West Lafayette and Seeger runners standout at Cross Country Sectionals
West Lafayette junior Ryan Miloudi and Seeger senior Hadessah Austin left zero doubt on who the top boys and girls cross country runners were in the Greater Lafayette area on Saturday morning.
Miloudi and Austin jumped to early leads and never receded their gaps to win the boys and girls IHSAA Cross Country Sectional Championship at Tippecanoe County Amphitheater Park.
Miloudi won in 16 minutes and 19.2 seconds, and Austin won in 18:20.
Harrison won the boys (48 points) and girls (26 points) IHSAA Cross Country Sectional Championship team titles. Lafayette Jeff (53 points) finished second, and West Lafayette (63 points) finished third in the boys team rankings. Seeger (51 points) finished second, and West Lafayette (60 points) finished third in the girls team rankings.
Saturday's races included 139 boys and girls runners from West Lafayette, Harrison, Lafayette Jeff, Seeger, McCutcheon, Central Catholic, Crawfordsville, Delphi, Southmont, North Montgomery, Faith Christian and Attica.
Here's how Miloudi and Austin navigated their 3.1-mile race to become this season's individual sectional champions along with the top 10 boys and girls performers.
Miloudi pushes strong after injury
West Lafayette junior Ryan Miloudi wasn't sure whether his season would turn out successful after overtraining in April.
Miloudi dealt with a pelvic injury after leaning too heavily on his right side while performing his long-distance runs.
"I really toughed it out, and everyone on (my team) kept supporting and guiding me," Miloudi said. "I didn't push it too early. More rest is really important."
The injury eventually healed, and Miloudi ran a consistent race against 86 male runners.
"I was just trying to make the best of what we had left from the team," Miloudi said. "We were really tired going into this race. So we just wanted to make the best of this race and have fun."
Miloudi said the quantity of runners Saturday helped motivated him to perform.
"There was a lot of people cheering me on and encouraging me," Miloudi said.
Top 10 boys runners
Ryan Miloudi, West Lafayette, junior, 16:11.
Gio Hayes, Lafayette Jeff, senior, 16:25.
Ryan Miller, Crawfordsville, senior, 16:33.
Ian Lah, Harrison, junior, 16:33.
Jaiden Goins, Harrison, senior, 16:36.
Elias Rodriguez, Lafayette Jeff, junior, 16:36.
Ethan Guminski, Seeger, senior, 16:41.
Remy Farrell, Lafayette Jeff, freshman, 16:42.
Evan Lottes, Harrison, sophomore, 16:46.
Nathan Odie, Seeger, junior, 16:50.
Austin leaves little doubt at sectionals
Hadessah Austin wasn't used to running alone.
Not because she wasn't competing against anyone but that her fellow runners were several lengths behind. Austin stormed the IHSAA Cross Country Sectional after a downpour last night and unsure of the course.
She won her race in 38 seconds
"We weren't sure about what the course conditions were because we hadn't raced here in a couple of weeks," Austin said. "We made sure we got here early and put our spikes on. We were just ready to run in whatever the conditions were."
Top 10 girls runners
Hadessah Austin, Seeger, senior, 18:20
Kaitlyn Manfra, Harrison, sophomore, 18:58.
Sawyer DeWitt, Harrison, junior, 19:21.
Rubi Rider, Harrison, junior, 19:26.
Henny Schminke, West Lafayette, senior, 19:29.
Caleigh Purcell, Seeger, sophomore, 20:16.
Charlotte Simpson, West Lafayette, sophomore, 20:28.
Gabriell Converse, Harrison, freshman, 20:36.
Isabella Burgess, Harrison, freshman, 20:38.
Adara Austin, Seeger, junior, 20:45.
Ethan Hanson started working for the Journal & Courier in West Lafayette, Indiana after four years at the Record Searchlight in Redding, CA. He previously freelanced with the Los Angeles Daily News for four years. He worked the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament in South Bend, Indiana, and wrote about the St. Louis Rams' move to Los Angeles with the Ventura County Star. He began his career as a play-by-play broadcaster for LA Pierce College from 2011-2017 and was the play-by-play broadcaster for the Redding Colt 45s from 2022-2023. Follow him on Twitter at @EthanAHanson and ethan_a_hanson on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: West Lafayette and Seeger runners win cross country sectionals
