Cross country season ends for Wayne County at Shelbyville Regional

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. — The Wayne County cross country season came to an end this past Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Shelbyville Regional, with every school represented in some fashion but with none qualifying to the state finals in Terre Haute.

This season was the first of a new format by the IHSAA, who ditched the semi-states in favor of adding a fifth regional, prompting several powerhouse schools to be added to the equation.

Despite the additions, Richmond's boys had a strong performance, finishing right in the middle of the 25 schools with a 354-point, 12th place finish.

Senior Alex Orihuela, who won the Connersville Sectional a week prior with a career best postseason time, topped it by six seconds with a time of 16:36.2 finish to place 39th, the overall best placement from any Wayne County runner, boy or girl.

Junior teammate Xavier Ogle was next for the Red Devils in a time of 17:07.2, followed by senior Ethan Miller in 91st (17:24).

Behind them was junior Greyson Farmer, who finished runner-up to Orihuela at sectionals. He was 106th at 17:33.5.

Freshman Cale Newton was 126th at 17:44.1, rounded out by sophomore Julian Bowden in 211th (19:10.9) and freshman Bryce Cordova in 217th (19:16.9).

Northeastern boys 21st as team, Hagerstown 22nd

The other two Wayne County teams, Northeastern and Hagerstown finished further down the leaderboard but were side by side when all was said and done.

Finishing with 550 points, the Knights were paced by senior Logan Smith in 63rd at 16:53.2, with sophomore Lucas Chamness (17:38.9) and senior Nolan Drake (17:39.8) behind him in 117th and 119th. Senior Bryston McFarland was next at 207th (19:06.5), followed by sophomore Nicolas Markward in 234th (20:33.9), junior Dalton Justice in 237th (20:41.5) and sophomore Brandt Benjamin in 240th (20:51.3).

For the Tigers, who had 586 points, they were led by senior Kaden Young in 47th (16:43.8) and sophomore Bryce Tinkle in 125th (17:44.0). Freshman Jackson Boyce was 203rd in 18:55.1, followed by sophomore Kendrick Herr in 216th (19:15.5), sophomore Braydon Sanders in 222nd (19:28.7), junior Max Cabrera in 224th (19:32.9) and junior Brock Creech in 232nd (20:12.1).

Individuals running were Centerville's trio of senior Kyle Sheard (79th in 17:08.7), freshman Clay Johnson (177th in 18:29) and junior Levi Morgan (229th in 19:53.3) and Lincoln senior Brody Puckett (194th in 18:46).

Fishers won the team championship with 85 points, ahead of Hamilton Southeastern's 89, Noblesville's 104, Center Grove's 119 and Franklin Central's (146).

Centerville girls lead area in 18th, Richmond places 20th

In the girls race, Centerville and Richmond were the only two area schools who qualified their full teams, with the Bulldogs avenging their defeat to the Red Devils from the previous week at sectionals.

Centerville was 18th with 527 points and were paced by senior Kendra Shipman, the top finisher in the area at 58th (20:31.4). Next for the Bulldogs was freshman Anna Nevels, finishing 119th at 21:39.9. The rest of the pack were further behind with seniors Delaney Foster (23:28.7) and Julie Carter (23:30) in 181st and 184th, junior Lily Black (23:30.4) in 186th and freshman Evie Morgan (25:49.5) in 225th.

The Red Devils were 40 points behind Centerville in 20th with 567, who were led by juniors Keena Barker (21:22.6) and Katy Peacock (22:12.9) in 97th and 144th. Not too far behind in 153rd and 201st were seniors Elizabeth Graham (22:24.3) and Allison Stout (23:57.7), while junior Olivia Bailey (24:05.9) and freshman Lena Allen (25:00.1) were 205th and 218th.

The team title went to Noblesville with 76 points, ahead of Hamilton Southeastern (94), Franklin Central (115), Westfield (154) and Guerin Catholic (165). Connersville sectional champion East Central was 7th with 201 points, behind Center Grove's 198.

Seton Catholic, Northeastern and Hagerstown individuals finish strong

Seton Catholic's two representatives, junior Gwynie Falcone (21:12.3) and freshman Sara Swinney (22:58.2) finished 87th and 165th respectively, with Falcone shaving 26 seconds off her sectional time.

Northeastern junior Heather Crull placed 110th in 21:31.8 while sophomore teammate Madelyn Green was 208th in 24:11.7.

Hagerstown senior Logan Klein was 193rd in 23:38.6, with sophomore teammate Avery Blunk less than a second behind (23:39.3).

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Cross country Shelbyville Regional