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GMS runners have strong showing at state meet
CARMEL -- The Greencastle Middle School cross country teams competed at the state meet, with both teams having strong showings. The girls finished 16th, while the boys placed sixth overall.
For the girls, Hannah Brattain led the way with a time of 11:49.2 to finish 11th overall out of 203 runners. Libby Brush was 46th with a time of 12:22, with Sammy Haynes finishing 128th in a time of 13:30.5. Corrie Romer was 139th with a time of 13:42.2.
Head coach Art Dwigans said Brattain ran a great race and acknowledged the toughness of his third finisher as she fought through an injury.
"Corrie has a hip flexor injury we have been treating for over a week now," Dwigans said. "She truly is one of my toughest runners to run through that rain and pain to post a time like that."
Lily Spencer placed 163rd in a time of 14:08.4, with Bailey Laussee finishing close behind with a time of 14:09.3. Dwigans said the two girls posted their fastest times of the year. Whitney Weinschenk posted a time of 15:33.1.
"Being a sixth grader, I think Whitney was a little intimidated by this field of runners, but will use this as a learning and confidence building race," Dwigans said.
In the boys' race, Elijah Brattain placed eighth overall with a time of 10:27.9. Taylor Secrest finished 37th overall with a time of 11:03.9, while Sedrick Weinschenk was 42nd in 11:08.6. Jacob Lewis was 46th in a time of 11:09.8.
"Elijah ran a very solid race, staying in contact with the top 10 the entire race," Dwigans said.
Levi Lewis was 157th with a time of 12:24.2, with Nathan Grzeseik finishing 1.7 seconds behind. Jacob Dwigans rounded out the team's finishers with a time of 13:03.2.
"The boys finishing sixth in the state as a team is something I'm confident no other Greencastle cross country team has ever achieved," Dwigans said. "They raced from the start of the race all the way to the finish line knowing every place was important. All but one of our boys posted their fastest time of the year. This is something as a coach that expresses just how hard they raced.
"To have our top four runners within 42 seconds of each other was huge. I have stressed all year about pack racing and the boys came through in the biggest race of the year," he added.
In junior varsity action, Clayton Wilson was 125th with a time of 13:16.9, with Ichiro Mozawa finishing 129th in a time of 13:18. Mitchell Johnson was 165th in a time of 13:41.5 and Cameron Lewis finished with a time of 13:51.2.
Dwigans said he's proud with all the kids who have ran this season and they did a wonderful job representing the school system and the community at Saturday's state meet. Now the team will turn its focus on this Saturday's conference meet at South Putnam.
"We still have... the conference meet to run on Saturday, to finish up what we feel as a team both boys and girls has been a very successful season, and perhaps even more important a fun season," Dwigans said.