Photo finish leads Riehle to sectional crown
Milan Athletics
Milan’s Gabe Riehle (left) inches out Madison’s Sam Crouch (right) in a photo finish to determine Saturday’s IHSAA Cross Country Sectional individual champion. Riehle took the win at Hanover College and led the Indians to a team regional bid.
Milan senior Gabe Riehle has racked up so many accomplishments in his high school career that it would be justified that he sticks out his chest a little more than others. On Saturday, he literally had to in order to garner one more accolade as a final push and photo finish lifted Riehle to the IHSAA Boys Cross Country title at Hanover College.
Riehle’s championship run also helped pace Milan to a top five finish and automatic bid to the regional.
What a run it was between Riehle and Madison sophomore Sam Crouch who both posted times of 16:22.20 but it was Riehle sticking out just a little bit more as the camera captured the inched out Milan star. Following a classic between that duo, Indian senior Lucas Cooney crossed the finish line in third place at 16:53.
Milan finished with 124 points. Madison won the team title with 34 points and Austin was runner-up with 66 points. Other regional qualifiers were Charlestown and Crothersville.
The Indians roster wise were rounded out by Tyler Myers in 39th at 19:32, Seth Thomas 61st in 21:35 and Lennox Hazeltine at 69th in 25:50.
Milan’s girls along with both teams from South Ripley and Jac-Cen-Del did not field enough runners for complete scoring squads but did manage to churn out three individual regional qualifiers.
Hannah Cooney of Milan finished 21st out of 66 runners in the girls race and qualified in a time of 22:45 while teammate Elly Potts advanced after a 30th place finish and time of 24:22. Also moving on to the regional is South Ripley junior Carter Yelton who was 36th in 19:23.
Regional qualifiers head to Blue River Park in Shelbyville this Saturday for the IHSAA Cross Country Regional. The top five qualifying teams and the top 15 individuals from non-qualifying teams will punch tickets to the state finals.
