October 12, 2021 at 4:25 a.m.
Wood heads back to regional
Wood heads back to regional
MUNCIE — Lindy Wood is headed back to regional.
She nearly had some company.
Wood, a Jay County High School senior, finished sixth at Saturday’s girls cross country sectional race hosted by Delta at Muncie SportsPlex to earn a berth in the regional.
“Really good, really good,” said Wood of how she felt about her finish, her voice jumping up an octave with excitement. “Fourth year, last time, so I’m really excited about it.”
The top five teams and top 10 individuals not on advancing teams earn berths in the regional, which begins at Muncie SportsPlex at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Both Sebastian Solis (39th overall, 11th among non-qualifying teams) for the Patriot boys and freshman Natalie Carreno (25th overall, 12th among non-qualifying teams) for the girls came up just short of advancing.
The JCHS girls placed seventh as a team with 158 points. Yorktown cruised to the sectional title with 59 points, with Delta (91), Monroe Central (95), Wes-Del (113) and Cowan (115) also advancing.
Coach Bruce Wood said he believes the girls have the talent to have made a run into the top five, but they didn’t have much opportunity to build toward that goal as a group.
“I think this is our second event that we’ve had all five girls,” Wood said, referencing various injuries. “It’s just been a real battle.”
The Patriot boys were 11th with 266 points, outpacing only Union City (286) in the 12th-team field. Wapahani had all five of its scoring runners in the top 15 to win the sectional title with 38 points ahead of Monroe Central (68), Yorktown (78), Muncie Central (80) and Burris (175).
JCHS started on the far right side of the field for both races. Rather than try to merge into the pack, Lindy Wood stayed on the outside and ran the first several hundred yards — some of it through the swampiest part of the course following heavy rain Friday night — mostly by herself.
“I was like, ‘Well, at least I’m by myself,’ because it was so wet there this time. I did go out a little too fast, which is what I did last week too, but I was able to hold on.”
By the time she eventually cut in to her left to join the rest of the field, she was in a group of runners jockeying for 10th through 15th.
She didn’t stay there.
By the mile mark, Wood had climbed to fifth place with Monroe Central sophomore Addison Coe running just behind her off her left hip. Wood had left Coe behind by the 2-mile mark and stayed in fifth most of the way before Daleville sophomore Faith Norris passed her down the stretch.
Wood’s sixth-place finish is the best of her career at the sectional meet after taking 35th as a freshman, 21st as a sophomore and just squeaking into the top 15 last season. She finished in 22 minutes, 14 seconds.
“I’m really happy with it,” said Wood. (It was the first time she had to qualify for the regional as an individual after the Patriots had moved on as a team in each of the last three seasons.) “Last year I got 15th. If last year’s self saw this year I would have been really excited, and I am excited about today.”
Delta’s Nicki Southerland, who placed ninth in the state last season, dominated to win the individual sectional title by more than two minutes in 18:52. Her teammate Makayla Robles was second in 21:17.
Jay County’s runners were buried deep in the pack from the start of the race, leaving them forced to fight to climb in the standings. Solis, a junior, was able to do that after sitting 47th at the mile mark. He picked off runners and pulled into the top 40, but came up one place and seven seconds short of earning the final regional-qualifying spot.
Solis finished 39th in 20:10. Winchester junior Brock Hays was the final regional qualifier in 38th with his time of 20:03.
“He’s happy with the result,” said Bruce Wood. “I know he put his effort into trying to get to where he needed to be. During the race, we were keeping tracks of the individuals that we thought he needed to get ahead of. He did a real good job of making those attacks. I just think there were some guys that were below him that unexpectedly got up in there.”
Carreno was also within striking distance of qualifying for the regional meet. She was 31st at the mile mark before working her way up to a 25th-place finish in 24:43. Ava Jefferis, a Union City freshman, was the final regional qualifier with a time of 24:08 for a 21st-place finish.
Willow Hardy posted the No. 3 time for the Patriot girls with a 48th-place finish in 27:03. Gloria Raines was 58th in 29:05, and Maria Sanchez finished 61st in 29:19.
Senior Dustin Harris closed out his career by posting the No. 2 time for the Jay County boys at 20:39 for a 47th-place finish. Seth Wilson was 55th in 21:10, Aaron Funkhouser finished 60th in 21:25 and Owen Ransom was 69th in 22:05.
She nearly had some company.
Wood, a Jay County High School senior, finished sixth at Saturday’s girls cross country sectional race hosted by Delta at Muncie SportsPlex to earn a berth in the regional.
“Really good, really good,” said Wood of how she felt about her finish, her voice jumping up an octave with excitement. “Fourth year, last time, so I’m really excited about it.”
The top five teams and top 10 individuals not on advancing teams earn berths in the regional, which begins at Muncie SportsPlex at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Both Sebastian Solis (39th overall, 11th among non-qualifying teams) for the Patriot boys and freshman Natalie Carreno (25th overall, 12th among non-qualifying teams) for the girls came up just short of advancing.
The JCHS girls placed seventh as a team with 158 points. Yorktown cruised to the sectional title with 59 points, with Delta (91), Monroe Central (95), Wes-Del (113) and Cowan (115) also advancing.
Coach Bruce Wood said he believes the girls have the talent to have made a run into the top five, but they didn’t have much opportunity to build toward that goal as a group.
“I think this is our second event that we’ve had all five girls,” Wood said, referencing various injuries. “It’s just been a real battle.”
The Patriot boys were 11th with 266 points, outpacing only Union City (286) in the 12th-team field. Wapahani had all five of its scoring runners in the top 15 to win the sectional title with 38 points ahead of Monroe Central (68), Yorktown (78), Muncie Central (80) and Burris (175).
JCHS started on the far right side of the field for both races. Rather than try to merge into the pack, Lindy Wood stayed on the outside and ran the first several hundred yards — some of it through the swampiest part of the course following heavy rain Friday night — mostly by herself.
“I was like, ‘Well, at least I’m by myself,’ because it was so wet there this time. I did go out a little too fast, which is what I did last week too, but I was able to hold on.”
By the time she eventually cut in to her left to join the rest of the field, she was in a group of runners jockeying for 10th through 15th.
She didn’t stay there.
By the mile mark, Wood had climbed to fifth place with Monroe Central sophomore Addison Coe running just behind her off her left hip. Wood had left Coe behind by the 2-mile mark and stayed in fifth most of the way before Daleville sophomore Faith Norris passed her down the stretch.
Wood’s sixth-place finish is the best of her career at the sectional meet after taking 35th as a freshman, 21st as a sophomore and just squeaking into the top 15 last season. She finished in 22 minutes, 14 seconds.
“I’m really happy with it,” said Wood. (It was the first time she had to qualify for the regional as an individual after the Patriots had moved on as a team in each of the last three seasons.) “Last year I got 15th. If last year’s self saw this year I would have been really excited, and I am excited about today.”
Delta’s Nicki Southerland, who placed ninth in the state last season, dominated to win the individual sectional title by more than two minutes in 18:52. Her teammate Makayla Robles was second in 21:17.
Jay County’s runners were buried deep in the pack from the start of the race, leaving them forced to fight to climb in the standings. Solis, a junior, was able to do that after sitting 47th at the mile mark. He picked off runners and pulled into the top 40, but came up one place and seven seconds short of earning the final regional-qualifying spot.
Solis finished 39th in 20:10. Winchester junior Brock Hays was the final regional qualifier in 38th with his time of 20:03.
“He’s happy with the result,” said Bruce Wood. “I know he put his effort into trying to get to where he needed to be. During the race, we were keeping tracks of the individuals that we thought he needed to get ahead of. He did a real good job of making those attacks. I just think there were some guys that were below him that unexpectedly got up in there.”
Carreno was also within striking distance of qualifying for the regional meet. She was 31st at the mile mark before working her way up to a 25th-place finish in 24:43. Ava Jefferis, a Union City freshman, was the final regional qualifier with a time of 24:08 for a 21st-place finish.
Willow Hardy posted the No. 3 time for the Patriot girls with a 48th-place finish in 27:03. Gloria Raines was 58th in 29:05, and Maria Sanchez finished 61st in 29:19.
Senior Dustin Harris closed out his career by posting the No. 2 time for the Jay County boys at 20:39 for a 47th-place finish. Seth Wilson was 55th in 21:10, Aaron Funkhouser finished 60th in 21:25 and Owen Ransom was 69th in 22:05.
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