LINDEN — A bunch of spitting rain wasn’t going to stop North Montgomery from holding its annual Charger Classic on Thursday. All three Montgomery County cross country teams were in action and it ended up being an eventful night all around.
To begin things in the boys race Crawfordsville senior Ryan Miller took the top spot overall with a first place finish. The senior ran a season best time of 16:36.6 and was six seconds clear of Seeger’s Ethan Guminski who took second. Southmont’s Mason Cass had a very strong showing as well running a new personal best time of 17:18 in which the senior placed fourth overall.
“It feel really good to have (Guminski) pushing me the entire race,” Miller said after his first place finish. “We’ve been going back and forth at different races this year and we’ve really just helped each other become better runners.”
As a team the Crawfordsville boys placed fourth overall with 89 points. Junior Hutton Haas placed 10th overall with fellow junior Jantzen Thayer taking 13th.
“Having a season best run definitely contributes to the level of confidence Ryan will need as he prepares for the upcoming larger races and in the postseason,” Crawfordsville coach Megan Craig said. “Ryan has set postseason goals for himself that are going to require him to push out of his comfort zone, and last night was a good representation of what he is capable of doing.”
Southmont placed eighth overall on the boys side and coach Shelley Allen made sure that Cass got the recognition for the hard work he’s put in to set another PR.
“Mason ran fantastic,” Allen said. “I’m expecting to see even more time drops from him as we move further into the rest of the season. Overall I’m really proud of our entire program on both sides. Each group has come a long way and their times are continually dropping every week. It makes me excited for what’s hopefully to come the rest of the way.”
North Montgomery placed sixth overall on the boys side and were led by Paul Leuking’s 14th place finish. Jack Rogers placed 26th and Nolan Yarger 38th.
Fountain Central’s Hayden Kler earned 16th overall for the Mustangs.
In the girls race Fountain Central’s Brailey Hoagland was the top finisher between the four area schools. The FC junior placed 18th overall with a time of 21:34.9. Overall FC placed ninth in the girls race.
Southmont placed eighth with 210 points, Crawfordsville 10th with 227 and North Montgomery 12th at 303.
Remy Swinford was the top overall county finisher with a 25th place finish. Not far behind was South’s Darby Cottrell who took 28th. Gabby Warren placed 31st for CHS while the Mounties Amarah Ami finished 33rd with teammates Lennon Woods (38th) and Jaysa Crull (40th) rounding out the top county finishers.
All three MoCo teams will now get ready for Wednesday’s county meet at Crawfordsville. CHS is the defending county champions on both sides. The boys race is scheduled to get underway beginning at 5 p.m.
