BEDFORD – Bedford North Lawrence finished fifth in the annual Ted Fox Invitational during girls high school cross country action on Saturday.
The Stars totaled 188 points in the 14-team field. Center Grove won the team title with 32, followed by Floyd Central (62), Southport (142) and Seymour (161). In the boys race, BNL finished sixth in the 16-team field with 160 points. No.6 Floyd Central won the event with 27, followed by No.13 Center Grove (63), Orleans (143), Bloomington North (154) and Brownstown (158).
In the girls race, freshman Elise Williams paced the Stars, crossing 12th in a personal-best time of 20:56.11. BNL’s Madison Chandler was 35th in 22:22.76, and Jabrie Sullivan was 47th in 22:57.59.
“We have really been focusing on competing in the little races within the race, thinking about what the colors of the other shirts represent,” BNL co-coach Amy Spence said. “Stay focused on winning your little race, then moving up to the next one, always looking for whatever color to reel in. With that mindset, the times take care of themselves. Elise continues to race and get faster, Jabrie and Madison both competed well and are pushing each other to move up. It’s exciting to see their progress and watch them realize how competitive they truly are.”
“Very proud of the team’s work today,” co-coach Danielle Garrison said. “Elise had a great race. She was really hoping to break that 21 barrier and to do it on our tough course is an achievement. She is on the top 25 BNL course times now.
“We had a lot of girls drop their times by over a minute compared to the Scott Hiles Invite earlier this year. We know that means we’re heading in the right direction as tournament time approaches.”
Floyd Central’s Kaitlyn Stewart won the event in 18:46.39.
In the boys race, BNL’s Jonah Bailey was eighth overall in 16:54.60. Alex Nicholson finished 19th in 17:28.89, and Nick Lindley was 29th in 17:48.59.
“We’re making progress but there’s a lot to keep improving this week before the conference and sectional meets,” BNL coach Nick Boyd said. “This is the first year competing in high school cross country for four of our top seven runners. There’s no way to expedite racing experience. Jonah and Alex had solid races, it’s nice to have a runner finish in the top 10 and another inside the top 20. We need to close time gaps down further if we want to compete as a team and that’s the goal. Another race means more experience, we’ll take that and run with it.”
Floyd Central runners swept the top three places, with Will Conway winning in 16:13.53.
BNL will host the Hoosier Hills Conference meets on Sept. 30.
TED FOX INVITATIONAL
