By JORDAN MOREY, for The Democrat
The semi-state drought ended for the Brown County High School boys’ cross-country team on Saturday.
The Eagles scored 131 team points to place fourth at the Brown County Regional at Eagle Park. That was good enough for them to advance to next Saturday’s semi-state for the first time since 2009.
“It’s nice to get back to the semi-state,” Eagles coach Rob Abraham said. “It has been a while since we’ve been back here (as a team). To have it on your home course is something you dream of getting back to.”
Teams with the five lowest scores moved on to semi-state along with the top 10 individual times on non-advancing teams.
Columbus North won the boys’ 10-team field with 42 points, followed by Jennings County (47), Austin (114), the Eagles and Seymour (132).
North’s Charlie Allen was individual champion, of 90 runners, in 16 minutes, 10.38 seconds.
Wyatt Wyman, who had won the sectional the previous week, paced the Eagles with a time of 16:47.63 for 12th.
Abraham said that Wyman injured his ankle during a practice leading up to regional, and that he persevered on the course.
Other runners for the Eagles included Jackson McPheeters (14th, 16:50.73), Marino Dolph (15th, 16:53.72), Tim Kilburn (43rd, 18:04.34), Jordan Dolph (71st, 19:20.08), Cameron Fox (84th, 20:36.17) and Billy Webb (90th, 21:31.94).
“I really thought the second and third runners ran well today,” Abraham said. “Tim Kilburn stepped up and Jordan Dolph ran a much better time than last week.
“Moving on to semi-state is exactly what you want to do. You let the chips fall where they may and see where you rank in southern Indiana.”
Saturday’s race will mark the 10th semi-state appearance for the Eagles’ boys team.
In the girls’ race, the Eagles fell just one spot shy of advancing as a team, placing sixth (142 points).
North scored 35 points to claim the school’s 28th regional title, Seymour were runners-up (48) and Charlestown (128), Columbus East (129) and Jennings County (130) also advanced.
Arig Tong, of North, timed 19:00.57 to claim the regional crown over 85 other runners.
Despite not making it through as a team, the Eagles will send three individuals to semi-state.
Emilia Koester finished sixth in 20:00.83, Anna Fleetwood timed 21:03.79 for 16th and Emma DeBord clocked 21:24.83 to place 22nd for the Eagles.
The Eagles’ Maris Wyman (47th, 22:58.77) and Angel Meece (80th, 25:38.99) both saw their seasons come to a close at regional.
“We had some injuries down the line and only ran five girls,” Abraham said. “Coming in sixth in the regional is a good feat for them. It shows how good they are when three of them qualify for the semi-state next week. Once again, they get to end on the course.”
Abraham said he looks forward Eagle Park’s final varsity meet of 2017.
“We have great competition coming in next week from all across southern Indiana,” he said. “I think that it’s going to be a fun, very fast race on both sides.”
