The Boone Central/Newman Grove Cardinals dominated the girls race and took a major step forward in the boys competition at the 2018 Mid-State Conference Cross Country Championships held at O’Neill Thursday.
Despite a miserable day of cold temps and light rain, the Lady Cardinals continued their outstanding season by winning the team championship behind first and second- place medalists Samantha Weeder and Jordan Stopak. Jonny Lindgren posted a strong third-place performance and Bradley Schindel took eighth as the Boone Central/Newman Grove boys placed third in the team battle.
“As crummy as the day was, we had a really good time!” exclaimed Cardinal Coach Tom Dickey. “I’m guessing Boone Central runners have no problems with rain and 34 degrees – they just really went after it!”
Weeder won the Mid-State gold medal by just a stride or so, posting a time of 19:48.32 to Stopak’s 19:48.76 – both personal bests. Autumn Simons and Lauren Pugh were also in the top ten, Simons (22:06) placing eighth and Pugh (22:24) tenth.
“Sam and Jordan are undoubtably the best runner duo from any school in Class C!” Dickey exclaimed.
The Cardinals placed third behind champion Norfolk Catholic and Crofton, with Lindgren running 17:22 and Schindel a personal-best 17:46. Wright (17th, 18:47) and Kohl (25th, 19:29) also posting personal-best times.
“The guys are really on a mission!” Dickey praised. “They wanted to make sure that schools like Pierce knew we were really improved. Pierce had beaten us by 30-40 points earlier in the season, so I think we shocked them when we beat them.”
Further details and complete results in Print & Online editions of Albion News
