NASHVILLE —
Barr-Reeve’s Connor Sorrells has not always been known as the most aggressive runner in the world.
Sorrells, a Barr-Reeve senior, is usually known more for taking his time, settling in and then seeing where he needs to go.
That’s often been the plan during a four-year high school running career that has brought regional, sectional and conference victories.
That all changed Saturday at the Brown County cross country semistate, where Sorrells took command of the race early and coasted home with a 16-second victory.
“Our plan was to be very aggressive from the beginning,” Barr-Reeve coach JayR Perkins said. “We wanted to be aggressive from the start and try to string the front pack along. We knew he was fit enough to do that. It was our plan, and it worked.”
Barr-Reeve teammate Damon Pruett placed sixth in the race, after falling on a corner late in the event.
“I’m not certain that the fall totally changed his finish,” Perkins said who noted that Pruett had been running third at the time. “He had to run about 3K of the race by himself, and he was passed by two runners in the last 300 yards. I think he might have lost a little focus going down, but he had a very nice race.”
Washington runner Logan Sipes also had an unusual incident in his first semistate race as a senior.
Sipes ran the final third of the race without his glasses after having them damaged while turning a corner. Sipes had to stop to retrieve the glasses, and than ran holding them before finding people to hold the glasses.
Sipes finished 114th in the field of 158 runners despite the incident.
Washington’s Brandy White placed 55th in the girls race in her first semistate as a sophomore.
“I think once they (Sipes and White) got there they were both a bit in awe of the atmosphere,” Washington coach Dave Harman said. “The atmosphere with people everywhere is quite a bit different than anything they have seen before. I think they were a bit surprised, but excited, about the atmosphere of a semistate.”
Both runners improved as the season progressed. Harman hopes their experience will lead to even better performances from both boys and girls teams next fall.
“I think this will be an experience that Brandy will be able to take with her into track and cross country in her next seasons,” Harman said. “I think they both enjoyed the experiences they had.”
The boys won their first Big 8 conference championship in 20 years, and Madison Decker, who ran in the state finals last fall as a freshman, will return next fall as the Hatchets look for more depth on the girls side.
“It was nice to see Logan and Brandy have really good seasons,” Harman said. “We’re hoping this will continue through track and into next fall. We really need seven girls running next fall instead of five, and we’re hoping to add some new runners.”
Barr-Reeve’s team made the semistate on the boys side, but failed to qualify for state. Jarit Perkins missed the semistate after running in the regional with a leg injury.
“To make the state, we really needed to have Jarit there,” Perkins said. “I thought the team ran a pretty solid race.”
Sorrells and Pruett now prepare for next Saturday’s state championship at the LaVern Gibson Championship course near Terre Haute. The boys run at 1:45 p.m. after the girls hold their championship at 1 p.m.
“We are going to be very aggressive with Connor at state,” Perkins said. “He has been conservative at times in the past, letting others dictate the pace. If you want to be the lead dog, you have to dictate from the start and be very aggressive.
“By the time he hit the 2K mark last Saturday, he had gapped the field by about 20 meters.” Perkins said. “He was up around 20 seconds at the 4K mark and the last quarter he just basically jogged it in. It was the result of many months, and many, many, miles of work over the past four years. If that could happen again next Saturday — well, that would be just fine.”
Local Sports
B-R's Sorrells wins semistate
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