Courtesy photo
ELLETTSVILLE – Bedford North Lawrence finished fourth in the season-opening Puckett Invitational at Edgewood during boys high school cross country action on Saturday morning.
The Stars totaled 104 points. Crawfordsville won the title in the five-team field with 29, followed by Edgewood (30) and Indy Genesis (94). In the girls meet, BNL also finished fourth with 94 points. Edgewood won that team crown with 22, followed by Indy Genesis (55) and Crawfordsville (65).
Jonah Bailey paced the BNL boys, finishing 10th in 18:23.7. Other scorers for the Stars included Alex Nicholson (18th in 19:34.9), Chase Turner (31st in 21:07.2), Kasen Gulley (32nd in 21:18.2) and Logan Langley (33rd in 21:18.9).
“Today was a nice race overall for everyone,” BNL interim coach Nick Boyd said. “We got to experience the regional course in a race atmosphere, and that will be invaluable in the future. This was the first race for a lot of our runners and they gained some great experience. We had a nice pack to round out the top five. Hopefully we will be able to move the pack forward and have a few other runners in that group. It’s always helpful to have teammates supporting and pushing each other throughout the race.”
Edgewood’s Caleb Webb was the individual champion in 17:08.7.
In the girls meet, Francesca Orozco was ninth for the Stars, crossing the line in 23:36.2. Freshmen got into the scoring column as Jabrie Sullivan was 12th (24.21.3) and Madison Chandler was 24th (25:51.7). The rest of the scoring came from Emma Baumgart (33rd in 27:55.4) and Ella Peak (28:06.8).
“Excellent sophomore start for Franny,” BNL coach Jill Vance said. “She basically starts this season with the time she ended on last season, and I think this is the first time that all three of her mile splits have been under 8 minutes.
”Jabrie is the definition of how consistent summer conditioning can pay off. Awesome freshman debut time. She’s not that far behind Franny and it would be great to see both of them under 23 by midseason. That would be a strong scoring combo for us.”
Edgewood’s Clara Crain was the winner in 19:30.8.
BNL will compete at Seymour on Thursday.
Puckett Invitational
Saturday at Edgewood
