By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – In the heat of the moment, when sheer survival trumped flashy speed, Bedford North Lawrence ran with icy resolve. Just finishing, without suffering heat stroke on a day more suited for swim wear and a beach, was reason for celebration. The Stars not only survived, they thrived.
BNL endured the thermal test, racing to a steamy team triumph in the girls race during the Scott Hiles Invitational on Monday afternoon. The Stars dominated the front of the pack while winning one of their own prestigious events for the second straight year.
Paced by Paige Voigtschild, BNL defended its crown, totaling 32 points in the seven-team field. Eastern Greene was second with 46. In the boys race, Bloomington North crushed the competition, but the Stars finished second in that nine-team event.
How hot was it? As the old jokes goes, it was so hot birds were pulling worms out of the ground with oven mitts. Heat, especially when index warnings are imminent, is not conducive to running. The Stars ignored the sun blast and left some scorched earth in their wake on the 5K course.
“I’m proud that the girls came out in this heat, worked hard, did the best they could,” BNL co-coach Danielle Garrison said. “They were really competitive.”
Voigtschild was second overall in 21:29.04. She had to convince herself to keep going.
“The second lap was so hot, I wanted to stop running,” she said. “This was one of the worst days we’ve run. I just wanted to finish.”
BNL’s other top scorers were not far behind. Claire Voigtschild was fifth in 24:01.17, Madison Chandler (stepping into the void left when Elise Williams was sidelined by an illness), was sixth in 24:11.51, Gracie Simmerman was 10th in 25:20.74, and Francesca Orozco was 11th in 25:21.24. That kind of pack patrol is hard to beat.
“We’ve just got a solid team,” BNL co-coach Amy Greenan said. “We have quality, we have quantity. It’s a good position to be in. They’re all tough girls, they all ran hard in this heat. They all ran pretty much to plan, and it paid off.”
Eastern Greene’s Esther Crane was the overall winner in 21:01.80.
In the boys race, North had six runners in the top eight, and its top four finished together as the Cougars scored 25 points. That’s a typical North finish. After that, the Stars claimed second with 73 points, clipping Brownstown (74).
“We’re working hard to group together,” BNL coach Nick Boyd said. “The top three ran well, and the next three are running closer together, That’s our goal, to support our teammates and make each other stronger. Our goal was to run a strategic race, and we executed our game plan well.”
Jonah Bailey paced the Stars, crossing in ninth place in 17:47.58. His summer workouts at 7 a.m. weren’t quite as grueling as this 6 p.m. jaunt at peak heat, but he was not uncomfortable in the furnace atmosphere.
“I figured I would just run my best race,” he said. “I thought we ran well.”
BNL’s other top finishers included Tucker Inman (12th in 18:28.34), Nick Lindley (13th in 18:40.77), Alex Nicholson (17th in 18:59.00) and Eli McFarland (25th in 19:49.40).
Brownstown’s Shane Ratliff was the individual winner in 17:08.51.
BNL will compete in the Dennis Bays Invitational at Angel Mounds in Evansville on Saturday.
