North Posey, Mount Vernon girls run strong sectional

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Abigail Templeton shows the pressure of trying to make your best run.

Wildcat Makayla Schneider gives her best effort for the Mt. Vernon cross country team.

By Dennis Marshall

FORT BRANCH, Ind. — Rowen Englebright ran a better race than she did a year ago, even if the finish told a slightly different story.

The North Posey sophomore finished third in 19:06.12 at the Gibson Southern Sectional on Saturday, Oct. 17, cutting more than a minute off the time that earned her second place as a freshman.

“It’s the training over the summer and building up these miles that’s really helped,” Englebright said. “Next race, I plan on just trying to go as fast as I can.”

Freshman Lyla Hautman finished eighth in 19:57.48, breaking 20 minutes for the first time. Vikings coach Scott Bosecker said she has raced her way into a stronger spot as the season has progressed and still has room to improve.

“I just want to thank my coach,” Hautman said. “He gave us the best training plan. Really prepared us for this. We did all the training over the summer.”

She also credited the group around her.

“I just want to congratulate my teammates because I know they came out here and tried really hard,” she said.

Sophomore Gwyn Beuligmann finished 12th in 20:20.24. She collapsed after crossing the finish line and needed time before she could get up. Bosecker said that kind of effort has defined her season.

“She is tenacious,” he said. “I would never bet against her. She’ll run until she’s about ready to die.”

Even after that finish, Beuligmann’s first comments were about the group that ran with her.

“We all did really well,” Beuligmann said. “We pushed ourselves. We all PR’d. It was overall just a good one.”

The improvement showed up across the rest of the lineup as the Vikings cut 78 points from their sectional score a year ago. Junior Braelyn Barrett improved by more than 1 minute, 36 seconds from last year’s sectional, finishing 45th in 22:44.75. Freshman Clara Naab was 58th in 23:44.40. Junior Abigail Templeton improved by more than 2 minutes, 12 seconds to finish 64th in 24:07.23, and junior Adalyn Beyer was 65th in 24:12.61. All seven Vikings recorded personal records.

Bosecker said Englebright sets the pace, and the others have shown they are willing to chase it.

“Rowen pushes them all in a nice positive way,” he said. “They want to run together. They want to do their best for one another.”

The front of the field was faster and deeper than it was last year.

Heritage Hills freshman Kylee Waninger won in 18:09.73, roughly a minute faster than last year’s sectional champion. Eve Vinson of Heritage Hills improved from 18th in 22:13.2 as a junior to second in 19:02.69. Isabel Land of Castle dropped from 22:51.1 and 25th to fifth in 19:13.23. Lucy Scherer of Gibson Southern, sixth both years, improved from 21:11.2 to 19:45.47.

Mater Dei won the team title with 70 points for the second straight year. Castle (79), Memorial (97), Gibson Southern (102) and Heritage Hills (105) also advanced.

The 15 individual qualifiers from non-advancing teams, in order, were: Englebright, Hautman, Beuligmann, Tatum Traylor (Reitz), Rebekah Glomski (Princeton), Karly Clayton (Central), Saila Stroud (Reitz), Julie Nelson (Signature), Eloise Madi (Reitz), Madison Bell (South Spencer), Forsythia Barber (Central), Lillyan Shoulders (Boonville), Madison Cooper (Mount Vernon), Kaleigha Berry (Princeton) and Addison Robbins (Princeton).

The regional is Saturday, Oct. 24, at Crawford County.