Wade runs to first state finals

Anytime a state finals appearance is earned in Southeastern Indiana it is quite the feat. When a freshman does it on her first try, it’s a rather impressive feat. Ava Wade is that impressive and the Batesville freshman earned her spot in the biggest cross country meet of the season after finishing fifth overall at the IHSAA Cross Country Regional on Saturday.

Blue River Park in Shelbyville hosted the regional which featured both Batesville teams, the Milan boys cross country team and individual runners from Oldenburg, South Ripley and Milan’s girls team.

Wade, a conference and sectional champion already, was fifth out of 243 total runners and earned an individual state finals bid as one of the Top 15 runners from non-qualifying schools. Her time of 18:19 was tops among freshman competitors in the race. Libby Dowty of Indian Creek was the individual regional champion in a time of 17:15. Wade’s time also again bested East Central senior Callie Bentley who earned another state finals berth after placing ninth overall in 18:42.

Batesville’s girls finished ninth out of 25 teams after scoring 279 points. Westfield won the team title with 75 points and was followed in order by state qualifiers Fishers, Noblesville, Guerin Catholic and Franklin Central.
Lady Bulldog sophomore Jayla Bedel ran 53rd overall in 19:46 and Samantha Adams finished 61st in 19:58. Batesville’s roster was finished out by Francesca Myers at 20:49 (106th), Caitlin Raver at 20:58 (113th), Paige Allgeier in 21:16 (129th) and Lexiyne Harris in 22:31 (180th).

Oldenburg Academy sophomore Josie Wenning was 140th in a time of 21:28 and senior Maddie Ryan went 224th in 24:17. Milan runners in the regional included Hannah Cooney at 188th in 22:50 and Elly Potts 226th in 24:27.

The boys side of the team standings saw Milan finish 19th with 593 points and Batesville in 23rd at 631 points. Noblesville was the team champion after scoring 63 points and other state qualifiers were Center Grove, Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern and Lawrence North. Banner Barnes, a junior from Noblesville, was the individual champ in a blistering time of 15:30.

Milan senior Gabe Riehle was the coverage area’s top boys finisher and his accomplished high school career came to a close with a 38th place finish out of 245 runners in a time of 16:16. Classmate Lucas Cooney also finished out his Indian career, placing 81st in 16:55. The Indians were wrapped up by Tyler Myers in 19:29 (218th), Seth Thomas in 21:02 (243rd) and Lennox Hazeltine in 29:27 (245th).

After Milan’s duo, Oldenburg Academy regional qualifiers Carson Hartwell and Adam Dennis ran back-to-back in 89th and 90th respectively in 17:01.5 and 17:01.9. The final Twister qualifier in Sam Dennis was 143rd in 17:46. Batesville’s top runner was Levi Essick in 145th at 17:51 and senior Cash Myers ran 153rd in 18:01. Ethan Rahschulte wrapped up with a 158th place spot in 18:04.

The Bulldogs also had Ryan Benz in 202nd at 18:53, Broderick Gibson and Jaden Basler back-to-back in times of 19:40 (224th) and 19:41 (225th) respectively and Tripp Hertel in 242nd at 21:02. South Ripley’s Carter Yelton was also a regional qualifier and ran 197th in a time of 18:46.

Ava Wade will run in the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals on Saturday at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. The girls race begins at 1 p.m.