JJunior Ronnie Neal was missing it. The feeling. The feeling of the rhythmic fall of his heels on the ground, beating grass into the earth. The feeling of sweat gliding down his back as his fisted hand wiped it from his determined brow. The feeling of his heartbeat drumming against his chest with each foot fall, with each drop of perspiration and with each cheer echoing from the sidelines. Neal missed the feeling of running. So when a recent injury left him unable to run in this weekend’s boys cross country state championship at Terre Haute, he had to rely on his teammates to feel those feelings for him.
In Neal’s absence, both the Noblesville boys and girls cross country teams wrapped up their seasons by competing in their IHSAA state finals race Saturday afternoon at the LaVern Gibson Championship course. The Miller girls took 8th place in the final, and boys 12th–both short of the podium finishes from the previous year. Prior to the finals, Neal, one of the boys crucial contributors, suffered a lung injury after a fall in the regional final. As a result, he Millers’ consistent top finisher throughout the season was unable to compete during Saturday’s meet.
“Losing [Neal] is tough at this point in the season,” junior and varsity runner Jack Strong said. “We always have someone to step it up, and fill the role.”
Both teams entered the race with high expectations, as the boys’ team became Hoosier Crossroads Conference champions in September, and the girls’ team was coming off of consecutive victories at the sectional and regional levels.
“This was the greatest, certainly fastest team Noblesville cross country has ever seen,” boys head coach Bill Kenley said.
The girls team returned to the state finals as reigning champions, narrowly defeating Columbus North during the 2022 championship. This year, however, the Miller girls were not able to defend their title.
Senior Summer Rempe said she was disappointed in the finishing place, but proud of the girls’ teamwork and racing strategy. “We definitely needed to place higher individually.” Rempe said. “I was really proud of us as a team, working together, sticking together. But we needed to be higher.”
Carmel became boys state champions for the 18th time, finishing over 100 points above the next closest finisher, Fishers. Cameron Todd from Brebeuf Jesuit took home the individual blue ribbon, with a time of 14:55.
Homestead became a first-time state champion for the girls’ team title, as Libby Dowty from Indian Creek finished as individual champion with a new state meet record time of 17:06.
Seniors like Rempe, as well as Sam Rinker and Caden Click for the boys, led the Millers in their efforts. Rinker and Click finished with nearly exact times, racing together for nearly the entirety of the race and finishing with times of 15:50 and 15:51 respectively. Rempe said that racing in a black and gold runner’s singlet for the very last time impacted her effort on the course.
“It was my last race, so I gave it my all and left it all out there,” Rempe said. “Not the finish I wanted, but I got that out of it. I can’t be upset.”
