Maconaquah Invitational

Eastern's girls ran away with first place in the Maconaquah Invitational cross country meet Saturday, scoring the top four individual spots en route to a score of 18. Noblesville was second at 54, Warren Central third (84), Western fourth in 18) and Northwestern filth (140). Also, Maconaquah was eighth (191), Peru was ninth (260) and Kokomo was 11th (313).

Brittany Neeley took first in 19:37 to lead Eastern to a convincing victory on the wet course. Bethany Neeley was second in 19:38, Carly Jones was third in 2020, Avery Ewing was fourth in 2025 and Sarah Wagner in eighth at 20:53.

"We had a real nice pack up front," Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. "It was real nice to see them kind of lay low a little bit during the first mile, then really work as a team during the middle part of the race to kind of break the race wide open. Bethany did a good job of pushing Brit to a season-best time. Avery Ewing also had her best time of the season and she looked real strong overall."

Erin Knepley was 10th to lead Western in a time of 21:12. Emma Nixon was 13th (21:51) and Nicole Hampshire was 14th (21:59) as the Panthers put three in the top 15.

"Last year we walked away with a 10th-place finish so the girls knew that I was looking to better that quite significantly," Western coach Joni McCracken said. "We thought we could fight for fourth place. They stepped to the plate, they did a great job. Erin Knepley ran a tough race and Sam Luginbuhl also stepped up her race."

Taryn Thor finished ninth in a time of 21:00 to lead Northwestern and Karly Sprouse was 17th in 22:11.

"Overall, I'm very pleased with what we did," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "We had a very tough week of practice and the girls did a really good job."

BOYS RACE

Noblesville (39) won the 16-team boys meet with Warren Central (45) taking second and Western (103) following in third. Northwestern was fifth with a score of 174, Tipton was seventh at 196, Kokomo was eighth at 212, Peru was 11th at 278, Maconaquah was 13th at 309 and Eastern and Taylor were incomplete.

Matt Grider led Western with a second-place finish. He covered the course in 16:55. Also for the Panthers, Riley Worl (17:55) was 15th.

"I told the guys [Friday], I'll be surprised if we don't drop a bunch of time compared to what we ran Tuesday night at Oak Hill,' and we did. That's a function of being 60 degrees when we ran as opposed to 86," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "Of the 24 [varsity and JV] guys who ran, 14 of them either recorded personal-bests or season-bests. I'm pleased with that We placed ahead of all of our sectional opponents which was good."

Jewell noted the course was soggy, which made for less-than-ideal conditions.

Grider finished second to a Mid-Indiana Conference rival, Hamilton Heights' Craig Schildmeier (16:50).

"Matt did everything he could to win the race. He ran his usual race, which is sit back and wait, pick your way through the pack. With about 400 to go, it was a three-man race. Matt made the first move and then Craig countered it. At this point, Craig is just a little bit faster," Jewell said.

Zach Duranto led Northwestern with a 19th-place finish in 18:20.

"Our one-to-five gap was 1:35, which is once again another great performance from the boys, bunching up there at the top," Stevens said. "I'm happy with our fifth-place finish, it's a big improvement over last year."

Kokomo finished eighth. Jeremy Breedlove finished 14th and coach Ricke Stucker noted he cut 38 seconds from his season-best time.

Eastern was incomplete but put two runners in the top 10. Lewis Duke was fifth (17:06) and Adam Schaaf was ninth (17:18

"I thought that Lewis and Adam once again did a great job of moving up in the middle half of the race," Mink said. "To see them both in the top 10 was very positive for us. Sam Higdon also had a season best. As the season goes on we hope to see him improve quite a bit"