Skip to main content

Scoring error caught, Vikings win boys' regional cross country title

Huntington North runner Logan Worsham (left), competing in the Marion Regional Cross Country meet on Saturday, Oct. 19, was the sixth runner tiebreaker for the Vikings to give them the regional crown.
Huntington North runner Logan Worsham (left), competing in the Marion Regional Cross Country meet on Saturday, Oct. 19, was the sixth runner tiebreaker for the Vikings to give them the regional crown. Photo by Steve Clark.

The Huntington North High School boys' cross country team left the Indiana Wesleyan University cross country course in Marion on Saturday, Oct. 19, thinking it had missed out on winning the Marion Regional to South Adams by one point, 57-58.

However, an announcement later that afternoon handed the Vikings the regional title when a scoring error was discovered and the outcome of the race fell to the sixth runner tiebreaker, which Huntington North won.

After the results were announced Marion officials found they had not scored Bluffton runners, and after doing so, Huntington North and South Adams both wound up with 59 points. The sixth runner tiebreaker went to North based on Logan Worsham finishing 29th, compared to South Adams's sixth runner Daniel Steffen placing 35th.

Other teams advancing to the New Haven Semi-State on Saturday, Oct. 26, are Bellmont, third with 104 points, Norwell, fourth with 110 and Oak Hill, fifth with 135.

Senior Charlie Mettler led the way for Huntington North, finishing fifth among team scoring runners in 16:15.5. Senior Luke Doughty and junior Matt DeWitt joined Mettler in the top 10, as the former captured seventh in 16:39.1 and the latter took ninth in 16:50.9. Junior Austin Lange claimed 12th in 16:53.7 and junior Kyler McVoy secured 26th in 17:28.5 to round out the team's top five.

Worsham clocked in at 17:33.0 for his 29th, besting Steffen's 17:51.9 for South Adams to tip the regional in Huntington North's favor.

Junior Cam DeWitt was 32nd in 17:43.1 for the Vikings to complete the squad.

The top 10 individuals not advancing with their teams also earned a trip to semi-state. That group was led by Eastbrook senior Josh Neideck, who won the race with a time of 15:47.1.

"It was a great team effort that almost resulted in a win," Huntington North Head Coach Curtis Hines said before the announcement.

As it turns out, it did.