By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Records fell like Wile E. Coyote off a cliff, and Acme could not be blamed. This was not a failure of faulty technology, it was the success of human endurance.
Bedford North Lawrence sisters Paige and Claire Voigtschild both broke the school record for their home course, and Terre Haute North star Addyson Bautista defended her individual title in the Ted Fox Invitational while shattering the overall course record on a glorious Saturday morning.
Bautista blazed through the 5K race in 17:44.91, erasing the mark set by Edgewood’s Annalyssa Crain (17:48.01) in 2018. Paige Voigtschild broke her own program mark (19:28.7, set a year ago in this event) by crossing in 19:13.64 to finish third. Claire, continuing her recent surge into the upper tier of competition, also beat the old mark while finishing fourth in 19:26.71.
Bloomington South won the team title in the girls race, totaling 54 points to clip Seymour by a single point. The Stars settled for fourth in the six-team field with 74 points.
BNL also celebrated Senior Day, and the Voigtschilds made their final tour of the layout a record-setting memory.
“That is fantastic,” BNL coach Amy Greenan said. “It’s their Senior Day, they were excited, and they ran pretty smart. It paid off.”
Bautista set a breathtaking pace, even passing the golf cart that trails the field to help out back-of-the-pack stragglers during her two laps around the circuit. Paige settled into a smooth rhythm – “I tried not to start out too fast so I would not burn out,” she explained – while Claire slashed 2 1/2 minutes off her time from the same event last season. That’s what happens when allergies are finally under control.
“I’m surprised that I could run this time on this course, this is one of the hardest courses,” Claire said. “So I look forward to seeing what I can do.“
”Where she was a year ago, she’s untapped potential now,” Greenan said.
In the boys race, BNL finished fifth among the nine teams with 146 points. Bloomington South dominated the race while totaling 21 points, while Floyd Central was a distant second with 50.
Hayden Rich was BNL’s top finisher, crossing in 26th in 17:56.45. Tate McFarland was 31st in 18:21.69, and Eli McFarland was 32nd in 18:24.65 as the Stars also celebrated Senior Day.
“We made a lot of progress, we’re much happier,” BNL coach Nick Boyd said. “You can only control the variables you can control, and we have to figure out how to be OK with hurting a little bit on the course. We learned a little bit and became OK with that.”
South’s Chase Norris was the overall winner in 16:14.96.
BNL will compete in the Hoosier Hills Conference races on Oct. 3.
TED FOX INVITATIONAL
