Sullivan's Lamb picks up 1A-3A Preview win

LaVern Gibson Championship Course was eerily quiet Saturday morning for the Terre Haute Savings Bank State Preview high school cross country races — for a little while.

Spectators — even parents — were told not to come, and the Class 1A-3A girls race had no more noise than a normal practice.

But when Sullivan's Dossan Lamb bolted to the lead of the Class 1A-3A boys race, the Sullivan girls — who had just finished in sixth place — were ready to cheer him on. Audible throughout the course's many acres, their shouts may have helped as he outdueled Linton's Jonathon Hayden for the individual championship.

Lamb led the Golden Arrows to a team championship too, while West Vigo had a runner-up finish in girls competition — led by a resurgent Maci Easton — and was fourth in the boys standings and several Wabash Valley schools fared well against foes from around the state.

The varsity races that followed were won by state powerhouses — 22nd-ranked Center Grove in girls competition and fourth-ranked Fishers topping a boys field that included six teams ranked in the state's top 17 — but Vigo County entrants were generally pleased with how things went in the stiff competition.

Terre Haute North's boys, in fact, are one of those ranked teams. The Patriots entered the poll at the beginning of the week, ranked 17th, and on Saturday they finished behind fourth-ranked Fishers, seventh-ranked Center Grove, 11th-ranked Zionsville and 12th-ranked Crown Point while finishing well ahead of 16th-ranked Guerin Catholic.

"We ran really well," coach Aaron Gadberry said afterward. "We are getting better. We just need to get a little mentally tougher and run with more confidence." Dylan Zeck, Nolan White and Ian Gadberry were North's top three runners.

Right behind Guerin Catholic was Terre Haute South, with its one-two punch of Cael Light and Matt Gambill placing eighth and ninth individually.

"Our top-seven average was 30 seconds faster than our first weekend at LaVern, so we are trending the right way," said coach Josh Lee, shortly after commandeering one of the course's Gators to drive to rescue an ailing runner from another school near the end of the competition. "As a team, we've got to see our three-through-six [runners] work a little better together as we think about [Conference Indiana] and the postseason."

South's girls placed ninth, right behind Brebeuf and ahead of Guerin Catholic, with veteran Micah Peals leading the way. 

"We ran much better as a team than our first meet at LaVern," coach Jon Lee pointed out. "We had 10 season-best times on a very challenging course, including four lifetime bests. We continue to gain experience for our young athletes, which is invaluable."

North's girls, whose season was significantly delayed, came in 14th — led by Brinlee McCloud — and look for better things soon.

"We had a decent race, considering we had the quarantine," said coach Jim Cottom. "I think we'll keep improving once we get back in shape . . . of the eight girls we ran today, four were freshmen."

The day's most dominant performer was Lucas Guerra of Highland, the 2019 state runner-up, who opened a 50-yard lead over the rest of the field in the varsity boys race and kept it most of the way.

But Lamb, with the help of his female teammates — and Hayden, he said — also led virtually wire to wire in leading his team to a championship.

"It was a tough race," Lamb said. "I haven't been doing bad [coming off an injury], but I'm not where I wanted to be. I wanted to be under 17 [minutes; his time was 17:18].

"I'm not disappointed," the Golden Arrow star added, "and Jonathon Hayden really pushed me. He's been working his butt off."

1A-3A girls

Team scores — Barr-Reeve 45, West Vigo 80, Western Boone 98, Beech Grove 114, Forest Park 147, Sullivan 159, Vincennes Lincoln 166, Shakamak 184, Evansville Memorial 186, Linton 206, Parke Heritage 248.

Top 10 — Katheryn Rutherford (WB) 21:12, Makenna Pruett (BR) 21:37, Andrea Graber (BR) 21:47, Abby Ballengee (BR) 21:53, Maci Easton (WV) 22:11, Karli Kitten (FP) 22:14, Hanna Burkhart (Sul) 22:18, Hannah Webster (BG) 22:24, Sophie Simon (BG) 22:26, Katie Wagler (BR) 22:34.

Other West Vigo — Cassie Roush 22:43, Sarah Callecod 23:17, Sadie Herring 23:56, Kaitlin Whitford 25:37, Gwen Garman 25:45, Whitley Hoesman 28:31, Hailey Hillhouse 28:38, Mallorey Fischer 34:06.

Other Sullivan — Kate Ridgway 24:20, Josie Gettinger 26:12, Kayla Samm 27:42, Makayla Hitt 29:33.

Shakamak — Carly Reynolds 22:59, Natalie Lang 27:02, Kollette Slough 27:04, Rebekah Messmer 28:06, Cambri Collins 28:11.

Linton — Peyton Smith 22:41, Sara Cox 26:55, Payton Landis 28:06, Lauren Bedwell 30:00, Chloe Weismann 30:11, Adriona Page 30:23.

Parke Heritage — Sydney Kramer 23:37, Jenna Congleton 27:08, Jasmyne Everson 35:26, Ashley Clodfelter 35:27, Cassie Miller 36:22.

1A-3A boys

Team scores — Sullivan 75, Seeger 84, Vincennes Lincoln 121, West Vigo 129, Evansville Memorial 133, Clay City 138, Forest Park 178, North Central 271, Barr-Reeve 279, Beech Grove 281, Riverton Parke 283, Washington 299, Linton 315, Western Boone 322, Shakamak 332, Parke Heritage 337.

Top 10 — Dossan Lamb (Sul) 17:18, Jonathon Hayden (L) 17:34, Andrew Golba (EM) 17:42, Bryce Troesch (FP) 17:45, Keenan Clegg (VL) 18:13, Bryce Stateler (WV) 18:13, William King (Sul) 18:15, Thomas Odle (See) 18:17, Jason Ramirez (VL) 18:20, Zack Weir (NC) 18:22.

Other Sullivan — Timothy Lueking 18:34, Paul Lueking 19:02, Marcus Roshel 19:59, Ryder Pinkston 20:25, Benjamin McKinley 20:46.

Other West Vigo — Levi Saude 18:32, Garrett Roush 19:35, Bryland Pape 19:40, Griffin Akers 21:12, Trae Scott 21:17.

Clay City — Jacob Hogg 18:46, Karter Neiswinger 19:08, Mason Laswell 19:10, Clay Brown 20:01, Ashton Schultz 20:22, Wyatt Adams 20:42, Daniel Lowder 20:43, Braydon Baumgartner 21:27, Clayton Rector 30:30.

Other North Central — Adam Walker 19:54, Peyton Seay 21:11, Will Roberts 23:11, Brandon Lee 24:53.

Riverton Parke — Brandon Todd 19:06, Clint Mager 19:37, Austin Burns 21:35, Carson Cox 23:35, Luke Robertson 23:48, Brogan Collom 25:46.

Other Linton — Matthew Hayden 21:37, Tyler Gordon 22:30, Justin Brown 23:05, Austin Rose 27:17.

Shakamak — J.T. May 21:08, Michael Miller 21:33, Chris McDonald 21:53, Will Miller 22:29, Payton Yeryar 23:14, Logan Burris 23:40, Colin Barber 24:37, Kody Slough 26:16, William Miller 27:03, Bron Lambermont 30:55.

Parke Heritage — Blake Harris 19:53, Luke Hayes 21:58, Josh McCullough 22:32, Joey Bouffard 22:54, Ethan Fleener 23:51, Kyle Harpold 24:28, Cooper Vincent 25:00.

Varsity girls

Team scores — Center Grove 61, Crown Point 107, Indianapolis Cathedral 110, Seeger 127, Pike 128, Avon 153, Corydon Central 198, Brebeuf 223, Terre Haute South 230, Guerin Catholic 237, Highland 279, Evansville Reitz 372, Perry Meridian 378, Terre Haute North 407, Clay City 445, Mooresville 467, Evansville Mater Dei 501, Danville 509, Decatur Central 512, Castle 513.

Top 10 — Bridget Gallagher (GC) 19:00, Audrey Knoper (Western Boone) 19:20, Kendall Martin (Bre) 19:25, Jessica Hegedus (A) 19:53, Jennifer Romero (See) 19:59, Emma Gresham (Boonville) 20:00, Jaelyn Burgos (CP) 20:05, Katelin Schwab (P) 20:10, Sadie Schemmel (CG) 20:10, Grace Bragg (IC) 20:11.

Terre Haute South — Micah Peals 21:03, Ava Rose 21:37, Demme Hancewicz 22:03, Madison Beaumont 22:09, Caitlyn Strecker 22:22, Kaya Tanner 22:39, Aeryn Bradley 22:49, Malory Yatsko 22:50, Sophia Ewen 23:32, Isabel Miklozek 23:57, Laurel Monser 24:11.

Terre Haute North — Brinlee McCloud 21:33, Ye-Won Jung 23:14, Nahlee Gordon 23:34, Haylee Chumley 23:50, Sophia Barker 24:08, Alyssa Petscher 24:14, Mikalah Tingley 24:55, Dru White 25:24.

Clay City — Macy Tucker 21:14, Carlee Unger 23:19, Elyssa Secrest 24:09, Olivia Owens 24:49, Cambri Booe 25:38, Celeah Burton 27:09, Tara Arthur 27:36, Jadison Robinson 43:27.

Varsity boys

Team scores — Fishers 54, Center Grove 75, Zionsville 97, Crown Point 153, Terre Haute North 211, Castle 230, Valparaiso 240, Indianapolis Cathedral 256, Guerin Catholic 257, Terre Haute South 267, Avon 280, Wabash 295, Perry Meridian 340, Evansville Reitz 379, Pike 410, Danville 445, Evansville Mater Dei 452, Highland 526, Evansville Central 527, Decatur Central 558, Mooresville 560.

Top 10 — Lucas Guerra (H) 15:45, Jesus Garcia (Z) 15:55, Drew Costelow (CG) 15:59, Will Clark (F) 16:05, Jaylen Castillo (F) 16:06, Matthew Leppert (F) 16:07, Logan Cole (Z) 16:20, Cael Light (THS) 16:25, Matt Gambill (THS) 16:28, Raef Sauer (CG) 16:29.

Terre Haute North — Dylan Zeck 16:37, Nolan White 16:47, Ian Gadberry 17:12, Hayden McCarty 17:51, Patrick O'Connor 17:55, Anthony Adams 18:26, Reece Lady 18:27, Devin Vanvactor 18:28, Paul O'Connor 18:40, Evan Adams 19:19, Isaac Ross 19:36, Garrett Wrightsman 19:36.

Other South — Ethan Aidoo 18:10, Eric Haworth 18:13, Mason Cranford 18:35, Isaac Hults 18:54, Tate Alcorn 18:59, Sean Donlan 19:32, Gavin Oxley 20:25, Matthew Chaney 20:26, Sam Mallory 20:58, Caleb Maris 21:39.