SA’s McIntire earns regional title

MARION — Bailey McIntire has consistently been faster during each race this year than he was at the same point a year ago.
On Saturday, he was faster than he has ever been before.
McIntire obliterated the career-best and school record he set on the same course earlier this season to win the regional title at Indiana Wesleyan University and lead the South Adams High School boys cross country team to a second-place finish.
The Starfires narrowly missed the title, scoring 83 points to finish just one behind champion New Haven. Bellmont was third with 109.
South Adams’ girls also earned a trip to semi-state with 116 points for a fifth-place finish after coming in sixth a year ago.
The top five teams advance to the semi-state, which New Haven will host at 1 p.m. Saturday at IPFW.
McIntire, the sectional and Allen County Athletic Conference champion, added another title to his name Saturday, averaging a sub-5-minute-mile for a time of 15 minutes, 24.81 seconds. The junior was nearly 30 seconds faster than at the sectional meet a week earlier at Bellmont as he left his previous school record of 15:42 in the dust.
Deric Laurent of New Haven finished as the runner up nearly 10 seconds behind McIntire, who placed 21st in the state in 2014.
Sophomore Wyatt Miller gave the Starfire boys a pair of runners in the top 10 with an eighth-place finish in 16:29.22.
Olivia Von Gunten, another sophomore powered the SAHS girls team with a seventh-place finish in 19:10.37. Bellmont’s Bailey Beery had the winning time of 18:06.11.
McGerran Clouser followed McIntire and Miller for the South Adams boys, finishing in 17:02.05 for 25th place, and Daniel Steffen was less than a second behind him in 17:02.93 for 27th. David Steffen finished 38th in 17:17.38 to round out the Starfires’ team score.
Kara Seffernick was the No. 2 runner for the SAHS girls, finishing 23rd in 20:21.5, and Acacia Anderson followed in 25th in 20:28.94. Katelin Hawbaker crossed the line in 21:08.42 for 43rd place, and Eliza Harruff ran a time of 21:20.78 for 43rd.
Also running for the Starfires Saturday were Briar Goodwin (53rd – 17:43.97) and Kamden Yoder (82nd – 19:18.51) for the boys and Olivia Mason (57th – 21:32.87) and Calyssa Lehman (78th – 22:44.84) for the girls.