Olivia Biddle
Senior Madison Fry led the Athenians with a third-place finish.
Crawfordsville's Drake Hayes stays with the front pack. Hayes finished 4th overall in the boys' race.
Halle Smith played a big part in the Athenian's championship effort on Saturday.
Elijah McCartney paced North Montgomery's boys with a 28th place finish in a time of 18:50.
Freshman Faith Allen was fourth overall to lead the Mounties.
DANVILLE — Crawfordsville cross country coach Megan Craig just wanted her girls’ team to run their race, and let the rest take care of itself.
The Athenians didn’t disappoint.
Sticking three runners in the top 10 to earn first-team all conference honors, and another two on the second-team with top-20 finishes, Crawfordsville edged Western Boone (58) and Lebanon (59) with a score of 53 to claim their third Sagamore Conference title in four years on Saturday.
“Honestly it was a strong performance by everyone,” Craig said. “I just wanted them to go out and run free. I talked to them about what first-team all conference is.”
Madison Fry finished third overall in a time of 19:46, while Elyse Widmer was eighth in 20:56, and Halle Smith 10th with a time of 21:27.
Shelby Greene was 12th in 21:36, and Olivia Biddle 20th in 23:01.
“The nice thing about Madison is she leads by example,” Craig said about Fry. “She goes out there and puts in the time in the offseason. Works hard every practice, and within her own success the excitement around the group of girls that are having the success with her outweighs everything for her, and that’s what you ask for when building a program.”
Kiara Martinez was 34th for the Athenians, and Olivia Fichter 39th.
Faith Allen led Southmont to a sixth place finish on the girls’ side with a fourth-place finish in a time of 20:09. Megan Scheidler was 33rd in 25:35, while Jane Scheidler was 42nd in 27:51, while Tiffany Ditmer and Sophie Reimondo were 45th and 46th respectively.
Southmont coach Courtny Cotten said Saturday’s race was a good tune-up for Allen heading into next week’s sectional at Brownsburg.
“I think it will be once again bw another chance at race experience with a lot of fast girls,” he said about the sectional. “She will be able to run in a pack. I’m excited to see how she responds to that.”
Claire Bonwell led North Montgomery with a 28th place finish in a time of 23:29, while Hannah Littell was 37th in 26:23, Lydia LaChance 41st in 27:48, and Sarah Brown and Mackenzie Stage were 43rd and 44th respectively.
On the boys’ side, Crawfordsville (66) placed third, behind Lebanon (52), and champion Frankfort (45). Southmont was sixth with a 180, while North Montgomery’s team was incomplete.
Drake Hayes and Eli Widmer finished fourth and fifth with times of 17:02 and 17:24 respectively to lead Crawfordsville. Hunter Hutchison was eighth in 17:48.
“My top three runners did exactly what I told them too,” Craig said.
Cole Watt was 25th in 18:39, Devin Burris 26th in 19:01, Luke Stewart 31st in 19:06, and Nathanial Million 33rd in 19:33.
Aaron Evans led Southmont, placing 34th in 19:40, while Skyler Wood was 40th in 20:30. Beck McIntyre was 42nd, Gerald Hutson 43rd, Slayde Gardner 44th, Connor Keller 46th, and Toby Casteel 47th.
Elijah McCartney led the Chargers with a 28th place finish in a time of 18:50, while Dakota Scott was 38th, Adam Coon 48th, and KC Isbell 49th.
