller 15:59.90, 6. Benjamin Myers 16:01.70, 7. Thomas Gastineau 16:06.36, 8. William Harris 16:12.40, 9. Keelan Grant 16:16.77, 18. Hudson Alden 16:54.60, 19. David Anderson 16:55.83, 22. Patrick Campbell 17:00.84, 26. Cameron Harless 17:05.47, 40. Calvin Bates 17:29.55, 49. Zane Williams 17:45.45.
Fishers runners: 4. Sam Kuhn 15:51.99, 10. Ethan Meyer 16:24.66, 11. Matt Brown 16:39.01, 13. Brandon Reyes 16:44.71, 15. Thomas Brelage 16:48.68, 16. Will Clark 16:49.81, 20. Nick Simopoulos 16:58.95, 27. Quintin Goldman 17:08.95, 28. Alex Meyer 17:08.95, 31. Dylan Arive 17:11.57, 42. Jared Halamka 17:31.95, 57. Drew Smith 18:06.77.
Other Southeastern runners: 12. Grant Wilson 16:42.97, 29. James Rathbun 17:10.14, 32. Brady Jarosinski 17:11.91, 37. Brady Southern 17:21.97, 41. Eric Swinson 17:30.36, 48. Eric Carothers 17:44.81, Nathan Cho 17:49.34, 52. Jaylen Castillo 17:55.39, 53. Connor Bryant 17:57.34, 58. Ryan Pfanstiel 18:06.91, 67. Adam Huckabee 18:54.18.
Noblesville runners: 17. Zachary Freeman 16:51.05, 21. Blake Hipkiss 17:00.20, 24. Travis Hickner 17:02.60, 25. Justin Amburgy 17:04.65, 33. Cole Kimmel 17:15.37, 34. Andrew Anderson 17:17.93, 44. Jack Commeville 17:38.01, 46. Jaden Wills 17:40.07, 47. Luke Balciunas 17:42.02, 51. Seth Koszyk 17:52.09, 59. Billy Gregory 18:09.02, 63. Nick Dombroski 18:33.75.
Westfield runners: 14. Nick Leahy 16:45.97, 23. Noah Douthit 17:01.83, 30. James McClure 17:10.62, 35. Samuel Novak 17:20.42, 36. Luke Tragesser 17:21.83, 39. Max Gutwein 17:29.36, 45. Gavin Clinkbeard 17:39.10, 55. Robby Bogdajewicz 18:02.13, 60. Jacob Mears 18:13.64, 61. Duncan McGraw 18:16.40, 64. Tyler Smith 18:45.01, 65. Kyler Koning 18:46.09.
Guerin Catholic runners: 3. Quinn Gallagher 15:46.80, 38. Andrew Hall 17:27.03, 43. Holden King 17:32.57, 56. Joseph Barrett 18:02.16, 62. JP Spoonmore 18:17.08, 68. Nicholas Schramm 18:58.27, 70. Weston Gingerich 19:04.85, 71. Austin Callahan 19:21.60, 73. Josh Young 19:49.52, 75. Dominic Stein 20:07.81, 76. Noah McNeany 20:30.71.
Heights runners: 69. Elijah Wallace 19:01.31, 72. Price Knowles 19:40.01, 74. Tony Harden 19:57.57, 77. Dawson Phifer 20:40.19, 79. Cory Vonfeldt 21:29.72.
University runners: 66. Noah Laramore 18:54.03, 78. Jacob Sager 21:08.67, 81. Keegan Priest 21:34.07, 82. Noah Thomas 21:42.44, 83. Cole Reinholt 22:41.42, 84. Cordell Wilson 23:41.44, 85. Ben Westerkamm 23:50.61, 86. Beau Reveal 27:38.23.
Sheridan runners: 54. Luke Poprik 17:57.84, 80. Taylor Jacobs 21:32.46.
GIRLS MEET
Team scores: Carmel 49, Noblesville 73, Hamilton Southeastern 75, Fishers 89, Guerin Catholic 120, Westfield 130, Hamilton Heights 190.
Race winner: Phoebe Bates (C) 18:26.95.
Other Carmel runners: 6. Maddie Dalton 18:59.52, 8. Lily McAndrews 19:12.29, 16. Lindsey Roper 19:38.76, 18. Sydney Haines 19:47.66, 19. Roni Ledezma 19:48.79, 22. Anna Morozov 19:55.78, 23. Tasha Geisler 20:01.18, 29. Abby Parker 20:16.33, 34. Alyssa Easton 20:23.39, 36. Kierstyn Guerrant 20:27.72.
Noblesville runners: 2. Abi Little 18:32.45, 12. Aubrie Deal 19:27.33, 15. Sophie Reichard 19:38.38, 17. Aubrey Swart 19:44.51, 28. Bella Sharples-Gordon 20:15.08, 31. Madison King 20:18.63, 37. Taylor Gregory 20:29.84, 50. Sophie Stahl 21:01.41, 61. Grace Judy 21:49.37, 65. Katherine Sandys 22:21.10, 69. Maria Anderson 22:40.59, 70. Grace Miller 22:51.61.
Southeastern runners: 3. Lulu Black 18:37.00, 5. Halle Hill 18:53.56, 11. Lilly Cummins 19:22.90, 27. Elle Johnson 20:13.95, 32. Ellie Pedersen 20:21.52, 33. Abbie Lohman 20:23.12, 45. Brooke Ratliff 20:53.14, 49. Sam Alphin 21:01.26, 55. Katie Murhling 21:15.35, 59. Grace Howard 21:37.00, 62. Lilly Patrick 21:53.32, 72. Brianna Wright 23:12.16.
Fishers runners: 10. Debbie Shera 19:18.14, 14. Kamya Lapsley 19:35.49, 20. Tessa Kraft 19:51.76, 21. Abby Carter 19:54.83, 25. Corinne Yorkman 20:08.20, 30. Brynn Urban 20:16.35, 38. Margaret Saul 20:31.29, 41. Elinor Carmona 20:44.60, 42. Mia Contino 20:49.01, 47. Liz Rogers 20:55.07, 52. Corinne O’Leary 21:05.43, 57. Emma Julien 21:34.08.
Guerin Catholic runners: 7. Paige Schemanske 19:04.79, 9. Ellie Schroeder 19:14.69, 26. Bea Perez 20:12.74, 44. Isabelle Museck 20:50.97, 53. Lucia Perez 21:07.60, 63. Reagan Bohbrink 21:59.52, 73. Nicole Powers 23:12.98, 74. Kaleigh Falimirski 23:32.32, 75. Audrey Darland 24:01.92, 76. Delaney Klee 24:54.59, 77. Amanda Schafer 25:56.84.
Westfield runners: 4. Gabby Dilick 18:40.60, 24. Sarah Coates 20:03.19, 35. Morgan Houck 20:26.49, 39. Ava Zellers 20:35.52, 40. Ashley Baldwin 20:41.87, 43. Julia Clark 20:49.40, 46. Kyla Curtis 20:54.39, 48. Sophie Porter 21:00.62, 51. Carly Bogdajewicz 21:01.73, 54. Madison Smith 21:13.93, 56. Sarah Hamlet 21:26.45, 60. Sydney Clifford 21:39.49.
Heights runners: 13. Maria Mitchell 19:30.66, 58. Abby Christiansen 21:34.08, 66. Morgan Guthrie 22:29.85, 67. Abby Roth 22:30.70, 71. Alex Lopez 23:08.99, 78. Maddie Dotlich 26:11.41.
Sheridan runner: 64. Alexis Weiss 22:02.58.
University runners: 68. Jada Swearingen 22:34.35, 79. Lauren Flickner 28:26.65.
ABOVE: Carmel’s Phoebe Bates won the girls race at the Hamilton County Cross Country Meet.
BELOW: Hamilton Southeastern’s Gabe Fendel (left) won the boys race. At right is Guerin Catholic’s Quinn Gallagher, who finished third. (Kent Graham)
