Crawfordsville’s Ryan Miller and Sophia Melevage along with Southmont’s Faith Allen all get to continue thier stellar cross country seasons as they qualified for Saturday’s Semi-State meet. The three MoCo standouts raced at the Ben Davis Regional this past Saturday.
The Athenians had both teams there racing as they got out of the Brownsburg sectional after both placing fourth last weekend.
In the girls race Allen took home fourth overall with a time of 19:14.2 as the Mountie senior continues what’s been a stellar season.
“We are taking this post season one race at and time and it’s really exciting to watch her training pay off in the best ways,” Southmont coach Shelley Allen said. “Her dedication to her training and this sport never ceases to amaze me.”
A season ago Allen made it to the semi-state but was unable to qualify for the State Finals. This season she’ll look to finally break through and end her career on the highest note possible.
Melevage placed 15th overall for CHS with a time of 19:55 and will make her second straight semi-state appearance.
She’ll be joined by teammate Ryan Miller who continues to save his best races for when the stakes are the highest. A week ago, Miller broke the school record with a time of 16:28. This week he followed that up with another phenomenal race with a time of 16:21.8, breaking the school record yet again, this time by seven seconds. That time was earned the junior a 14th place finish.
“It’s important to understand the purpose and progression of the cross country season when you get to October,” Crawfordsville coach Megan Craig said. “Each week we race is an opportunity to practice, reflect and adjust what needs to be done to make the performance stronger. Ryan has done well using the regular season to gain the knowledge and training he needs in these competitive races. He is focused and determined and it is so fun to watch. I’m excited to watch both him and Sophia get the chance to race together as teammates yet again.”
While both Melevage and Miller advancing, it did see the end of the cross country careers for three Athenian seniors in Roman Contreras, Olivia Biddle, and Peter Kearns. Craig took a moment to thank and reflect on their dedication to the program these last four seasons.
“The leadership, dedication and work ethic of this senior class is tremendous,” she said. “They excel academically, they are involved in their community and they bring a positive selfless attitude to the distance program. Olivia finished her career at CHS with a PR and a great run. Her season started with an injury and she was forced to be sidelined for a few weeks. She stayed focused, and refused to let that injury define her season. Her determination paid off and she went out the best way a runner could. Roman has had a tremendous senior season. He has dropped an average of a minute and a half off of his race times. He understood that in order to meet the goals of the team, he was going to have to step up. He has a season to be proud of and a career that showed continual growth and determination to be his best. Peter stepped up this season for us and continued to drop time. He worked hard this summer away from the team while he was in Alaska to ensure that he could be a solid contributor. He may not have had the race he wanted yesterday but he has a season and career to be proud of. I’m looking forward to the track season with these 3 as they finish out their distance career with CHS.”
Fountain Central will be sending a pair of runners to the New Prairie Semi-State next week as Hayden Kler and Brailey Hoaglwand both qualified for FC at the Harrison Regional. Hogland took home 25th overall with a time of 21:01 with Kler taking 27th with a timee of 17:37.
The Chargers boys placed eigth at the Harrison Regional and juniors Maggie Ireland and Jordyn Frommer saw their season come to an end as well.
Melevage, Allen, and Miller will all compete at the Shelbyville Semi-State on Saturday looking to punch their ticket to the state finals. The top six teams and top 10 individuals in each race will qualify for the state finals on Oct. 29 at LaVern Gibson Course in Terre Haute.