ICYMI: Feet flying at the Eagle Classic as cross country season revs up
Seldom can a runner make the jaw drop on a coach with more than 40 years worth of experience.
Take a bow Jacob Mitchell.
The Bloomington North freshman blew away any expectations coach Charlie Warthan might have had for him this season by spinning an incredible 15:36 (and still winding up 15th) at Saturday's much-anticipated talent-rich Brown County Eagle Classic.
Warthan is almost sure that's the fastest he's ever had a freshman run. The folks at inccstats.com back him up. Mitchell's adjusted time is second in the state this year by a freshman only to Westfield's Noah Bontrager. It's also No. 6 on the site's all-time list that compares results going back to 1972.
"So that says a lot when you think about all the good kids that I've had," said Warthan, who missed the race while attending a celebration of life, but had a "Wow" moment when he saw the results.
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Mitchell came in from Oolitic with a strong resume, having won the middle school state meet in Terre Haute last year with a 9:45 over the 3k course. He started the season with a solid 16:31 at the Valley Kickoff and keeps improving. That's a key word for Mitchell, who showed his fight at the end of the Eagle Classic.
"I think the biggest thing is, he has talent," Warthan said. "But on top of that, he gets locked in to being the best he can in a given race. He's always trying to improve himself from wherever he is in the race.
"He went from the low 20s to 15th over the last 5-600 meters or less. My daughter was watching him run and that's what she was impressed with, he was always in competition with somebody. His last k was a 3:04 after a 3:15 and 3:13 in the middle. To me, that's giving everything he has. He was able to see out and a lot of kids can't do that."
The question for Warthan now is how to handle the reins on his steed.
"The first time we ran at Bedford, I told them to just stay together as a group," Warthan said. "It doesn't really matter who wins this thing. He was able to do that for about 3k, he got anxious and he wanted to go win. That's good and bad."
Warthan knew of him, having seen him run at high-level meets, and knew he had a terrific trio now with incoming freshman Caleb Winders and Caelen D'Onofrio. Winders (pneumonia) and D'Onofrio (COVID) are likely to be in North's top six down the road as they continue to shake off early season illness.
"Did I have an idea he was going to be as good as he is? No." Warthan said. "Good? Yes. 15:36? No.
"I was pretty sure he was going to break 16 fairly soon. He was training at a fairly high level. I thought maybe 15:50, a tad under 16 may be a good mark and it would be. But he kind of blew that away in the process."
Flying at Eagle Park
It's somewhat amazing that his time was good for only 15th, but that's how strong the Elite race was. Carmel stud Kole Matheson broke his own course record with a 14:52 as 32 runners broke the 16-minute mark, even on a day where it was hardly ideal running given the temperatures and humidity.
The girls' Elite race was led by a 17:28 and 15 runners went under 19 minutes.
With all of that came a raft of season and career bests.
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South girls had 14 out of 24 with season bests; North boys 16 season PR's; 12 of 13 South boys had career PRs; Edgewood saw all five girls in the Elite race, all three in JV and three of the seven boys (in the AA race) all had career PRs; North's girls had eight career PR's and Lighthouse Christian's two girls both had career lows.
Carmel and Zionsville boys both had five in under 16 minutes. The Columbus North girls had two under 18 and six under 20 while Carmel had nine finish in 19:54 for better.
More new kids on the blocks
Mitchell wasn’t the only youngster shining at the Eagle Classic.
Edgewood’s Hannah Crain had a career best 18:53.5, good for 12th in the Elite race. That’s better than middle sister Clara did as a freshman but the eldest, Annalyssa still holds bragging rights with a 17:53.
“That one I was surprised by,” Edgewood coach Zach Evans said. “That’s a good 15 seconds faster than Clara ran as a freshman, so to see her be at that point already is really exciting.”
South’s Jasmine Martoglio and twin sister Aurelia also had career days, with Jasmine in at 19:06 and Aurelia at 19:26 for 21st and 37th respectively.
“They’ve really adapted well to the jump into high school competition,” South coach Jill Rensink said. “They’ve been training really well and once the gun goes off, they’re game for anything. They’re fun to work with and I’m excited to see what they can do the rest of the season.
“To put down that kind of time and we’re still a few weeks out from postseason ...”
North sophomore Ellie Patrick cracked 20 for the first time at 19:58.
“Really, really pleased with how Ellie has been running,” North girls' coach Justin Helmer said. “From track season, she’s really improved and has been working hard.”
Motoring Mustangs
The sophomore-dominated boys’ team came up just a tad short of the team title in the AA race to rival Indian Creek (94-98), but did take home the top prize individually when Caleb Webb finished in a PR of 16:35 for a five-second win.
Edgewood had five in the top 40 with Zane Meyer (16:53) seventh. As a group, Edgewood is now ranked in the top 10 of the BC Semistate by inccstats.com.
“The boys are doing extremely well,” Evans said. “They are ahead of schedule of where we want them to be in terms of the next couple of years. That puts us eighth in the semistate, so we’re not too far out where on the right day, we can make it.
“To be that close already with them being sophomores, I’m definitely happy with that.”
On the girls’ side, Clara Crain ended up third in the girls’ race, training only the pair of Bull Dogs, going a career best 18:13.2, topping her 18:20 as a sophomore. Crain, who missed track season as a junior, had been running well in the top three at Columbus last week through 3k before lightning ended the race.
“I think we would have seen the same thing last week,” Evans said. “To see her go out and compete with two girls who are ranked top 10 in the state and finish not too far behind them shows she’s not quite where we want to be, but she’s definitely on the right path.
“She’s running like an all-state runner right now.”
Veteran strides
Bloomington South’s boys came out sixth in a field, coach Larry Williams noted, and had at least seven squads with legitimate top-10 state aspirations, led by powerhouse Carmel.
Ryan Rheam (15:44.7) and Jack Gildea (16:15.2) led the way again, finishing 22-43, while Hunter Tabor (16:20) had another solid outing, then came a 25-second pause before Joe Zinkan arrived. A few runners got caught up in the crowded corners and it cost them valuable time. Lesson learned.
“We’ve got to close the gaps better,” Williams said. “Ryan we know will have better days and Jack ran a really good race the week before but at practice Thursday, cramped up, so maybe that had an effect on Saturday.
“Hunter Tabor ran a great race and it’s great to see how much better he’s getting each race. From there, Joe, Suoming Zhang, Jake Keller, two sophomores and a freshman are closing the gap.”
Helmer is still simmering the stew behind his top three. Rachel Allison was seventh (19:28.2) with Patrick 54th and Nola Somers Glenn (20:13.6) 66th. Then came a 1:15 gap, leaving the Cougars 14th and looking at ground to make up if they want to compete for a top-six spot at semistate.
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“I think we’re still trying to figure some things out,” Helmer said. “With Nola and Rachel, their races have not matched what they’ve done in practice yet. But we’ve not run many 5ks this year.
“Right now, there’s too big of a gap to our 4-5 runners so we hope to close that up. It’s a struggle right now. But Ruth (Bartlett) is running solid and Lilah Reed, who had a great summer but had some injuries is coming back around. Those two keep closing that gap. After that, it’s a handfull of see how it goes.”
It includes senior Emma McDivitt, who tore her ACL over the summer playing basketball, and ran her first 5k of the season Saturday, going 21:41.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Cross country season revs up with Eagle Classic in Brown County
