“I wanted to get it last year but I was 14 seconds off,” Bell said. “He’s a really good runner so it’s an honor to get that.”
Bell placed third overall to advance to the D-I regional meet Saturday in Troy. Junior Logan Murray finished 10th overall (16:47) to also qualify. The Braves finished fifth as a team in the second of two D-I races, missing qualifying for regional by three points.
“Kiefer ran a very smart race,” Talawanda coach Paul Stiver said. “With the wind at their backs the first part of the race it was easy to go out a little too hard. He was able to stay at a pretty consistent pace and move up the last half of the race.”
To comply with COVID-19 guidelines on the Cedarville University Elvin R. King’s cross country course, each boys and girls division was split into two races – Race A and Race B – to reduce the number of runners competing at the same time.
Had Bell competed in Race A his time would have won by 35.6 seconds.
“I definitely thought I should have been up there with the two winners,” Bell said. “The first mile my hamstrings were tightening up. … My training has been kind of off and on lately. I’ve had some bad days and some good days. I’m not ready to be running the same fast times at the end of the season you’d usually see.”
Lebanon’s boys – led by top 10 finishes from senior Carter Davidson, senior Joey Shupe, sophomore Jesus Trejo and sophomore Jacob Fleig – won the D-I Race A with 40 points. Tippecanoe was second with 55.
Middletown junior Noah Locke qualified as an individual.
In D-I girls, Talawanda finished second in Race B to advance to regional for the fourth straight season. Springboro won with 39 points to beat out Talawanda’s 55.
Junior Hannah Lippincott finished second (18:55.3) and senior Maddy Iden was fourth (19:40.6).
“It felt good. I went out a little fast in the first mile. But I tried to keep going and stay mentally strong,” Lippincott said. “I’m just hoping we can all do our best and PR (at regional), maybe make state. We were really close last year.”
They were joined by senior Libby Farmer, sophomore Lilly Iden, sophomore Kylee Carver, junior Bella Walter and senior Brooke Hubbard.
“The girls ran a solid race to finish as district runner-up,” Stiver said. “We were hoping to repeat as district champions, but the girls will all admit they went out too fast. Springboro ran a very controlled race and deserved to win. We hope to run better at the regional meet next week and look forward to going against the best teams in the state.”
Lebanon’s girls swept the D-I Race A with the team and individual titles. Lebanon scored 42 for a 10-point victory over Centerville and senior Faith Duncan’s 18:03.3 was good for a commanding 23-second win.
Senior Hope Carr, junior Riley McKinney, freshman Alynna Wilson, junior Abby Taylor, sophomore Grace Glassmeyer and junior Lilah Mohler all finished within the top 15.
“I’ll take that,” Duncan said of her slowest time on the Cedarville course. "I know there’s more in the tank to unlock before state. We’re not trying to peak yet so I’m happy with it.
“I had a plan I knew I could execute. … I wasn’t going to worry about what anyone else tried to do. I was going to stick with my plan and glorify God.”
Franklin freshman Kensington Black finished third in Race B to advance.
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