INDIANA STATE MEET

Lily Cridge Hangs On To Beat Nicki Southerland For Second State Title; Kole Mathison Leads 1-2 Finish As Carmel Edges Zionsville

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

PHOTOS by Chad Veal

In the hotly competitive one size fits all Indiana state cross country championships on Saturday, nationally ranked individuals Lily Cridge and Kole Mathison picked up important state titles that could propel them into the postseason full of confidence. 

Cridge, a senior from Indianapolis Bishop Chatard, won her second individual state title at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute and ran 14 seconds faster than she did last year to reach the finish line in 17:14.6. 

The unbeaten Cridge needed that improvement to overcome hard-charging Nicki Southerland of Delta, who cut a 12-second deficit at 3,000 meters down to three seconds at the end. Southerland, a junior, finished in 17:17.5. 

Park Tudor's talented duo, Sophia Kennedy and Gretchen Farley, placed third and fifth. 

Mathison, who ran under 15 minutes on the course at the Nike XC Town Twilight, maintained his season-long dominance within the state and ran 15:02.8. He was overjoyed to turn at the finish line and see teammate Anthony Provenzano coming across in second in 15:11.2, barely outkicking Cameron Todd of Brebeuf Jesuit, also timed in 15:11.2.

US#5 Carmel won its 17th state title with 103 points but had to sweat out the results against a tightly packed Zionsville (US#13) group that put five scorers in front of the Greyhounds' fourth. Zionsville's five scorers split 25 seconds and finished between 11th and 27th place. 

Team Champions - 

Girls - Noblesville 122 points - RESULTS

Boys - Carmel 103 points - RESULTS