On Saturday, Sept. 17, both the Titan and Lady Titan cross country teams traveled 40 minutes from Gibson County to the South Knox Invitational at South Knox Middle / High School. More than 10 teams competed on both the boys’ and girls’ races. The competition included teams from the Pocket Athletic Conference, along with other teams from the southern region of the state. Both the Titan’s and Lady Titan’s teams have had great success thus far, running against competition from across the state.

“By running the SK (South Knox) Invite, it allows us the opportunity to preview the Sectional course,” said Jeremy Aydt, the head coach for both the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams. “This allows us to mentally prepare for what challenges the course has. Plus the South Knox Invite provides us great competition for us to prepare for the postseason.”  

The Lady Titans kicked things off with an 8th place finish from junior Courtney Heldt in the 5K race. The next finisher for the Lady Titans was sophomore Elizabeth Steckler in 21st place and then junior Aleks Parmer who finished 27th, to round out the top three for the Lady Titans. 

“I drank lots of water and had a good mindset knowing they recently paved the old gravel hill,” Parmer said. “I went hard on the hills and let my body take itself down the hills.”

The course featured many hills and rolling terrain throughout the entirety of the race. This is the first time in the young season in which the cross country teams have competed at what is regarded as a very challenging course by runners throughout southwest Indiana. 

“This course is very challenging and gets the team primed for Sectional competition, as well as getting the team into better fitness before postseason competition begins,” said Alex Spindler, a junior cross country runner. 

Shortly after the girls’ race concluded, the gun fired and the boys’ race was underway. The boys’ race featured numerous athletes capable of coming away with a victory on that particular day. The race began with a steady pace, with not one individual wanting to take the early lead. The team race was tight and ended with the Titans taking a third place finish behind Castle and South Knox. The points were close, and first to third place were separated by less than eight points. The Titans had three finishers in the top ten, which included juniors Alex Spindler in 2nd, Cooper Maurer in 5th and Hayden Pennington in 9th. The Titans also had juniors Lucas Kissel in 18th and Isaac Pohl in 17th.

On October 8, the Titans and Lady Titans will compete for a Sectional title at South Knox.