Cougar harriers win South Adams Invitational

Carroll senior Courtney Rinehart finished in tenth position at the South Adams Cross Country Invitational held Saturday. She was her team's first finisher in the race that Carroll girls won. Jerry D. Reinke photo

The sixth ranked Carroll boys and third ranked girls (small division coaches' poll) cross country teams both won the team championship at the South Adams Invitational on Saturday. This invitational has been dubbed "Little State" by its creators. The race, only open to 1A and 2A schools, featured 14 schools.

In the girls' race, Courtney Rinehart finished tenth, leading a pack of Cougars across the finish line. The top five runners all finished between 17:00 and 17:54, placing all five in the top 23. That performance proved to be too strong for the #1 ranked team, Southern Wells, as the Cougars roared to victory.

Also placing for Carroll were: Ashley Bordner 14th, Kaitlin Kennedy 18th, Hope Hayden 21st, Lauren Wilkinson 23rd, Abby Reinke 39th, Emily Schneckloth 47th, Amber Hughes 54th and Megan Ayres 57th. There were 90 runners in this race.

Carroll girls are now 124-16 on the season. The boys' race proved to be

Carroll's number 1 boys runner, Kyle Wallace, ran to a sixth place finish at the South Adams Cross Country Invitational. The senior led his team to first place. Jerry D. Reinke photo

just as exciting as the girls. Led by Kyle Wallace's sixth place finish, the boys from Carroll squeaked out a victory over a strong field led by South Adams, who finished runner-up. The male Cougars also packed it together as the top five placed between sixth and 32nd.

The rest of the Carroll boys finished strong, led by Tyler Macy 13th, Sam Scharer 22nd, Weston Rinehart 23rd, Brad Benson 32nd, Clinton Miller 36th, Sean Smith 42nd, Andrew Miller 46th, Seth Larimore 55th, Nick Jones 61st, Mitchell Cottrell 88th and Jared Collins 96th.

Jason Hazel also runs for the Cougars but was sick and did not attend the race. There were 98 runners in the boys' race.

The boys are now 116-23

The Cougars now prepare for the Hoosier Heartland Conference meet. It will be run Thursday at Clinton Prairie High School. The boys will race at 5 p.m., followed by the girls at 5:30. The Sectional will be at Rensselaer next Tuesday, starting with the boys at 5 p.m. (CDT) followed at 5:30 (CDT) by the girls.