LAPEL — As they did as freshmen during the 2020 season, Cameron Smith and Hannah Combs are running up front as sophomores for the Lapel boys and girls cross country teams.
Smith and Combs have been the top Lapel finishers in each of their three races this season.
Smith won the Lapel Aaron Stephenson Memorial Invitational to open the season Aug. 17. In a strong field of runners at the Pendleton Heights Arabian Roundup, Smith finished 10th out of 155 competitors with a season-best 5K run in 18:02.2.
He finished fourth last weekend at the Wapahani Invitational. The boys team placed fifth out of 10 teams.
Braxton Burress, another sophomore, has been the No. 2 runner for most of the season. He had a season-best time on the home course at 20:25.
Like Burress, sophomore Gabriel Armstrong is working to break the 20-minute mark. Armstrong ran a 20:37.2 at the Arabian Roundup.
Needing five runners for a team score, coach Darrell Richardson’s squad has exactly that with senior Tommy Manning and sophomore Elijah Stires rounding out the roster.
Richardson’s girls’ team is larger with eight runners.
Combs was fourth at the Stephenson Invitational and ran a season-best 5K time of 24:29.8 in Pendleton.
Like the boys team, the girls are young.
Ellie Manning is the only senior and Emma Shupe is the lone junior.
The rest of the squad is made up of freshmen and sophomores.
Freshman Ashlyn Doster was the team’s No. 2 runner and placed seventh in the home opener and was the second Bulldog to cross the line at the Roundup with her season-best time of 26:02.1.
Sophomore Allyson Gillespie was the team’s No. 2 runner over the weekend at Wapahani. Her best time this year is 27:58.2, as the team’s No. 3 in the Pendleton race.
Others working on improving times as the season progresses are, sophomores Riley Dehart and Katelyn Garber and freshman Helena Beghtel.
Teamwise, both squads placed third at the home meet. The girls were 11th out of 13 at the Arabian Roundup, but did not have enough runners for a team score at Wapahani.
The boys did not have the required entrants for a team score at Pendleton, but all five were in action Saturday to place fifth out of 10 teams at Wapahani.
The team has two races this week. They are scheduled to compete today (Thursday, Sept. 2) at the Hamilton Heights Landes Invitational. On Saturday, they will run at the Marion Invitational.
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2021 Lapel Cross Country Schedule
Date;Event;Time
Aug. 17;Aaron Stephenson Memorial Invitational;Smith 1st, Combs 4th
Aug. 21;at Hamilton Southeastern Invitational;canc.
Aug. 25;at Pendleton Heights Roundup;Smith 10th, Combs 46th
Aug. 28;at Wapahani Invitational;Smith 4th, Combs 26th
Sept. 2;at Hamilton Heights Landes Invitational;5:30 p.m.
Sept. 4;at Marion Invitational (Indiana Wesleyan);9 a.m.
Sept. 11;at Maconaquah Invitational;9 a.m.
Sept. 18;at Tipton Invitational;9 a.m.
Sept. 21;at Madison County Meet (Pendleton Heights);6:15 p.m.
Sept. 25;at Delta Invitational;8:30 a.m.
Oct. 9;at Pendleton Heights Sectional;10:45 a.m.
Oct. 16;at Delta Regional;11:15 a.m.
Oct. 23;at New Haven Semi-State;1:45 p.m.
Oct. 30;at State Finals (Terre Haute);1:45 p.m.
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2021 Lapel Cross Country Rosters
Girls
Name;Class
Helena Beghtel;9
Hannah Combs;10
Riley DeHart;10
Ashlyn Doster;9
Katelyn Garber;10
Allyson Gillespie;10
Ellie Manning;12
Emma Shupe;11
Boys
Name;Class
Gabe Armstrong;10
Braxton Burress;10
Tommy Manning;12
Cameron Smith;10
Elijah Stires;10
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