2023 Hoosier Crossroads Conference Championship
By: Justin Amburgy
The 2023 HCC Championship took place Saturday morning. This year's meet was hosted at Brownsburg at the relatively new course located at Brownsburg East Middle School. Every record at this meet was broken as the boys and girls HCC meet records came down as well as the Brownsburg course records.
Matthew Kim (left) and Sam Quagliaroli (right) of Fishers
The day started with the boys race which featured 5 of the top 6 teams in the state and 7 of the state's top 25 teams according to the coaches association. By the 1K it was clear that Sam Quagliaroli and Matthew Kim of Fishers were looking to break away from the closest chase pack which included Ian Baker (Brownsburg), Jack Turnbull (Zionsville), Evan Mayo (Zionsville), Sam Spees (Zionsville), and Joey Ashman (Franklin Central).
The Fishers duo could be seen talking, perhaps about race strategy, as they approached the 3K and the wooded section of the course. At this point of the race Caden Click, a senior at Noblesville, had worked his way up to 3rd place to close the gap of the leaders down to about 10 meters. Baker was also 10 meters behind Click and had a large group of runners chasing behind him.
Quagliaroli and Kim made a move at this point as they emerged from the woods at the 4K with a 15 second lead over the nearest competitor. It was at this point that Quagliaroli began to slightly gap his teammate. He held this gap coming into the final stretch and looked like he was going to coast to an easy win. In the final 3 meters of the race his teammate put in a final surge to edge Quagliaroli by five hundredths of a second. Their times were 15:04.23 and 15:04.28 respectively.
Both were under the previous meet record which was 15:14.90 held by current Butler runner Asher Propst (Noblesville) from 2022. The entire top 6 from today's race eclipsed the Brownsburg course record of 15:26.20 that was held by Jesus Garcia (Zionsville) from 2019.
Boys HCC All-Conference (Top 15)
1st - Matthew Kim (Fishers) - 15:04.23
2nd - Sam Quagliaroli (Fishers) - 15:04.28
3rd - Ian Baker (Brownsburg) - 15:17.05
4th - Jack Turnbull (Zionsvile) - 15:19.50
5th - Sam Spees (Zionsville) - 15:23.64
6th - Caden Click (Noblesville) - 15:24.21
7th - Ronnie Neal (Noblesville) - 15:27.41
8th - Joey Ashman (Franklin Central) - 15:32.63
9th - Zach Risner (Avon) - 15:36.84
10th - Evan Mayo (Zionsville) - 15:39.95
11th - Evan Farmer (Franklin Central) - 15:40.19
12th - Andrew Smith (Hamilton Southeastern) - 15:41.93
13th - Liam Powers (Hamilton Southeastern) - 15:42.47
14th - Sherjeel Khan (Brownsburg) - 15:42.66
15th - Sam Clore (Avon) - 15:48.89
Boys Team Championship
The boys from Noblesville were able to work up throughout the race to finish as back to back conference champions. The Millers finished with 68 points, 14 points ahead of second place, and had their scoring 5 all break the 16:00 mark. These 5 were Caden Click (15:24), Ronnie Neal (15:27), Sam Rinker (15:50), John Libs (15:51), and Alec Moor (15:57).
The Zionsville boys finished the meet as runner-ups with a score of 82 points. They were led by the second best duo of same school runners with Jack Turnbull and Sam Spees. They finished 4th and 5th with times of 15:19 and 15:23 respectively. Evan Mayo (15:39), Joseph Spees (15:58), and Elijah Bineyard (16:23) rounded out the top 5 for the Eagles.
The Fishers boys finished 3rd with a score of 85 points. Having previously mentioned Kim and Quagliaroli finishing 1-2 helped the Tigers with two low sticks. The three other scorers for the Tigers were Parker Melling (16:01), Nate Thomas (16:02), and Henry Wood (16:09). The younger Fishers squad looks to improve next year as Matthew Kim was the only senior on the team in the top 10.
Outside of the podium, the Hamilton Southeastern boys stepped up and placed better than expected, beating out Brownsburg and Franklin Central who were ranked ahead.
Boys HCC Final Team Score
1st - Noblesville - 68 points
2nd - Zionsville - 82 points
3rd - Fishers - 85 points
4th - Hamilton Southeastern - 93 points
5th - Brownsburg - 95 points
6th - Franklin Central - 114 points
7th - Avon - 146 points
8th - Westfield - 233 points
Girls Individual Championship
Jessica Hegedus of Avon
By the time the girls were halfway through the race Hegedus kept a slim lead over Powers and Cline. A few seconds behind these three was Liz Smith, a senior at Westfield, who led a group of runners as they approached the 3K marker in the wooded loop of the course. Her teammate, a freshman, Alivia Lozier also moved up to this group of 5 girls.
Similar to the boys championship, moves were made in the wooded loop. Hegedus expanded her lead at this point with Cline committing to chasing her down. Cline of Franklin Central broke away and created a 30 meter gap over 3rd.
In the last kilometer Hegedus was able to gain 3 seconds to her lead which secured her repeat win as well as break the conference meet record of 17:45.97 which was previously held by former NC State runner Sophia Rigg (Zionsville) from 2017. Hegedues finished with a time of 17:40.48 with Cline finishing close behind at 17:49.51. Also from the Flashes was Miller who barely missed sub 18 with a 18:00.60. All three of these girls were under the previous Brownsburg course record of 18:01.40 which was held by current Stanford freshman Sophia Kennedy (Park Tudor).
Girls HCC All-Conference (Top 15)
1st - Jessica Hegedus (Avon) - 17:40.48
2nd - Kylie Cline (Franklin Central) - 17:49.51
3rd - Savana Miller (Franklin Central) - 18:00.60
4th - Liz Smith (Westfield) - 18:02.24
5th - Alivia Lozier (Westfield) - 18:12.84
6th - Elizabeth Butler (Hamilton Southeastern) - 18:15.26
7th - Maggie Powers (Hamilton Southeastern) - 18:24.75
8th - Summer Rempe (Noblesville) - 18:32.98
9th - Nadia Perez (Noblesville) - 18:41.96
10th - Anissa Lammie (Hamilton Southeastern) - 18:50.05
11th - Riley Flynn (Noblesville) - 18:55.06
12th - Ava Powers (Hamilton Southeastern) - 19:01.04
13th - Ansley Applegate (Noblesville) - 19:03.80
14th - Anwesha Mishra (Zionsville) - 19:04.76
15th - Dakota Miller (Franklin Central) - 19:05.59
Girls Team Championship
The girls from Hamilton Southeastern continued to impress this season as they added a conference championship to their accomplishments so far this year. The team race was extremely close as the Royals finished with 52 points, 7 points ahead of second place. The Royals were led by 6th and 7th place performances from Elizabeth Butler (18:15) and Maggie Powers (18:24). The rest of the top 5 for the team included Anissa Lammie (18:50), Ava Powers (19:01), and Ciara Kepner (19:07).
The Noblesville girls finished the meet as runner-ups with a score of 59 points. Throughout the season the Millers have consistently been right behind the Royals and it will be interesting to see if this trend continues into the tournament in a few weeks. Noblesville had 3 girls under 19 minutes with Summer Rempe (18:32), Nadia Perez (18:41), Riley Flynn (18:55). Sisters round out the top 5 for the Millers with Ansley Applegate (19:03) and Kennedy Applegate (19:08).
The Franklin Central girls impressed today with a third place finish only 11 points off of Noblesville. The 2-3 duo of Kylie Cline (17:49) and Savana Miller (18:00) helped lead the effort for the Flashes. Dakota Miller (19:05), Kaitlyn Pettet (19:30), and Evelyn Medina (19:36) rounded out the scoring 5.
Outside of the podium, the Avon girls were able to finish ahead of Brownsburg who was ranked ahead going into the race. A large reason for this was Avon having the ultimate low stick with Hegedus.
Girls HCC Final Team Score
1st - Hamilton Southeastern - 52 points
2nd - Noblesville - 59 points
3rd - Franklin Central - 70 points
4th - Westfield - 111 points
5th - Zionsville - 120 points
6th - Avon - 136 points
7th - Brownsburg - 150 points
8th - Fishers - 219 points