Two weekends ago, the Bloomington South Boys Cross Country Team raced in Brown County at the Annual Eagle Classic. The small ponds and mud fields that made up the course, though difficult to handle, did not stop the Panther’s varsity runners from achieving a major accomplishment. South won the event, and more importantly, beat the perennial state champion Carmel Greyhounds. This victory came by a razor thin margin of only two points, but it pushed South to the top of the IHSAA rankings. Senior Ian Shaw led the Panthers yet again in the Elite Race.

Shaw currently holds the fourth fastest time for a five kilometer race in the state of Indiana this year and placed second in the fastest heat of runners in Brown County.

He talked to Indiana MileSplit about the team, saying “we know we have a shot at winning state.” The defeat of the Carmel Greyhounds bodes well for this goal.

More recently, the team raced at Conference Indiana. They blew away the competition by placing five runners in the top twelve, thus earning All-Conference honors. These runners are seniors Ian Shaw, Wil Zinkan and Matthew Kawanishi, junior Jack Gillard and sophomore Neal Alderson. Their main competition came from archrival Bloomington North. Though the Panthers outscored the Cougars by 37 points, North’s Isaiah Hollars was able to edge out Shaw for the individual win. Other notable Panthers include juniors Zachary Cornwell and Matthew Arnold who scored in the sixth and seventh spots for the team.

The Panthers will compete at the New Haven Invitational at IPFW University in Fort Wayne over the weekend. The winning time at this meet last year was 15:43.10 seconds, so look for the Panthers to face stiff competition.