TERRE HAUTE – Bedford North Lawrence’s girls cross country team made its season debut with a 16th-place finish in the Valley Kickoff on the famed LaVern Gibson course on Saturday.
BNL settled into the middle of the 27-team field with 488 points. Carmel won the team title with 59. In the boys race, BNL was 29th with 823 points.
Paige Voigtschild, returning to race on the course that will host the IHSAA state finals, finished 30th overall for the Stars, crossing the line in 20:43.42. Her sister Claire was 82nd in 22:49.74.
“We’re pretty happy with our first race of the year,” BNL coach Amy Greenan said. “We got some nerves worked out and gained some valuable experience.
”Paige ran a great debut race and she’s going to keep getting faster. Claire went out hard and hung on pretty well. Our three seniors were solid and rounded out the scoring. There was a lot of adrenaline to go along with the heat and humidity, a few bugs going around, but they all handled it pretty well. I was really proud of the way these girls worked with all the variables.”
The Greyhounds took the top two individual spots as Annabel Pollert won in 18:12.73, while teammate Larkin Taylor posted 18:21.71.
In the boys race, Eli McFarland was the top finisher for the Stars, crossing in 19:58.24 (145th overall), while Hayden Rich clocked 20:05.93 (148th).
”Conditions were tough out there,” BNL coach Nick Boyd said. “There is one word to describe this race – survival. Our runners did a great job battling the heat. I am eager to see how our season progresses as a team and how the runners do together as a unit.
“Today was a hot day, the first meet of the race felt a little anxious, but it was exciting to get the season started,” McFarland said. “You could really feel how thick the heat was after about two kilometers, but I thought I finished strong.”
Bloomington North won the event with 43 points. Northridge’s Baylor Miller was the individual winner in 16:25.15.
BNL will compete at Seymour on Aug. 23.
