Teams from host North Harrison and Floyd Central fared well in the 42nd Annual North Harrison Invitational Cross Country Invitational Thursday night in Ramsey. The North Harrison boys’ varsity team won their division for the second year in a row, the first time the Cougars have managed to win 1st place. North had a team score of 58 points, with Bedford-North Lawrence in 2nd place (92 points), and Perry Central in 3rd place (111 points). Floyd Central just barely missed the top three team finishes with a 4th place finish (131 points). In the girls’ race, Floyd Central finished in 2nd place with a score of 87, 12 points behind 1st place Bedford-North Lawrence (75 points).
Boys’ Race-
Jonathan Reynolds led the Cougars with a 3rd place finish (16:10.9), and there was a pair of other Cougar finishers in the Top 10. Johnnie Guy was 4th (16:13.7), and team mate Ryan Foster was 5th (16:36.7).
For Floyd Central, three runners had Top 15 finishes to lead the way. Logan Kelly was 10th (16:57.2), Cory Portwood was 11th (17:00.8), and Chris Pepin was 14th (17:06.4).
North Harrison boys’ coach Jerry Love was pleased with the way the meet went, and he gave all of the credit to his runners.
“It was definitely a solid win tonight,” Love said. “We had a super effort by our guys; the guys were determined to defend their turf.”
Indeed, four of the six varsity runners competing for North Harrison had personal records in the meet. They were Jonathan Reynolds, Johnnie Guy, Kyle Chesser (who was in 27th place and had a time of 17:31.4), and 6th man Cody Morgan (68th, with a time of 18:40.7).
Chesser especially got the attention of Love, who said, “He did an excellent job tonight. He put a lot of miles in this summer.”
Ryan Foster caught two runners at the end of the race, and passed them right at the finish line, and just missed a personal record of his own.
Floyd Central senior Logan Kelly was pleased with his performance at the meet, and said, “I felt good during the race. I set a goal earlier in the season to be the No. 1 (runner) for Floyd.”
Kelly was the top runner for the Highlanders Thursday, and he worked hard over the summer to prepare for the still young cross country season.
“Earlier…we were hoping we could go to state. We think we can, based on this race,” said Kelly.
The North Harrison course has several steep hills on his, but the hills don’t bother Kelly, who pointed out that Floyd Central has plenty of hills on its practice course, which is near the school. “Floyd Central practices on hills all of the time,” he said.
For his part, Love is happy with how the Cougars have done so far in the season. They are undefeated after the win in their own invitational, and their overall record stands at 44-0. They also won the Columbus Invitational, and the Little Four Meet in compiling that record.
“We’re right where we need to be; we’re not peaking yet, we’re getting better,” Love said.
Other local schools’ top runners were: Hunter Williams (Borden, 8th, 16:48.2), Jeremy Johnson (Austin, 9th, 16:48.6), Logan Wells (Scottsburg, 26th, 17:29.5), Travis Kaake (Lanesville, 35th, 17:44.6), Charlie Bright (Eastern, 40th, 17:55.3), Skylar Muncy (Salem, 45th, 18:00.8), James Hurley (on incomplete Charlestown team, 18:07.1), and Ben Lengel (West Washington, 125th, 20:14.5).
Boys’ Team Results-
North Harrison 58, Bedford-North Lawrence 92, Perry Central 111, Floyd Central 131, Jasper 214, Northeast Dubois 218, Corydon Central 225, Borden 238, Forest Park 246, Lanesville 254, Tell City 261, Salem 370, New Albany 372, Mitchell 392, Crawford County 400, Eastern 424, Austin 465, Jeffersonville 483, Brownstown Central 510, Orleans 527, Scottsburg 538, Paoli 542, Southridge 613, Christian Academy Indiana 677, South Central 688, Medora 738, and West Washington 753.
Girls’ Race-
Floyd Central’s 2nd places finish pleased Floyd Central girls’ coach, who saw sophomore Alyssa Moore lead the Lady Highlanders in the race. Moore finished in 6th place, and ran the course in a time of 20:49.7. Joining Moore in the Top 10 was Hannah Keehn (9th, 21:06.7).
Rounding out the rest of the Lady Highlanders’ finishers was: Katie Perkins (19th, 22:08.0), Abbie Ewing (21st, 22:15.8), and Sarah Henry (32nd, 22:49.9).
“Everyone ran really well,” said Floyd Central girls’ coach Carl Hook. “Alyssa (Moore) is running great right now. She worked extremely hard during the summer. Hannah Keehn and Alyssa (Moore) got out a little bit faster that they needed to do.”
Floyd Central had the top runner in the junior varsity girls’ race, in junior Connie Rhodes, who ran the course in a time of 23:03.0.
Hook is planning on running Rhodes on the varsity squad next week at the Brown County Invitational.
“She’s starting to take care of things,” Hook said of Rhodes.
Other local schools’ top runners were: Ashley Malloy (Salem, 10th, 21:07.7), Rachel Dalton (Eastern, 13th, 21:17.2), Rachel Butler (Lanesville, 37th, 22:57.7), and Abbey Stone (North Harrison, 79th, 25:33.2).
Girls’ Team Results-
Bedford-North Lawrence 75, Floyd Central 87, Perry Central 112, Forest Park 125, Northeast Dubois 168, Jasper 183, Brownstown Central 193, New Albany 264, Mitchell 285, Southridge 295, Scottsburg 301, Eastern 301, Salem 316, Jeffersonville 364, Paoli 367, Lanesville 370, Corydon Central