Greencastle's Emma Wilson wins regional title; South Putnam boys place fourth

Emma Wilson

INDIANAPOLIS – Greencastle’s Emma Wilson was the individual girls’ champion and the South Putnam boys’ team placed fourth to highlight Putnam County participants in the Ben Davis regional cross country meet on Saturday.

Wilson turned in a time of 18:09.1 to edge runnerup Sophia Rigg of Zionsville by 4.48 seconds to win her first-ever regional title. Last fall, Wilson placed second to Avon’s Taylor Nicholson in 18:03 and was 17 seconds off the winning pace.

Zionsville’s Angelina Ellis was third in 18:29.38 while Nicholson placed fourth in 18:38.16.

Zionsville easily won the team competition, defeating second-place Brownsburg by 49 points.

Greencastle placed sixth in the team competition, finishing just three places away from a qualifying position.

Shelby Kallem, the only senior running for the Tiger Cubs in the regional, will also be advancing to the Shelbyville semistate on Saturday after finishing 27th overall and seventh among runners from non-advancing teams. Cloverdale’s Chelsie Edwards was the eighth-fastest runner from a non-advancing team and also qualified for the semistate, while Maddie McHugh of South Putnam was ninth and earned one of the final two at-large spots.

In the boys’ meet, South Putnam got a seventh-place finish from Kieffer Vittetow and edged Brownsburg by one point to earn advancement as a team. Logan Vandermark placed 17th in 16:37.92 to run second for the Eagles, while the other three scoring runners (Dru Bottorff, Michael Crossman and Karl Egold) all ranged from 37-46 to provide depth and an advancing team score.

Greencastle’s Clayton Wilson (fourth) and Cameron Lewis (seventh) will also be competing in the semistate as individuals.

Avon won the team competition with 41 points, defeating runnerup Zionsville by 15 points.

Girls’ race

Team scores (top five advance) – Zionsville 36, Brownsburg 85, Avon 86, Pike 114, Plainfield 140, Greencastle 143, Indianapolis Ritter 149, Ben Davis 228, Cascade 233

Top 10 overall – 1. Emma Wilson (Greencastle) 18:09.91, 2. Sophia Rigg (Zionsville) 18:13.49, 3. Angelina Ellis (Zionsville) 18:29.38, 4. Taylor Nicholson (Avon) 18:38.6, 5. Mary Ann Wehrle (Indianapolis Ritter) 18:44.39, 6. Allison Lampert (Pike) 18:45.06, 7. Kathryn Bernicke (Avon) 18:55.00, 8. Margaret Allen (Zionsville) 19:00.57, 9. Lauren Rinehart (Brownsburg) 19:08.53, 10. Annie Pappas (Zionsville) 19:11.96

Top 10 from non-advancing teams – 1. Emma Wilson (Greencastle) 18:09.91, 2. Mary Ann Wehrle (Indianapolis Ritter) 18:44.39, 3. Kendall Blade (Indianapolis Ritter) 19:14.33, 4. Courtney Merrill (Speedway) 19:43.24, 5. Mariah Judy (Ben Davis) 20:00.50, 6. Mariah Wehrle (Indianapolis Ritter) 20:01.96, 7. Shelby Kallem (Greencastle) 20:17.36, 8. Chelsie Edwards (Cloverdale) 20:24.92, 9. Maddie McHugh (South Putnam) 20:35.94, 10. Molly Clark (Danville) 20:37.05

Other Greencastle runners – 35. Sydney Kallem 21:8.96, 37. Seelye Stoffregen 21:15.15, 43. Ariana Pershing 21:34.09, 46. Mika Mozawa 21:58.16, 49. Sydney Lewis 22:29.69

Other South Putnam runners (overall placings unavailable) – Samara Young 21:34.79, Ally Nichols 22:11.62

Boys’ race

Team scores (top five advance) – Avon 41, Zionsville 56, Danville 136, South Putnam 147, Brownsburg 148, Pike 155, Greencastle 167, Ben Davis 181, Speedway 199, Indianapolis Ritter 211

Top 10 overall – 1. Daniel Gerber (Danville) 15:44.28, 2. Rhys Grealish (Avon) 15:46.49, 3. Evan Tate Browning (Zionsville) 15:49.32, 4. Jacob Woodrow (Avon) 16:02.31, 5. Eric Barron (Pike) 16:03.09, 6. Jackson Martin (Zionsville) 16:03.59), 7. Kieffer Vittetow (South Putnam) 16:04.72, 8. 8. Madison King (Avon) 16:05.10, 9. Sam Corner (Danville) 16:06.75, 10. Jonas Chimbada (Pike) 16:07.43

Top 10 from non-advancing teams – 1. Eric Barron (Pike) 16:03.09, 2. Jonas Chimbada (Pike) 16:07.43, 3. Austin Scott (Decatur Central) 16:11.82, 4. Clayton Wilson (Greencastle) 16:41.74, 5. Antonio Vargas (Ben Davis) 16:49.79, 6. Connor Schepers (Indianapolis Ritter) 16:52.82, 7. Cameron Lewis (Greencastle) 16:56.43, 8. Sean Johnson (Cascade) 17:00.98, 9. Jack Payne-Martin (International) 17:02.09, 10. Nick Strader (Speedway) 17:06.82

Other Greencastle runners – 31. Braden Pershing 17:15.74, 39. Ben Gellman 17:35.69, 54. Matthew Headley (Greencastle) 18:12.29, 61. Justin Berish 18:34.18, 63. Jacob Crawley 18:50.59

Other South Putnam runners – 17. Logan Vandermark 16:04.72, 37. Dru Bottorff 17:33.01, 40. Michael Crossman 17:35.87, 46. Karl Egold 1:46.13, 66. Adair Bock 19:19.36