Bloomington South head coach Larry Williams knew both of his teams held their destiny in their hands going into Saturday's Crawford County cross country regional.
A good half-dozen teams on each side had the goods to nab the final three spots, and his teams made sure the Panthers were one of them.
The girls' team had much more working against them, with Mary Asplund unable to finish her senior season and usual top five runner Reese Jones out sick. But they did it, led by race winner Lexi Kollbaum, who set a course record with an 18:32.5, to score 182 points for fourth place.
More: Bloomington South girls XC standout takes everything in strides and strokes
"It was exciting to see this group achieve a state berth," Williams said. "Losing several top runners to graduation, a couple more to injuries and then another to illness. And they race to fourth and a state berth. Such a great story."
Bloomington North had to settle for seventh (217) while sending Penny Eads on. Bedford North Lawrence's Voigtschild twins also advanced.
The South boys put together a career afternoon for six of the seven runners and took third place with 153, topping Bloomington North (167). They nipped Evansville Reitz (173) thanks to its 3-4-5 runners, who stepped up with usual No. 4 Alex Stosberg running but ill.
Edgewood's Monte Kester was an individual qualifier.
All week, Williams reminded his runners to stay within themselves, and it paid off.
"The boys came in on a mission," Williams said. "There were several teams that dropped fast times at the other sectionals, but they kept believing and had a week of sharp training. We talked about what it was to race as a team, everyone doing their part and they took that to heart and did their jobs today.
"The first six all had best times with Oliver Moore giving great effort though he was sick."
Kollbaum led the girls race start to finish, holding off challenges from a pair of runners and pulling away as BNL's Claire Voigstchild was second (18:40.5) and Paige was fourth (18:49.9).
Brooklyn Vogel was 22nd in a career best 19:31.2 with Sophia Trcka 58th (20:48.0), Annie Bruggeman was 62nd (20:55.3) and Maddie Merkley was 73rd (21:12.5).
"This was Lexi's most complete race of the year," Williams said. "And at a great time to prepare for next week's state meet.
"Brooklyn quickly put herself in a strong position early. She kept fighting within the group she was racing with. Sophia has been such a good leader this fall and today, did some leading on the course. She has gotten so much better over the last few weeks. Bruggeman and Merkley were also solid. Addison Staten was a late add with Jones sick and Ella Sturdevant ran strong."
Boys and Girls teams are heading to State! Boys place 3rd, Girls 4th, to advance! Lexi Kollbaum is the individual Champion in a course record of 18:32, while Chase Norris leads the Boys with a PR of 15:25 in 6th place. Congratulations Panthers! @BHSS_Athletics@JimGordillopic.twitter.com/DpTgILLsIB
— Bloomington South Boys XC/T&F (@bhssxctf) October 24, 2026
Chase Norris led the Panther boys, taking sixth in a PR of 15:25.0 in his first all-out race. Luke Reinhart bounced back from illness that slowed him at sectional to place 27th (16:14.7). James Rice was 48th (16:49.2) and Wes Matthews (16:54.5) and Jake Xiao (16:55) went 52-53.
"Chase had a great showing from start to finish," Williams said. "Luke, who was under the weather last week, rebounded and gave us a great race. Ricky has been tremendous the last several races and held his position throughout the race.
"James Rice had his best race of the season and got out strong and continued to defend his position. Weston has had quite the season and he helped keep James and Jake in a strong pack."
Split day for North
The North boys were aiming for second, but settled for fourth with Stosberg limited.
Shep Jackson was 18th (16:01.7) and Jackson Walker 20th (16:08.7) behind Reitz's top two, but Tucker Inman was 26th (16:13.6) to beat his Reitz counterpart by 32 spots. Lucas Sinn Trulock (17:06.4) and Simon Kane (17:10.8) rounded out the top fives.
"We got through," North coach Justin Helmer said. "Shep was great, Jackson ran solid and Tucker was great. With Alex sick, he struggled through a tough day and I'm proud of him showing up and doing what he could. And Lucas and Simon were solid.
"We left feeling we did what we needed to do this week. I thought if we ran well all-around, we could get maybe second, but that's the way it goes. We don't love fourth, but we'll take it and hopefully show up healthy next week and see what we can do."
The girls were a mixed bag of results again. Eads qualified with an 18th place finish in 19:25.9, but from there, whatever 'usual' order got scrambled. Margaret Sui was 48th (20:32.8), Adelyn Walker 53rd (20:43.5), Ana Lopez 67th and Romy Wright 75th as the pack disassembled more than usual.
North was in a group from fifth (Greensburg at 212) to Seymour in 10th (267) separated by only 55 points.
"That's been the story of the season, where are we going to finish 2-7?" Helmer said. "It's such an important part of what we can do. Penny was disappointed in her sectional run and came back and ran great. I felt early on if Penny was in the top 20, I thought we'd be all right.
"That pack has always been interchangeable and always seems to be someone taking care of business. But we were not quite able to get it done. We had a good 1-2-3, but then we were off from where we've normally been."
Edgewood's Kester survives
Just one runner remains from Edgewood's fleet, Monte Kester, who took 13th in 15:58.3. The boys were 18th (436), with Noah Gallagher 76th and David Norris 123rd.
"Obviously happy for him," coach Ben Francke said. "He was in the low 20s at the mile mark and passed a few at the end. He was just 13, 14 seconds off his PR but on a much tougher course. We were shooting for top 10, but he did what he had to do to get through to the state meet."
The girls got out quick like they'd hoped to get in contention, but ended up eighth (253) and saw Avi Grile run a great race, taking 34th in 19:58.3. But that left her one spot and a couple seconds short of a state berth.
"I was holding back my own tears having to tell her that," Francke said. "But if you would have told me she'd be there. Just three weeks ago at Nike (Twilight) she ran a 20:34. What she has done in the last three weeks, she's gotten on a hot streak every runner dreams of.
"Good things were happening and she put herself in contention. It's impressive. I just wish there was one more spot."
Maggie McCormack was 47th (20:28) and Nerissa Zelhof-Arriaga was 52nd (20:43.2).
Seitz beats Zieren
Calvin Seitz of Springs Valley ran away with the boys race, winning in an incredible 14:30.7. Carter Zieren of Reitz was a distant second in 15:15.3, followed by Jack Wilbourne of Signature (15:16.6) and Joseph Day of Columbus North (15:17.2).
Eastern Greene's boys were 24th (613) led by Dillan Williams (18:04) in 124th. The girls were 23rd (678) led by Cheyenne Bahr (108th in 21:45.0).
Seven Oaks saw Boaz Ewer finished 63rd (17:07.4) in the boys race and Sydney Bush 42th in the girls (20:17.6). Lighthouse Christian's Elanor Farnam was 90th in the girls' race (21:25.9).
Henry Barco of Martinsville was 40th in the boys race in 16:39.3.
BOYS RESULTS
Top 10 teams (top 5 advance to state): 1. Columbus North 53; 2. Barr-Reeve 146; 3. Bloomington South 153; 4. Bloomington North 167; Evansville Reitz 173. Castle 203; Signature 220; Silver Creek 231; Floyd Central 244; Evansville Memorial 251; 18. Edgewood 436; 24. Eastern Greene 613.
Area individuals
Bloomington South: 6. Chase Norris 15:25.0; 27. Luke Reinhart 16:14.7; 42. Ricky Eakin 16:41.1; 48. James Rice 16:49.6; 52. Wes Matthews 16:54.5; 53. Jake Xiao 16:55.0; 84. Oliver Moore 17:30.9. Bloomington North: 18. Shep Jackson 16:01.7; 20. Jackson Walker 16:08.7; 26. Tucker Inman 16:13.6; 62. Lucas Sinn Trulock 17:06.4; 69. Simon Kane 17:10.8; 83. Alex Stosberg 17:28.9; 87. Chase Heins 17:35.6.
Edgewood: 13. Monte Kester 15:58.3; 76. Noah Gallagher 17:18.5; 123. Davin Norris 18:03.2; 155. Ezra Grile, 18:30.6; 182. Axel Geboy 18:52.0; 189. Matthew Rouker 18:59.2; 200. Brayden Pairitz 19:10.2. Eastern Greene: 124. Dillan Williams 18:04.2; 150. Elijah Jordan 18:26.2; 151. Dylan Kirkwood 18:27.6; 159. Jacob Crites 18:31.3; 218. Evan Pate 19:36.5; 223. Aaron Hudson 19:51.5; 235. Zayvier Wise 20:46.0. Seven Oaks: 63. Boaz Ewer 17:07.4; 215. Mak Bollhorst 19:31.8. Lighthouse Christian: 204. Corban Jackson 19:14.1. Martinsville: 40. Henry Barco 16:39.3. Bedford North Lawrence: 103. Hayden Rich 17:48.7; 142. Eli McFarland 18:20.4; 203. Sam Strauser 19:13.4; 219. Linkin Guthrie 19:39.8. Mitchell: 157. Bentley Rayhill 18:30.9; 234. Jacob Ritchison 20:43.3.
GIRLS RESULTS
Top 10 teams (top 5 advance to state): 1. Floyd Central 51; 2. Columbus North 76; 3. Jasper 155; 4. Bloomington South 182; 5. Greensburg 212. Evansville Mater Dei 216; Bloomington North 217; Edgewood 253; Castle 265; Seymour 267. 12 Bedford North Lawrence 306; 23. Eastern Greene 678.
Area individuals
Bloomington South: 1. Lexi Kollbaum 18:32.5; 22. Brooklyn Vogel 19:31.2; 58. Sophia Trcka 20:48.0; 62. Annie Bruggeman 20:55.3; 73. Maddie Merkley 21:12.5; 105. Addison Staten 21:41.8; 114. Ella Sturdevant 21:52.8. Bloomington North: 18. Penny Eads 19:25.9; 48. Margaret Sui 20:32.8; 53. Adelyn Walker 20:43.5; 67. Ana Lopez 21:01.0; 75. Romy Wright 21:14.4; 77. Piper Reed 21:15.7; 83. Lauren Thies 21:21.4. Edgewood: 34. Avi Grile 19:58.3; 47. Maggie McCormack, 20:28.0; 52. Nerissa Zelhof-Arriaga 20:43.2; 60. Josie Buckley 20:53.8; 118. Abigail Gregory 21:58.4; 136. Lillie Barnett 22:16.8; 144. Greta Vagedes 22:30.8.
Eastern Greene: 108. Cheyenne Bahr 21:45.0; 176. Caroline Roberts 23:03.8; 214. Avery Fuller 24:20.4; 226. Madison Shimkus 25:13.6; 234. Jordis Eads 25:55.3. Seven Oaks: 42. Sydney Bush 20:17.6. Lighthouse Christian: 90. Elanor Farnam 21:25.9. Bedford North Lawrence: 2. Claire Voigtschild 18:40.5; 4. Paige Voigtschild 18:49.9; 104. Ashlynn York 21:41.7; 117. Maggie Minton 21:57.9; 194. Genevieve Walker 23:28.1; 220. Addison Rope 24:33.5. Mitchell: 149. Rilynn Foutain 22:34.2; 164. Eleanor Fountain 22:47.5. Martinsville: 192. Eden Ennis 23:23.8.
Brownsburg Regional
Owen Valley's Liam Hogan and Payton Lukowski had strong races but came up just seconds short of making it to the state finals.
In Hogan's case, it was just 0.3 as he finished 36th in 16:01.4, with the 15th qualifier nipping him at the wire. He led the Patriots, making their first team appearance since 1999, to 21st with 627 points.
Gabriel Hasselburg was 174th (17:57.5) followed by Dane Stahl (19:11.2), Darren O'Brien (19:21.8), Evan Murray (19:25.7), Jaxon Chapella (19:58.9) and Bently Grinstead (20:25.3).
OV ran just three girls and all three had career best races, with Lukowski going 19:14.6 for 36th, just two spots away from qualifying. Isabelle Sylvester (21:02.9) was 102nd and Aubrey Mangia was 105th (21:04.9).
Terre Haute North's Addyson Bautista won the girls race in 16:32.3, with 22 in under 19 minutes. Carmel's Lucas Bartlett (15:02.0) won the boys race, where 34 got under 16 minutes.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South, North, Edgewood cross country all send reps to state