Bloomington-area girls high school cross country runners to watch this fall

A new postseason route and some changes to the schedule greet the new girls' cross country season.

This weekend brought a trip to the Angel Mounds Course in Evansville for several Bloomington area squads as that's where they will end up for regional for the first time. The postseason is just three races long now, and qualifying for the next level now means bringing a top-five team or a top-15 individual not on one of those squads.

Edgewood has been pulled out of the Bedford Sectional and will now run at Brown County while Linton and White River Valley will now run at Bedford. Owen Valley will still compete at Terre Haute but the big change there is that those qualifiers will head to a regional at Brownsburg, a site where seven of the top 25 teams in the state could end up.

Complete sectional assignments are listed at IHSAA.org

Here's a look at the top runners for each of our area programs as the new season picks up steam:

More: Bloomington-area boys' cross country runners to watch this season

Bloomington South

COACH: Jill Rensink. VARSITY RETURNERS: Aurelia Martoglio, So.; Jasmine Martoglio, So.; Tamara Kun, Sr.; Clara Graham, Sr.; Julianne Hoover, So.;

OUTLOOK: The Panthers graduated one of the state's best but the returning group (South was 16th at state last year), powered by underclassmen, could well form one of the best teams in this half of the state. "Every time I got to a meet, someone asks if we're going to miss Lily (Myers)," Rensink said. "We will but she left such an imprint on the team. Jasmine and Aurelia have stepped right up to continue to great habits and the work ethic we had last year." South will be led by the sophomore Martoglio twins, and a pair of seniors in Kun and Graham. Kun, whose family recently moved to Bloomington from Hungary, went back to Europe to compete in triathlons this summer. Graham had a breakout race at state last year so the hope is to build on that. Add to the mix two of the state's top freshmen in Lexi Kollbaum and Mary Asplund. "(Lexi's) doing really well, making that transition," Rensink said. "She looked great in middle school so I'm excited to see her make those little steps up. And Mary has been in our top four the past couple of weeks so she's running really well." Returning seniors Kate Barada and juniors Grace Stringer and Liz Merkley give South a strong group well past the seventh runner. Hoover is working back from an injury suffered during track season. "We have three good training groups," Rensink said. "They're pushing each other and fighting for the top spots. It's nice to have that depth so we can rest people when they need it. You probably won't see our full lineup until the conference meet."

Bloomington North

COACH: Justin Helmer. VARSITY RETURNERS: Nola Somers Glenn, Sr.; Ruth Bartlett, Jr.; Ellie Patrick, Jr.; Lilah Reed, Jr.; Hayden McGuire, So.

OUTLOOK: The Cougars went through some rebuilding pains last year and saw it's run of trips to state end. Their aim is to change that this year but there's still plenty of work to do to make top five at the regional level. "That's definitely some motivation," Helmer said. "Last year didn't go how we would have liked it to have gone. Missing state was certainly disappointing, so the hope is, we've done some good summer training that has put us in a good spot. Keeping the top runners healthy will be key. Somers Glenn is back to lead the way after an off-year as a junior. She had a strong run to a state medal in the 800 and a PR in 1,600 in track. "She showed overall, she's a better runner so I hope that confidence carries over and she understands she can run a fast 5,000 meters," Helmer said. Patrick ran cross country last year for the first time and did well, but a knee issue still lingers and an MRI will reveal her status. "She's someone that we need," Helmer said. "We don't have a whole lot of depth and experience outside of the returners that we have." Also back are Bartlett, McGuire and Reed from the top seven. Reed's knee has also limited her training after resting it this summer. Newcomers include freshman Lila Childers, sister of former Cougar boys standout Mason (now at Dartmouth), junior Hope Cooper, now injury free, freshman Evie Peterson and Hanna Teagan, who is one of just three seniors.

Edgewood

COACH: Zach Evans. VARSITY RETURNERS: Hannah Crain, So.; Ellie Vagedas, So.; Riley Haskett, Sr.; Alli Bland, So.; Nayeli Young, So.; Ryleigh Burnett, So.

OUTLOOK: Five of the six runners are back from last year's squad that placed seventh at semistate and aims to take that next step this time around. Having a bigger group of runners, all at a higher level, should help greatly with that goal. Evans is already seeing great improvements when comparing times to this game time last year. A Crain will continue to lead the way as Hannah, coming off a strong track season and her first run at the state cross country meet, will be one of the area's best this fall. Vagedas and Haskett have been Edgewood's 2-3 runners early on and from there the pack is going back and forth with Bland, Burnett, Young and Barnett. Freshman Nerissa Zelhoff-Arreiega is also right there with them. "That's depth we didn't have last year," Evans said. "So if someone has an off-day with a deeper field, it allows for a margin of error, which we've never really had. So that's good to see."

Lighthouse Christian

COACH: David Schaaf. VARSITY RETURNER: Faith Rasmusen, Sr.

OUTLOOK: Just two runners dot the roster with freshman Taylor Helbert, and Rasmusen also splitting time with volleyball with Zoe Crites, a regional qualifier, transferring to Eastern Greene.

Eastern Greene

COACH: Bill Valentine. VARSITY RETURNERS: Lilyanna Blais, Jr.; Esther Crane, So.

OUTLOOK: Just two runners are back from a team that was a SWIAC title and just missed qualifying for semistate last year, but they are two of the best runners in the area in Blais and Crane, who are both members of the T-Birds' new co-ed soccer team as well. Both earned spots at semistate where they finished in the top 30. Senior Zoe Crites, who made it to regional with Lighthouse Christian last year, joins them. The rest of the small lineup is young with four newcomers in sophomore Kena Maddox and freshmen Caroline Roberts, Mady Shimkus and Andrea Williams.

Owen Valley

COACH: Corbin Wrightsman. VARSITY RETURNERS: Lily Smith, Sr.; Madison Whicker, Jr.; Mallory Owen, So.; Allison Anderson.

OUTLOOK: Smith was last year's lead runner for a regional qualifying squad and she'll hold that role again for a team that will lean hard on its top four while the freshmen adjust to the 5K distance. Owen and Anderson head the group behind Smith, with first-year runners Isabell Sylvester, who was OV's No. 4 runner in the season opener, Abigail Hunsicker and Luna Bobbett rounding out the lineup.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Here are the Bloomington girls' cross country runners to watch in 2023