On Saturday, Crawfordsville seniors Drake Hayes and Madison Fry will have one last chance at achieving a career-long of advancing to the IHSAA Cross Country state finals. Along with Southmont freshman Faith Allen, Hayes and Fry will compete in the semi-state at Blue River Memorial Park in Shelbyville, where they will hope to be one of 10 individuals on each the girls and boys side that will advance to the state finals next Saturday at the LaVern Gibson Course in Terre Haute.
Fry enters Saturday with a new level of confidence then she has in years past.
“The mindset is just to be confident and trust the training,” “We’ve worked hard all summer and all fall,” she said. “This year it’s been all about building up my confidence, so more than anything it’s about having the confidence to go and pursue my goal.”
Fry raced to a 10th place finish in 19:10 last Saturday at the Ben Davis Regional, and with four regionals feeding into the Shelbyville Semi-State, another personal best performance will be needed for a sure shot at the state finals.
“This year she goes in with a lot more confidence,” Crawfordsville coach Megan Craig said. “Saturday that confidence is going to give her that push. She doesn’t have the same timidness she has in the past. She goes out there knowing she deserves it, and has worked for it, and wants it more.”
Hayes returns to the semi-state with an 18th place finish in 16:34 at last week’s regional, after missing out last season by one place. The competition will continue to increase this weekend, and he knows he will have to drop his time to near 16 minutes flat if he wants to advance to the state finals.
“My plans is to find some people who I know who runs those times, and do everything I can to stay with them. I’m just going to have to really push myself,” he said.
The duo of Hayes and Fry have had a little extra motivation in practice this week — getting a boost from teammates in preparation for Saturday’s meet.
“It means a lot,” Hayes said. “Just having that support system helps going into competition.”
While practice hasn’t been mandatory for runners still not competing, they have still been showing up to support their teammates.
“I think it shows the level of respect they have for each other,” Craig said. “Regardless of who goes on, we got to this point together. And we will support you until the last person is running.”
Hayes, Fry, and Allen will compete on Saturday with the boys’ race starting at 10:30 a.m. and girls race at 11:15 a.m.
