Seymour runners qualify for semistate: Both cross-country teams advance, Brownstown out

NASHVILLE

Getting to run in a cross-country meet on his birthday was the perfect present for Ian Hensen.

The Seymour junior’s goal was to place in the top 15 in Saturday’s Brown County Regional so he could get a ribbon. He not only did that, but he helped the Seymour boys finish third out of 10 teams and advance to next week’s Brown County Semistate.

“I love cross-country, and this was on my birthday, so it was awesome,” Hensen said with a smile. “It being my birthday helped me. It gave me a little more motivation.”

No. 7 Columbus North placed six of its seven runners in the top seven to easily win the title with 18 points. Silver Creek placed second with 90 points, and Seymour and Indian Creek each scored 111 points, but Seymour’s sixth runner placed 41st to Indian Creek’s 45th.

Seymour’s girls team followed up its second-place finish at Tuesday’s Brown County Sectional with another strong showing, placing second with 81 points. Columbus North made it a sweep with the No. 5 girls having all seven runners in the top nine and scoring 18 points for the win.

Another Jackson County girls squad, Brownstown Central, missed the semistate cut by two places, finishing seventh with 191 points.

Jack Tormoehlen led the Seymour boys by placing 12th in 16:37, and Hensen was 15th with a personal-record time of 16:51. Columbus North’s Karson Tays had a winning time of 15:41.

“I was trying to start out not too fast, and then catch people at the end of the race, and I had a four-second PR,” Hensen said. “Our training, we’re starting to taper, and it’s helping out a lot. I’ve worked a lot harder this year.”

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