Northview girls second in growing Cross Kickoff
Aug. 14—If the Valley Cross Kickoff isn't the biggest high school cross country meet in Indiana, it's getting there.
Lured by the prospect of an early-season meet on the state championship course, teams from around the state have swelled the entry list to the point where 86 boys and girls teams were represented Saturday at LaVern Gibson Championship Course and 1,001 runners finished the varsity and junior varsity races. That's an increase of almost 20% in participation, and more than twice as many runners as there will be at the state championship meet.
Which makes the accomplishments of the Northview girls all the more impressive.
The Knights look ready to carry the Wabash Valley cross country banner, even ahead of their own boys team, and finished second among 32 teams that had enough runners to score. Returning all-stater Gnister Grant was second individually for the Knights.
"It was the best opening day we've had in a long time," said coach Tim Rayle of the Northview girls, 14th in the state a year ago. "Gnister and [ninth-place] Ellia [Hayes] are going to be our team leaders, and Halle [Miller, who placed 12th] got out after it."
"I was so tired," Gnister Grant said. "[The time] wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, but it's the start of the season. I'm pretty happy [for our team] to come in second today."
Avon's Jessica Hegedus was the only runner to finish ahead of Grant, and Indianapolis North Central was the only girls team to do so. Terre Haute North placed 21st and Terre Haute 24th.
"We were one spot better than we were [at the Cross Kickoff] last year," said Taylor Austin, one of two co-coaches leading Terre Haute North so far.
"Pretty much all the girls ran faster than they did [at this meet] last year," added Anna Cresgy, the other co-coach.
"Our early goal is based off Terre Haute North," said South girls coach Jon Lee. "We're young and inexperienced; we lost four of our top seven from last year."
Floyd Central's Will Conway demonstrated his desire to run at least one more race at Gibson, leading four runners with times under 16 minutes to the podium in the boys race. Center Grove caught up to Brebeuf for the team championship.
Northview's Jcim Grant and North's Dylan Zeck were the only Valley boys to reach the top 20.
"It's not what I wanted," said Zeck of his 20th-place finish, "but I'm getting over some allergies . . . with some hard work, I think [our team] could be pretty good."
Northview's boys, 12th in the state last fall, had a 16th-place finish, while the North boys were 23rd and the South boys 24th among 37 full teams.
"We've got to work on mental toughness," said coach James Grounds of the Northview boys, who are learning to compete without two of their top three runners from that 2021 team. "Our fitness is where it should be."
"Dylan Zeck has been sick all week," said coach Aaron Gadberry of the North boys. "We have a lot of young freshmen who will be really good . . . we're pretty excited about getting better, and getting Dylan healthy."
"For the month of August, you couldn't ask for a better morning," said coach Josh Lee of the South boys. "The course is in great shape and there was a lot of good competition.
"We're 11 days into the season, and you need 10 practices," Josh Lee added, "so I was missing my No. 1 [runner]." That runner is Ethan Aidoo, who had to miss some of the early practices because he was competing in the USATF national meet, placing sixth in the 1,500-meter run.
West Vigo didn't score in either meet. The Vikings have just five runners on each of their teams so far, and one girl and one boy were unavailable.
