By TED SCHULTZ | For The Democrat

TERRE HAUTE — A pair of Brown County sophomores were a little off what they had done in the semistate a week earlier, but both were able to come away with top-75 finishes in Saturday’s girls cross-country state finals.

Abby Fleetwood finished 55th in 19 minutes, 37.8 seconds, and Hadley Gradolf was 73rd in 19:51.4 over the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.

“We ended up getting out pretty good, and at the first (kilometer), they were where they needed to be, and then it just seemed like they never moved (up) after that,” Brown County coach Rob Abraham said.

“State meet is just such a fast place, you don’t know who’s going to come out and who’s going to (set a personal record) and run their best. We were just a little bit off today.”

Fleetwood was making her first state meet appearance.

“Pulling in with all the buses was kind of scary,” Fleetwood said. “Definitely when I got to the start line, I didn’t realize how big it was. The first (kilometer) I was still nervous about it, but once I got to the 2K, I was pretty chill after that. I think I could have run better. I don’t think I was in the right mindset for it.”

Fleetwood was less than six seconds out of 45th place.

“She’s disappointed because she thought she could be in the top 35,” Abraham said. “When you have 20 spots and (22) seconds between them, you run 15 seconds faster, you’re feeling good about yourself, or you run a half-minute faster, you’re feeling really good.”

Gradolf was running at state for the second year in a row after finishing 55th last year as a freshman.

“I was a little bit less nervous than I was last year just because I knew what to expect,” Gradolf said. “The race was a little slower than I wanted to go, but I finished higher than I was seeded to finish, so I’m glad I was ahead of what they thought. I’m really glad I got to go for the second year.”

Fleetwood and Gradolf had qualified for state as individuals after leading the Eagles to a 10th-place finish in the Brown County Semistate a week earlier.