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Viking harriers ninth at semi-state

Huntington North senior Aaron Hendryx competes Saturday, Oct. 21, at the New Haven Boys' Cross Country Semi-state at The Plex, in Fort Wayne.
Huntington North senior Aaron Hendryx competes Saturday, Oct. 21, at the New Haven Boys' Cross Country Semi-state at The Plex, in Fort Wayne. Photo by Steve Clark.

The season ended quietly for the Huntington North High School boys’ varsity cross country team with a ninth place finish Saturday, Oct. 21, at the New Haven Boys’ Cross County Semi-state at The Plex, in Fort Wayne.

Despite going in to the race as one of the four regional champions, the Vikings didn’t get close to the top six team finish needed to advance to next week’s state meet. Their score of 216 points was 37 off the score of 179 posted by Pendleton Heights to grab the final qualifying spot.

Juniors Brock Spahr and Jacob Wust led the Vikings with 16th and 18th place, respectively, among team runners with times of 16:38.23 and 16:41.81. Senior JJ Whicker was third man with 55th place in 17:20.22, fellow senior Aaron Hendryx was 58th in 17:24.32 and sophomore Isaiah Clampitt was 69th in 17:38.12.

Senior Nolan Young crossed the finish line in 17:51.37 for 85th place and sophomore Wilson Whicker finished 134th in 19:40.93 to complete the team.

Westview won the team chase with 74 points, led by individual champion Matthew Yoder. Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran placed second with 103 points, Carroll was third with 144 points, Penn was fourth with 147 and West Noble was fifth with 175.

Yoder’s winning time of 15:38.0 was two seconds ahead of runner-up Reece Gibson, of Lutheran.

The top 10 individuals whose teams did not advance also move on to the state meet.