MUSTANG STAMPEDE
Mustang Stampede Recap: Southard 15:58, Haas 19:01. Daviess County takes the win on both sides.
Girl’s Varsity Race: Once again, Daviess County’s girls didn’t run their whole team. However, that wouldn’t matter today as they won by a total of 36 points even without their top 5 runners. From the gun freshman Caroline Haas of South Warren led, and she never let up. Through the first mile she clocked a 5:52, a good 13 seconds ahead of the next runner, Rachel Keeley of Owensboro. Following Keeley were Leslie Burns of Apollo, Kate Duty of DC, and Alex Girten of Owensboro, all of which were in the 6:10-6:20 time range. By the second mile, Haas had put a 40 second gap on all of her competition, coming in at 12:04. This time Keeley wasn’t by herself, as Duty had made up tremendous ground to put herself within striking distance of second place. By this time, Emily Woodard of Hancock County had put herself at the top of field after not even being in the top 10 at the first mile, much like she did at the Owensboro Invitational a week prior. Haas continued to gradually pull away and ended up finishing with a 19:01 with no one else in sight. It would be about a minute later when second and third place finishers Keeley (19:58) and Duty (20:01) crossed the line. Also in the top 5 were Woodard (20:27) followed by Julia Borders (20:33) of Madisonville-North Hopkins. Both negative split the entire race.
All of the top 4 runners ran personal bests, and 5th place Borders had a season best.
Boy’s Varsity Race: So far, Daviess County’s boys had yet to run as a full team. Today that would change, and for the better. DC nearly had a clean sweep, having 7 boys in the top 10, scoring an amazing 24 points. Having DC here meant defending State Champion Chase Geary would have some really tough competition, specifically Daniel Southard. At the first mile, as expected Geary and Southard were neck and neck coming in at 4:54. Distant but noticeable, a group of 3 consisting of Jonah Starling of South Warren, and DC teammates Grant Carpenter and Nelson Dant followed at 5:10-5:12 time range. A half mile later, Southard had begun to pull away from Geary. It became very apparent at the two mile that Southard had every intention to win. Southard clocked a 10:04, with Geary at 10:15. The same pack of 3 had stuck together, proceeding through the two mile mark at 10:47, 10:49, and 10:50, same order as before. Coming down the last stretch, Southard looked relaxed and confident, as he should, considering he ran 15:58. This is one of the top 5 fastest times ran this year in Kentucky. Geary finished at 16:19, a season best. Carpenter ended up finishing in front of the group of 3 with a 16:58, followed by Starling (17:04.3) and Dant (17:04.7). Dant fell behind before entering the home stretch, but ended up regaining his spot with an incredible kick, passing two runners. Then came the parade of DC jerseys.
While only Jonah Starling ran a personal best, all top 5 runners ran season bests.
Girl’s Middle School Race: Unlike the high school runners, the middle school had to run a 4k. Breanna Alderton of College View Middle School led the entire race by herself, coming through the first mile at 6:00 exactly. Alderton was so far ahead that the second runner, Ashley Colburn of Owensboro Middle, didn’t know where to go on the course and turned the wrong way. After correction, Ashley was at 6:30 through the mile. Finishing, Alderton ran a course record of 15:44. Passing Colburn sometime after the 3k, Karlee Hoffman of Daviess County Middle finished second with 16:49.
Boy’s Middle School Race: For almost the entire race, Hunter Kurz of Daviess County Middle and Donta Millay of Owensboro Middle stuck together. Both came through the first mile at 5:31, and continued together until about 500 meters left. Just like the Owensboro Invitational, Kurz had a strong kick. This separated the two by 8 seconds. Kurz finished at 14:16, and Millay at 14:24.
The day consisted of great weather, a great course, and even better times.