Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

The Western Boone high school cross country team competed at the IHSAA Sectional meet at White River Elementary in Noblesville on Saturday morning. The Stars had incredible performances, with 11 of the 14 runners achieving personal best times and two achieving season-best times. Katheryn Rutherford, leading the way for the Lady Stars, ran an excellent race and earned a top-20 finish, placing 16th in a season-best time of 19:44.1. Samantha Jones ran a tremendous race and earned a personal best time of 20:50.6 to finish 33rd. Charlotte Stucky ran a superb race and achieved a personal best of 21:23.4 to finish 38th. The trio of Hannah Haag, Bailey Haag, and Emily Parsons finished as a group in 40th, 41st, and 42nd places, respectively, only three seconds apart with times of 21:51.0, 21:52.5, and 21:54.0. B. Haag's and Parsons' times were personal bests. Janelle Gearheart also earned a personal best, improving by more than a minute, to finish in 23:22.8 in 50th. Noblesville, ranked #1 in the state, won the girls team competition with 50 points, followed by #6-ranked Carmel with 57, #23-ranked Westfield with 60, #22 Guerin Catholic with 73, Lebanon with 131, and Western Boone with 168. Nine schools were represented in the race. Rutherford, Jones, Stucky, H. Haag, B. Haag, and Parsons all advanced to next week's IHSAA Regional meet by virtue of being among the top 10 finishers from non-advancing teams. In the boys race, Carter Hanna and Isaac Threlkeld led the way for the Stars and ran together for much of the race. Hanna pulled away shortly before the finish, but Threlkeld closed quickly at the end, and they finished just one second apart. Both earned personal bests and broke 19 minutes for the first time: Hanna in 18:39.8 in 48th, and Threlkeld in 18:40.8 in 49th. Graham Cavins also ran strongly and broke 20 minutes for the first time, running a personal best of 19:43.6 to finish 54th. Luke LaGrange earned a personal best as well, finishing in 20:03.6 in 58th. Alex Crockett improved by nearly a minute and a half to achieve a personal best of 20:33.8 in 61st. Senior Levi LaGrange achieved a season-best time of 21:11.8 and finished 64th in the final race of his high school career. Brayden Schick earned a personal best of 21:37.9 to finish 67th. Carmel, ranked #1 in the state, won with 25 points, followed Westfield with 61, #2-ranked Noblesville with 65, #22 Guerin Catholic with 111, and Lebanon with 117. Western Boone was 10th with 270 points. The six individual advancers will return to White River Elementary in Noblesville next Saturday to compete in the IHSAA Regional meet.