NTSPY GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY FINALIST: Kaitlyn Stewart

Josh Cook, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·2 min read

Jun. 23—Floyd Central freshman Kaitlyn Stewart made a big splash in her first season with the Highlanders.

She started it off by taking third, behind teammates Jaydon Cirincione and Savanna Liddle, in the Titan Invitational at Gibson Southern.

"I went into the season not really knowing what to expect out of my times since I had never run high school cross country," she said. "I really wanted to break 20 (minutes), but my first meet I ended up breaking 20, so I ended up having to change my goals. Then I ended up just improving throughout the season thanks to Jeff (Liddle)'s coaching."

Stewart followed up her fast debut with an 11th-place finish in the Class AA race at Columbus North's Rick Weinheimer Classic. Later, she placed 27th in the elite race at Brown County's Eagle Classic, 17th in the Valkyrie Invitational and took 10th in Bedford North Lawrence's Ted Fox Invitational before finishing fourth in the Hoosier Hills Conference meet.

In the postseason, Stewart took third at the Crawford County Sectional, sixth in the Crawford County Regional and 15th in the Brown County Semistate.

"At Crawford County we ended up pack-running, so that was fun. We also pack-ran at conference," she said. "So we all started together and then toward the middle of the race we would just start going with all that we had. That was something new and that was fun."

Then at the IHSAA State Finals, Stewart placed 39th — second on the team.

"I don't know what happened that race, but I just felt really good so I decided to just go for it and I ended up placing way better than I thought I would," she said.

That finish leaves Stewart, who'll be running for Floyd's track & field team this spring, excited for her sophomore season.

"Next year I definitely want to get All-State for cross and then I also want to break 19," she said.