Colin: Handicapping the girls individual state champion possibilities

By Colin Altevogt
Girls Cross Country/Track &
Field Coordinator

The
two most important weekends in regular-season cross country have passed. Now
teams wait for the championship phase of the fall. Conference meets approach
and will quickly be followed up by the tournament.

Very
soon, we will have a great handle on cross country strength in the state of Indiana.

With
New Prairie and Culver down, preseason assumptions have been confirmed.
Defending state champions Westfield
and Culver Academiesâ�?��?� Alex Banfich remain the top team and individual,
respectively, and look to be virtually untouchable this season.

The team
rankings have been compiled weekly throughout the season. The individuals,
however, have been basically ignored.

Below
is an analysis of girls I perceive to have any chance of winning the individual
state title, followed by the Top 25 rankings.

The Favorite

Alex Banfich, Culver Academies

The
defending state champion has looked better a year later than at the onset of
her sophomore season. Last year at this time, Banfich was just coming into her
own after some injuries. Now, she has completely dominated every race. Banfich
was the individual champion at New Prairie in the big school race, winning by a
comfortable 10-second margin and covering the course 30 seconds faster than the
previous year. In this season’s race, she defeated two of her biggest
competitors for the state title. Banfich is undefeated this season. In fact, not
counting the state meet her freshman year, Banfich is undefeated in every Indiana cross country meet she has ever run.
Her only setback this season came last weekend when she had to sit out the
Culver Invitational due to illness.

The Contenders

Chelsea Blanchard, Carroll (Fort Wayne)

Blanchard
ran last season displaying just a shadow of her potential, struggling through
the season to help her team advance once again to the state meet. As predicted,
she is back in business this fall. Blanchard was second at New Prairie in 14:43
and has destroyed the field in every other race, solidifying her status as the
northeastern juggernaut. Carroll does not travel to the Culver Invitational,
instead running in the Snider Classic. Last weekend on a tough, rain-soaked
course, Blanchard again broke 15 minutes in dominating fashion. The second-place
runner, a teammate, was some 50 seconds behind.

Amanda & Lauren Hardesty, Valparaiso

For
the first time in her career at Valpo, Amanda Hardesty found herself as the
team’s top runner last year at the state meet. That momentum has carried over
into this season, where she has run as the Vikings’ No. 1 all season. Amanda
placed third behind Banfich and Blanchard at New Prairie. The next weekend, she
was the Culver Invitational champion, running the unofficial best time in the
state at 14:19. Lauren, the 1600 state champion last spring and biggest threat
to Banfich entering this season, went through a slight mid-season hiatus due to
illness. However, she is well on the road to recovery as evidenced by seventh-
and third-place finishes at New Prairie and Culver respectively.

Kristina Krasich & Maggie
Bingham, Westfield

The
Shamrocks have been noticeably absent from results, including not running a
race the first big weekend (New Prairie week). When they have run, this pair
has looked decent. Bingham was the winner at the Hamilton County
meet, outrunning Krasich by 12 seconds. Krasich was the team’s top runner at
the Woodruff Invitational, where she covered 5K in 17:47. At Culver, Bingham
finished second while Krasich, seemingly on an off-day, placed sixth. History
has shown that the Westfield
girls tend to run best in the last meet of the year. The results thus far have
been adequate, but expect to see these two really turn it on around semistate
time.

The Darkhorse

Shelbi Burnett, Center Grove

Though
she is a well-known runner and All-Stater, Burnett may be one of the state’s
best secrets at this point. Burnett was defeated in her first race at the
Brebeuf Invitational by Avon’s Lorna Whaley.
Since then, Burnett is undefeated and has run relatively unchallenged. She has
won big invitationals at Martinsville, Ben
Davis, Franklin Central, and Southport. The
only close race out of those four was Ben Davis, where she outran Lawrence North’s
Erika Utter (my former darkhorse) by a second on a muddy, rain-soaked course.

It
is mysterious as to what Burnett is capable of. Center Grove does not travel to
New Prairie or Culver, so Burnett has not faced a plethora of top competition
in one race. Last year, Burnett seemed to run her best when she was the
dominant runner at the meet. Still, she was 10th at the loaded Franklin Central Semistate
and 18th in the state finals, displaying a potential that could be realized
this season.

Individual Top 25

1.
Alex Banfich – Culver Academies

2.
Chelsea Blanchard – Carroll (Fort
Wayne)

3.
Amanda Hardesty – Valparaiso

4.
Maggie Bingham – Westfield

5.
Kristina Krasich – Westfield

6.
Shelbi Burnett – Center Grove

7.
Julie Roche – Fort Wayne Canterbury

8.
Lauren Hardesty – Valparaiso

9.
Lorna Whaley – Avon

10.
Kayla McCurdy – Carmel

11.
Katy Achtien – Indianapolis
Cathedral