Oak Hill boys narrowly lose to Western in meet

MIER — Paige Brunner challenged his Oak Hill boys' and girls' cross country runners headed into Tuesday's Oak Hill Invitational.

Brunner didn't feel like the Eagles competed that well on Saturday at the Manchester Invitational. He wanted his runners to step up to the level of competition at Tuesday's meet.

The Eagles responded to Brunner's demands. The Eagles won the girls' meet with 36 points. Oak Hill narrowly lost to Western in the boys' meet. The Eagles and Panthers both finished with 42 points, but Western beat Oak Hill because of the sixth runner.

The meet was pushed back to a 6:30 p.m. start because of the heat. There were no junior high races. Brunner has been the Oak Hill coach for 10 years. He said it was the first time in his coaching career the Eagle girls' had run an invitational other than the Central Indiana Conference Meet or Grant Four.

"I really challenged the runners yesterday," Brunner said. "I wanted them to compete at a high level. I guess the big word for today is respond, because they did a great job of responding after I challenged them yesterday."
Jay County took second in the girls' meet with 51 points. Eastbrook was third with 52 points. Western was fourth with 117 points, Carroll was fifth with 138 points, Tipton was sixth with 171 points, Blackford was seventh with 214 points, Alexandria was eighth with 219 points and Mississinewa was ninth with 239 points.

Tipton was third in the boys' meet with 85 points. Eastbrook was fourth with 105 points. Carroll was fifth with 117 points. Jay County was sixth with 187 points. Madison-Grant was seventh with 204 points. Blackford was eighth with 204 points and Mississinewa was ninth with 248 points.

Shallen Lenhart led the Oak Hill girls' team, taking second place in a time of 20:29. Lenhart came in behind Eastbrook senior Sophie Seward, who won the race in a time of 19:31.

Sophomore Brooke Hasty took fifth in a time of 21:27 and senior Reagan Brankle was sixth in a time of 21:57. Sophomore India Ulshafer was 10th in 22:31.

Senior Krista Hobbs was 13th in 23:10.

"Today was more about placing than time, because obviously we wanted to win the meet," Lenhart said. "We knew it was going to be hot, but we just had to put that in the back of our mind. I felt like we did a good job of doing that."

Coming off a second-place finish at the big school meet at Saturday's Marion Invitational, Seward put together another solid outing on Tuesday.

"It was a hot day, so today was more about competing for places than times," Lenhart said. "Shallen and I do have a nice little rivalry going, and she certainly pushed me for the first mile."

Brankle is splitting her time between cross country and soccer.

"When we have Reagan, we are a much better team," Brunner said. "We only have one more meet when we are going to be missing her because of soccer."

Eastbrook senior Ellie Rodman was seventh in 21:59. Sophomore Sierra Colvin was ninth in 22:31. Senior Katelyn Oliver was 17th in 23:32.

Sophomore Blayne Miller led Mississinewa by placing 57th in 27:09. Sophomore Kierstan Yeakle was 60th in 27:28.

Tori Galloway led Madison-Grant, placing 18th in 23:37. Jasmine Nelson was 26th in 24:17.

The boys' meet came down to the sixth runner. Western's Josh Scott was 15th in 18:37. Oak Hill's Beau Clouser was 18th in 18:53. Western's Matt Grider won the meet in 16:25.

Eastbrook's Josh Neideck was second in 16:49.

"Coach just told me to approach this meet as a build up for some of the big Saturday meets," Neideck said. "I had a nice tempo run before the race and it was fun running with Matt. also."

Oak Hill's Bradey Newhouse was fourth in 17:27. Ryan Miller was fifth in 17:29. Riley Jones was eighth in 17:49 and David Horner was ninth in 17:55.

After Neideck, Eastbrook's Michael Neideck was 20th in 19:03.

Madison-Grant's Aaron Patton was 29th in 19:30. Mississinewa's Jalen Ruth was 47th in 20:49.