SHELBYVILLE — As Madison Fry crossed the finish line at Blue River Memorial Park in Shelbyville, she avoided falling in the mud, put a smile on her face, and jumped on her coach's back, proud of her run.
In the end her 30th place finish at the semi-state in a time of 19:30 wasn't enough to advance to the state finals, but in her last high school meet, the senior hung tough with some of the state's best competition.
Brebeuf Jesuit's Madeline Keller raced to a first place finish in the girl's race with a time of 18:22. Southmont freshman Faith Allen was 96th in 20:55.
Rain was falling as hundreds of runners and even more spectators flooded the fields at Blue River Memorial Park as the gun sounded and the boys' took off first. Crawfordsville's Drake Hayes saw his career come to a close with a 116th place finish in 17:21.
As the 180 girl entries darted into a pack, the rain started to fall faster, and the wind blew harder. By the time the top finishers crossed the finish line, the course was complete mud — many falling, slipping, and sliding to the ground — but there was Fry on Crawfordsville coach Megan Craig's back with a smile on her face, because she knew she had left it all on the course.
