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County Cross country teams run in Clay City
CRAWSFORDSVILLE--South Putnam and Cloverdale's cross country squads made the trek to Clay County as both competed in the Clay City Invitational Thursday afternoon.
South Putnam's girls' finished second behind Shakamak with an understrength squad against a field featuring the Clovers, Eels, Edgewood, Eminence, Linton, Owen Valley and White River Valley.
Kieffer Vittetow won the boys' race to pull the Eagles into a fourth place finish while Cloverdale came in seventh overall.
Ariel Higgins finished fifth for the Eagles, followed by Julianna DeLano in eighth, Alex Fanning in 11th, Ally Nichols in 17th, Rachel Jones in 24th and Addi Blaydes in 27th.
South Putnam head coach Brandon Welti said the squad on the course performed well.
"We have three big meets pretty close together so we had some of the girls sit out to rest some legs," Welti said. "Considering we ran with part of our team and finished second, we're definitely pleased with that.
"Ariel did well and finished with a time that was faster than she expected. We had strong finishes all around from all the girls today."
Tori Szalay powered into seventh place for Cloverdale, followed by Clare Plamondon in 19th, Laura Worthington in 22nd, and Izzy Monnett in 32nd. The Clovers did not record a team score in the event.
Cloverdale head coach Andrew Tyler said the four girls that raced made big gains out on the Clay City course.
"The girls looked good today," Tyler said. "We're getting huge strides out of Izzy Monnett, who took over a minute off her time and we're stoked about that.
"Tory Szalay and Clare Plamondon ran very well while Laura Worthington ran a PR today so we're really excited about the girls' performance."
Vittetow beat out Linton's Janzen Franklin for the win in 17:06, followed by Berdnt Freeman in 10th place, Logan Vandermark in 19th, Micahel Crossman in 23rd, Tyler Vandermark in 32nd and Colten Bunten and Cody Evans in 34th and 35th place.
Welti said the squad wanted to be in a better team position but was still racing at a good level.
"With Kieffer, we thought top-three was going to be a pretty good day," Welti said. "We weren't expecting him to come up with a win and that time so we're happy and impressed with that.
"Individually, each guy had good races. Although we aren't where we want to be in the team standings, they're still racing well and we see places to improve in the future."
Nick Blundell paced the Clovers by placing 25th, followed by Chad Stevens in 37th, R.T. Mann in 43rd, Nolan Maners in 47th, Eddie Mannan in 52nd and Andrew Monnett in 53rd.
Tyler said that the squad was building themselves back into shape and was getting more competitive with each race.
"Nolan Maners ran really well today," Tyler said. "We're getting Nick Blundell back into shape after he had to take some time off.
"We're looking for guys to step up and compete, looking to take on the guy in front of them. They're running hard and that's what we're looking for right now."
Cloverdale heads to the Jon Mitchell Invitational at Cascade Saturday and while sectional competition will be present, Tyler was looking for times to continue to drop rather than placement at the event.
"We're mainly looking for improved times," Tyler said. "We want to see the times keep moving lower and lower."
South Putnam, meanwhile, heads to Indianapolis and the Ben Davis Invitational, a race that Welti said would get the squad's attention.
"There's a lot of reasons to go to Ben Davis," Welti said. "We want to experience the regional course so that if we qualify for the regional, we're familiar with the course itself.
"Along with that, we want to see that competition level and it would be good for all of them to be in a fast, uncomfortable race. It will be a shock to their system and against great competition, it will be a benefit to them."
At Clay City
Clay City Invitational
Girls' Results
Shakamak 43, South Putnam 59, Owen Valley 60, Edgewood 77, Linton 130, Clay City 134, White River Valley 159, Cloverdale INC
1. Bredeweg (SH) 20:49; 2. Hakkila (SH) 22:05; 3. Sears (E) 22:06; 4. Hey (OV) 22:10; 5. Higgins (SP) 22:35; 6. Sweet (SH) 22:39; 7. Szalay (CL) 23:30; 8. DeLano (SP) 23:31; 9. Hornick (E) 22:32; 10. Kiefer (OV) 23:34; 11. Fanning (SP) 23:36; 12. Gould (SH) 23:48; 13. Coffin (OV) 23:50; 14. Reach (CC) 23:55; 15. Phillips (E) 23:58; 16. Day (OV) 23:59; 17. Nichols (SP) 24:02; 18. Mann (CC) 24:21; 19. Plamondon (CL) 24:29; 20. Litten (E) 24:34; 21. Camdon (L) 24:35; 22. Worthington (CL) 24:53; 23. Padgett (WRV) 24:58; 24. R. Jones (SP) 24:58; 25. Mossburger (L) 26:02; 26. Scott (SH) 26:11; 27. Blaydes (SP) 26:17; 28. Gainey (L) 26:24; 29. Green (WRV) 26:29; 30. Doyle (L) 26:35; 31. Wininger (WRV) 26:38; 32. Monnett (CL) 26:56; 33. Fields (WRV) 27:49; 34. Nolting (SH) 28:03; 35. Duckwall (CC) 28:53; 36. DeFord (OV) 29:08; 37. Fischer (CC) 29:38; 38. Werner (E) 30:36; 39. Pearson (WRV) 30:44; 40. Michalow (OV) 30:51; 41. King (L) 31:03; 42. Dowell (SH) 31:21; 43. Spinks (L) 32:04; 44. Wertz (CC) 32:55; 45. Pierce (WRV) 33:36; 46. Cox (L) 36:30
Boys' Results
Edgewood 49, Shakamak 61, Clay City 70, South Putnam 78, White River Valley 117, Linton 159, Cloverdale 180, Eminence INC, Owen Valley INC
1. Vittetow (SP) 17:06; 2. Franklin (L) 17:16; 3. Reynolds (SH) 17:17; 4. Creech (SH) 17:26; 5. Ames (CC) 17:30; 6. Phillips (E) 17:43. 7. Weller (E) 17:46; 8. Davis (WRV) 17:49; 9. Gossett (E) 17:53; 10. Freeman (SP) 18:08; 11. Michael (E) 18:28; 12. Padgett (SH) 18:37; 13. Thomas (CC) 18:45; 14. Wolfe (CC) 18:51; 15. Fry (CC) 18:56; 16. Bower (E) 19:11; 17. Staley (OV) 19:12; 18. Moorman (SH) 19:19; 19. L. Vandermark (SP) 19:21; 20. H. Cornelius (WRV) 19:22; 21. B. Cornelius (WRV) 19:23; 22. Kovach (E) 19:24; 23. Crossman (SP) 19:27; 24. Rogers (CC) 19:34; 25. Blundell (CL) 19:39; 26. May (SH) 19:40; 27. Mehringer (EM) 19:42; 28. Erb (OV) 19:43; 29. Herrington (OV) 19:45; 30. Newby (EM) 19:46; 31. Fischer (CC) 19:51; 32. T. Vandermark (SP) 19:54; 33. Strauch (CC) 19:56; 34. Buntern (SP) 20:00; 35. Evans (SP) 20:01; 36. Driscol (WRV) 20:02; 37. Stevens (CL) 20:05; 38. Parola (L) 20:07; 39. Landry (SH) 20:08; 40. Hardey (E) 20:09; 41. Heath (L) 20:13; 42. Messmer (SH) 20:23; 43. Mann (CL) 20:30; 44. Sparks (WRV) 20:34; 45. Lewellyn (L) 21:20; 46. Stahl (WRV) 21:22; 47. Manners (CL) 21:56; 48. Provo (WRV) 22:13; 49. Lester (EM) 22:40; 50. Gardner (OV) 22:42; 51. Glidden (EM) 23:17; 52. Mannan (CL) 23:24; 53. Monnett (CL) 23:26; 54. Moore (L) 28:37
Next Meet: Cloverdale will compete in the Jon Mitchell Invitational at Cascade and South Putnam will compete in the Ben Davis Invitational Saturday.