The Switzerland County Pacer girls and boys cross country teams both advanced to this Saturday’s Bedford North Lawrence Regional after impressive performances in Tuesday night’s Hanover Sectional.
The Lady Pacers had an outstanding night, placing four runners in the Top 15 and placing second overall as a team. The top 15 individual runners earn “All Sectional” honors.
Madison won the Sectional with a team score of 32; followed by Switzerland County with 71; Jeffersonville with 99; Jennings County with 100; and Scottsburg with 101. The top five teams advance to the Regional.
Henryville was sixth with 106 points; followed by New Washington with 179 and Austin with 186. Silver Creek, Southwestern, Madison Shawe, and Charlestown all participated but did not have enough runners to record a team score.
Switzerland County was led by junior Bre Hinman, who finished third overall with a time of 20:15. The Lady Pacers then solidified their Regional trip with an outstanding “pack” effort.
Freshman Robin Furnish led the way, turning in an outstanding effort to finish 11th overall in a time of 21:55. Paige Ridener was right behind in 13th place in a time of 22:10; and Allie Mathews earned her All Sectional honor by finishing 15th overall in a time of 22:17.
Taryn Parr finished 41st overall with a time of 25:29; and Halie Thomas was 49th overall in a time of 26:51.
The boys race proved to provide much more drama for the Pacers, as Switzerland County finished fourth overall because freshman Mikhail Cole, the seventh runner for the Pacers, finished higher than Jeffersonville’s seventh runner did in the overall race. That finish broke the tie between the two schools, allowing Switzerland County to finish fourth overall with 103 points, while Jeffersonville finished fifth.
Jennings County won the Sectional with a score of 49; followed by Austin with 94; and Madison with 100. All five teams advanced to the Regional meet.
Unlike the girls race, Pacer fans were a little nervous while the final results were tallied, because the entire meet was closely contested.
Silver Creek was sixth with 105 points; Scottsburg had 132; Southwestern had 202; and Madison Shawe had 272. Henryville, Charlestown and New Washington did not have enough runners for a team score.
For the Pacers, freshman Braden Burk led the squad with a 10th place finish to earn All Sectional honors. He covered the course in a time of 17:45.
Junior Anthony Dennis barely missed out on All Sectional honors, battling his way to a 17th place finish in a time of 18:19; while Michael Douglas was 25th in a time of 18:56; and Quinn Meyer was just behind in 26th place in a time of 19:00.
Sean Oatman was 30th in a time of 19:14; Dakota Taylor was 35th in a time of 19:46; and Mikhail Cole was 43rd in a time of 20:35.