Batesville High School

The Batesville High School XC Teams opened up their 2025 season with a very early start on their way to Terre Haute for the 29+ team Valley Cross Invitational at the Laverne Gibson State Course. The weather was definitely not favorable as it was super hot and humid making it a tough 5k race to compete in, even at 9 a.m., according to coach Lisa Gausman. The Bulldogs stepped up to the line with confidence as they took on many 4-5A schools and over 280 competitors. Despite the heat, all of the varsity boys posted a time faster than last year with Cash Myers leading the way placing 116th place (18:51). Ethan Raschulte came in 2nd for the dogs in 142nd (19:16), followed by Brody Gibson (21:00), Ryan Benz (22:00), Varshath Rajesh (23:14), Tripp Hertel (23:30) and finishing out the varsity 7, Lucas Gadberry (23:57). The boys were missing two from their top 5 due to sickness and injury and ended up finishing 26th as a team, but again, all finished in times faster than last year even with the heat. The varsity girls stepped up to the line next and finished with a very respectable 10th place in the field of over 29 teams. Again, Batesville saw almost all runners with performances better than the start of last season with freshman Ava Wade and sophomore, Jayla Bedel leading the way placing 33rd (20:53) and 34th (20:54) respectively. Then the next 3 came within seconds of each other, Sam Adams (22:32)-70th, Francesca Myers (22:34)-73rd and Caitlin Raver (22:44)-79th. Finishing out the top 7 were Maycee Holtkamp (23:35)-101st and Paige Allgeier (23:53)-114th. The JV runners had the toughest conditions as the temperature continued to rise and the sun was beating down. Finishing first on the boys side for the JV race was Abe Trossman (25:48) in 79th and for the girls was Audrey Dieckmann (26:26) in 55th.