By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – With each step came stress. The postseason causes that. Bedford North Lawrence coaches were guilty of a little breath holding while their runners struggled to capture oxygen – one crashed, others were ill – during the IHSAA sectionals on their home course.
The Stars finally exhaled when the results became official.
BNL finished fourth in both the boys and girls races on Saturday morning. The top five teams, plus the top 15 individuals who were not members of advancing teams, qualified for the regional next week as the state tournament series gets tougher and more serious.
In the boys race, the Stars scored 113 points, settling behind top-ranked Bloomington North (19), Bloomington South (62) and Brownstown (106), while Orleans (147) claimed the final team ticket to the next stage.
“We’re pleased,” BNL coach Nick Boyd said. “Advancing to the regional is always the expectation, that’s the goal at this point in the season. The other goal is winning, but we’re in a sectional with a top 10 team in the state. That’s just the reality. We’ll keep pushing.”
Jonah Bailey paced the Stars, finishing 13th overall in 17:03.33 in his final tour of home ground. Nicolas Lindley was 18th in 17:09.44, and Tucker Inman was 24th in 17:50.99.
“We ran a decent race across the board,” Boyd said. “They raced well. We had a couple of kids not feeling great, a little under the weather, so hopefully we get that out of the way before the regional and see better performances next week.”
North’s Jacob Mitchell was the overall winner in 15:59.68. The Cougars had the top three finishers and five of the top seven across the line.
In the girls race, BNL was fourth with 100 points. Bloomington South won the team title with 24, followed by No.20 Bloomington North (53), Eastern Greene (78) and Mitchell (174 to nab the final regional spot by two points over North Daviess).
“We were expecting to be in the middle of the pack,” BNL co-coach Amy Greenan said. “We looked at the pre-race projections, so we’re OK with that. The times were great. It was a little scary, because we don’t run against so many fast people, and our girls were back further than they usually are. That’s anxiety inducing.”
Paige Voigtschild was the top finisher for the Stars, crossing ninth in 20:29.01. Elise Williams was 19th in 21:35.22, and Madison Chandler was 24th in 22:10.73.
“They turned it on when they needed to,” BNL co-coach Danielle Garrison said. “We had a strategy, and they stuck with it. They had their attack points we had planned out.”
Jennifer Guevara paced the Bluejackets to the next round, finishing 27th overall in 22:28.88, while Brinley Slaughter was 35th in 23:15.51.
South’s Lexi Kollbaum was the individual champion in 18:52.63.
BNL will compete in the regional at Angel Mounds on Oct. 26.
“We’ll try to run our best races of the year, build for the future,” Boyd said. “We need the experience of competing under the gun.”
“We’re glad to be going back,” Greenan said. “We’re excited, we’re making progress.”
The top five regional teams, and top 15 individuals who are not members of qualifying teams, will advance to the state championship in Terre Haute on Nov. 2.
IHSAA SECTIONAL
