County runners end season at Shelbyville Semi-State

SHELBYVILLE – The 2021 cross country season came to a close for three Putnam County runners Saturday morning at the IHSAA Cross Country Shelbyville Semi-State held at Blue River Park.

Greencastle’s Charlie Menzel finished 83rd overall in the boys’ race, crossing in a time of 16:58.8 while South Putnam’s Dunkin York finished in 128th place in 17:40.4.

Cloverdale’s Ella Szczerbik finished 118th overall in the girls’ race, finishing with a time of 21:06.7.

The highly-competitive field at Shelbyville featured half of the top-10 teams in the state in both races according to the final IATCCC poll.

Brebeuf Jesuit won the boys’ semistate title over Center Grove 60-77 with Carmel, Zionsville, Noblesville and Franklin Central qualifying for the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals Saturday.

Carmel won the girls’ semistate on 46 points, a comfortable 32 points ahead of second-place Noblesville while Franklin Central, Westfield, North Central (Ind.) and Avon qualified for the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals.

Carmel’s Kole Mathison won the boys’ race in 15:15.8 with teammate Charlie Schuman second in 15:18.8. Ind. Bishop Chatard’s Lily Cridge won the girls’ race in 17:04.6.