Brown County High School

A lot of potential would be a good way to describe the upcoming 2022 cross country season. After a summer of training and a successful camp at McCormick’s Creek, the Eagles are preparing for the challenges that lie ahead. The first meet for both the boys and girls will be the annual BCXC Challenge at Eagle Park on August 17. This unique meet involves each kid being partnered with a teammate. The first teammate will run 2500 meters, and then hand off to another teammate who will complete the final 2500 meters of the course. The rest of the meets for the season will be the typical invitationals, but one exception will be a new meet the Eagles will host on August 20th called the BC Harrier Classic. This will be a very competitive 8-10 team event. The Eagles will host their typical Eagle Classic and attend invitationals at Franklin, Terre Haute, Edgewood, Culver, and Columbus North. 3-time state qualifier Hadley Gradolf returns for her senior season. Gradolf had a strong finish to her junior cross country season as she finished 23rd at the State Championship. Gradolf will attempt to be the only Brown County girl to qualify for the state finals during all four years of high school. While the girls are looking to add some depth to field a full-team score for the meets, they have been getting solid efforts from Livie Austin, Megan Cumberledge, and Sadie Hiatt. Each of these girls have been training hard and are showing consistent improvement. On the boys side, the team will look for major contributions from two of its seniors. Chase Austin and Rafe Silbaugh are motivated to finish their high school cross country careers on a high note. Austin made significant strides and finished 68th in the state finals his junior year. Silbaugh has also continued to improve and played a major role in helping the Eagles advance to the semi-state last season. The Eagles finished 18th in last year’s Brown County Semi State, and with much of that squad returning, the goal has been set to finish as a team in the top 6 and qualify for the state finals. If that is to happen, major contributions will need to come from juniors Clay Austin, Cord Smith and Charlie Webb. Sophomores Case Smith, Kai Koester, and freshman Eli Wrightsman will also look to add depth to the squad.