Lady Indians team, Hillsboro's Winkle and Brunck qualify for XC regionals

Hillsboro and McClain runners competed in the Division II Southeast District Cross-Country Meet on Saturday, Oct. 21, where the Hillsboro Lady Indians team as well as two HHS varsity boys runners earned a spot at regionals.

The Lady Indians finished sixth overall with a team score of 207 to advance to the next round of the postseason, as the top eight teams qualify. Also for HHS, junior Corbin Winkle was sixth and freshman Rason Brunck finished 15th, as both varsity boys runners also move on to regionals.

For the HHS varsity girls team, their top runner was sophomore Jailyn Williams, who finished 17th with a time of 21:14.23. She was followed by sophomore Taylor Thoroman in 21st place, with a time of 21:13.13.

Next, senior Ramsey Haines was 48th with a time of 22:58.09. Senior Brooklyn Lucarello finished 60th with a time of 23:27.46, and sophomore Kennedy Sexton was close behind in 65th (23:58.26).

Junior Abbey Letts was 70th (24:23.86), and sophomore Olivia Covault finished 76th (24:52.05) to round out Hillsboro’s runners at districts.

On the boys side, the HHS junior Winkle ran a 16:40.26 for his regional berth, as he was sixth place. Freshman teammate Rason Brunck finished the race with a time of 17:35.80 for 15th.

As a team, the Indians were eight points away from qualifying, as they were ninth place with a score of 219 (top eight teams qualify; Athens was eighth with 211 points).

HHS sophomore Ryan Howland was 42nd overall with a time of 18:28.27, while junior Chris Sowders was 67th (18:59.82). Sophomore Cooper Swope was 97th (20:14.44), while senior Jacob Schommer was 159th (25:14.92) and freshman Jayden Wells was 162nd (26:16.12).

McClain also had several runners competing at the district meet. The Lady Tigers were led by senior Katrina Sturgeon, who ran a 25:30.87 for 85th place. Three of her teammates — junior Brooke Baldwin (26:20.32), senior Sierra Barton (26:20.78) and sophomore Laura Barber (26:25.00) finished back-to-back-to-back, in 93rd, 94th and 95th places, respectively.

Sophomore Liv Stegbauer (27:47.41) was 114th, and junior Ashley Mitchell was 120th (28:37.23). Rounding out the scoring for McClain was junior Bailey Mitchell in 130th (30:08.01).

The McClain boys team was led by freshman Dart Stovall, who was 128th with a time of 21:35.98. Other MHS runners included senior Robert Surritt (22:15.86), junior Zach Scales (23;05.66), junior Nicolas Alvarez (24:12.23), junior Nathan Alvarez (25:07.76) and junior Jesse Van Hoose (27:20.12).

The Lady Indians, Winkle and Brunck will compete at regionals Saturday, Oct. 28 at Pickerington North High School.