BEDFORD – Bedford North Lawrence freshman Elise Williams earned All-Hoosier Hills Conference honors while leading the Stars to third place during the HHC girls cross country meet on Saturday.
The Stars totaled 86 points. Floyd Central won the event with 24, while Jennings County slipped past BNL for second with 84. In the boys race, No.8 Floyd Central cruised to the crown with 17 points while the Stars were fourth with 97.
Williams crossed the line in 21:17.80, finishing seventh in the field. Other top finishers for BNL included Madison Chandler (17th in 22:24.01) and Jabrie Sullivan (18th in 22:26.64).
“Elise is a seriously impressive competitor that is so fun to watch,” BNL co-coach Danielle Garrison said. “We dropped our average time as a team by 20 seconds from last week. We were three points from second place, which stings a little, but I’m so proud of the progress we’ve made as a team. We have been putting in the work and it shows. The girls are peaking right when we need them.”
“They continue to learn about scoring and racing to help the team do well in competition,” co-coach Amy Spence added. “We couldn’t be prouder of their performance and progress.”
Floyd’s Kaitlyn Stewart was the individual winner in 18:57.14.
In the boys race, BNL’s Jonah Bailey, Alex Nicholson and Nick Lindley all earned Honorable Mention status on the HHC squad. Bailey was eighth in 17:16.13, Nicholson was 10th in 17:33.77, and Lindley was 12th in 17:44.85.
“As a team, we didn’t have the day we were hoping for,” BNL coach Nick Boyd said. “Everyone was a bit dissatisfied, but we can’t pontificate about our performances, and we have to find the positives and approach the next two weeks with focus.
“We had three individuals receive all-conference honorable mention, which is encouraging as we look to the future. We’re learning that collectively we depend on each other to compete as a team. Coach Spence’s dad gave us some good advice a couple weeks ago that we’ve been focusing on when it comes to our teamwork. He told us we need to be able to look to our teammates, to our left and right, and say ’I’m not going to let you down today’ and follow through. That’s where our eyes are moving forward.”
Floyd’s Will Conway won the race in 15:35.73.
BNL will host the IHSAA sectional meets on Oct. 14
HOOSIER HILLS CONFERENCE
