Published: October 05, 2008 12:06 am            

CROSS COUNTRY: Highlanders in familiar territory

NEW ALBANY — The faces change from year to year for Tim Korte’s Floyd Central boys’ cross country team.

The results, though, have a tendency to stay the same.

The Highlanders packed four runners into the top 10 positions Saturday, rolling to the title at the Hoosier Hills Conference Meet at the Prosser School of Technology.

The victory marked the second straight HHC crown for Floyd Central and the fifth title in the past six seasons.

“Great effort,” said Korte. “I’m very satisfied.”

The foursome at the top, all seniors, helped the Highlanders finish the day with 39 points, outpacing second-place New Albany’s 62.

“We had a strong day,” said Korte. “All our guys ran better as the meet progressed. Our guys finished very strong.”

Floyd’s Justin Hodge claimed the top individual honors, finishing the 5-kilometer race in a time of 16:01. Teammate Garrett Blackman was the meet’s runner-up, finishing in 16:09. Sam Mires (eighth) and Daniel Huhnerkoch (10th) rounded out the four Highlanders in the top 10, and sophomore Corey Portwood was Floyd Central’s No. 5 finisher in 22nd.

“We knew this year that Floyd Central had been better than us at most meets,” said New Albany coach Paul Hamilton. “When you see a team with four in the top 10, that’s not easy to overcome.”

The Bulldogs, hoping to become the first boys’ team to win the HHC meet in school history, had to settle for second, but did have five runners finish in the top 20.

Jason Holcomb led New Albany with a seventh-place effort and Matthew Holcomb was 13th. The next three Bulldog finishers — Alan Hoon, Pryce Ragains and Simon Quinkert — finished 16th, 17th and 18th, respectively.

“We talked a lot about possibly being the team to bring home that first title,” said Hamilton. “But we ran into kind of a buzzsaw in Floyd today. Our guys gave it a strong effort, and there’s still a lot of goals that we can still accomplish.”

Jeff placed seventh and was led by a fourth-place showing by Joey Coats. Conor Richardson was Jeff’s second-place finisher, crossing the line 21st.

“We really did not have a bad day,” said Jeff coach Robbie Rhinehart. “This conference represents some great competition. I think all the boys’ teams made it out of the regional round last season. You can come here and run well and still not be a top-5 team.”



GIRLS’ RACE

Favored Madison lived up to its reputation as one of the top teams in Southern Indiana, rolling to the top spot with all five runners placing in the top 12 and 28 points overall.

Sophomore Chelsea Stephan won the individual title for the Cubs, beating New Albany’s Stephanie Cave for first in the individual standings.

Bedford was second with 94 points, while New Albany edged Jeff for third. Both teams finished with 104 points, but the Bulldogs won the tiebreaker thanks to a better finish from its No. 6 runner.

Saisha Rairdon and Kim Condra each had top 10 finishes for New Albany. Rairdon was sixth and Condra ninth.

“We knew what Madison brought,” said Hamilton. “That could be a team that finishes high in the state standings. We finished about where I thought we could. Our hope was that we could contend for second, but Bedford just was able to beat us there.”

Jeff had three finishers in the top 20 with Rachelle Thomas its top performer in 15th. Jessica Mosqueda and Connie Chan were 18th and 20th, respectively, for the Red Devils.

“I’m thrilled with how we performed,” said Jeff coach Tom Kendall. “Our top seven runners all had their best times of the year, and it’s tough to expect more than that.”

Floyd Central was fifth with 110 points. Chelsea Reidinger led the Highlanders by placing 11th, followed by teammate Hannah Keehn in 13th and Floyd’s Connie Rhodes in 19th.



HOOSIER HILLS CONFERENCE MEET

at Prosser School of Technology, New Albany

BOYS

Team scores — Floyd Central 39, New Albany 62, Columbus East 92, Seymour 95, Bedford North Lawrence 113, Jennings County 120, Jeffersonville 155.

Floyd Central — 1. Hodge 16:01, 2. Blackman 16:09, 8. Mires 16:33, 10. Huhnerkoch 16:40, 22. Portwood 17:26, 39. Pepin 18:07, 41. Hamilton 18:11.

New Albany — 7. J. Holcomb 16:29, 13. M. Holcomb 16:51, 16. Hoon 17:15, 17. Ragains 17:15, 18. Quinkert 17:17, 28. LaPorte 17:37, 49. Gamble 18:39.

Jeffersonville — 4. Coats 16:22, 21. Richardson 17:22, 44. Kimbrell 18:13, 47. Sowers 18:26, 50. Brumit 18:42, 51. Klingsmith 19:04, 52. Miller.



GIRLS

Team scores — Madison 28, Bedford NL 94, New Albany 104, Jeffersonville 104, Columbus East 109, Floyd Central 110, Seymour 147, Jennings County

New Albany — 2. Cave 19:36, 6. Rairdon 20:02, 9. Condra 20:30, 41. Smith 23:31, 46. Ragains 23:54, 51. Kron 24:59, 54. James 27:12.

Jeffersonville — 15. Thomas 20:58, 18. Mosqueda 21:08, 20. Chan 21:11, 24. Inman 21:46, 27. Simcoe 22:00, 52. Delad 25:13.

Floyd Central — 11. Reidinger 20:33, 13. Keehn 20:41, 19. Rhodes 21:11, 32. Harthog 22:17, 25. Pfannmoeller 22:34, 37. Amburn 22:40, 39. Huff 22:57.

        

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