Finally getting some great race day weather, the Lady Pirates finished 4th in conference with six Charlestown ladies finishing with running personal records, and 1 running a season best! Leading the way was Freshman Carley Conway who was conference runner-up, running a PR of 20:55, and also making All-Conference was Katie Rhodes in 8th place in a time of 21:41. Others running personal records were Claire Mitchell, Piper Clark, Kelsey Lakes, Alexis Gurr and Samantha Matthews.

The Pirate men’s team finished 8th in conference, led by Seth Parker in 32nd place in a time of 18:25. I was so happy to see 4 Pirates run personal records, with Josh McCoy and Harrison Adams both breaking 20 minutes for the first time this season. Also Matt Fellows (20:34) and Logan Gurr (21:19) ran personal records today. We are now looking forward to Sectional next Saturday at Hanover. I am amazed at the improvement over the last couple of meets. The ladies were only 3 spots behind Silver Creek for 3rd place. If they keep this trend up next weekend, we can definitely make it very interesting at Sectional!

Charlestown Cross Country made the short trip to New Washington Tuesday evening to compete in their annual invitational meet; along with the hosts, Scottsburg, Christian Academy, Madison Shawe, Austin, South Central, Crothersville, and Trinity Lutheran.  The Lady Pirates placed all seven girls in the top 20, replacing medals and earning the Invitational Championship!  Leading the way for Charlestown was Carley Conway in 3rd, Katie Rhodes in 4th, Kelsey Lakes in 10th, Claire Mitchell in 11th, Alexis Gurr in 12th, Piper Clark in 13th and Samantha Matthews in 17th.  “I really like the way our 3-6 runners are working together and pushing each other, and then I have Sam continuing to improve and set another PR tonight.  I am looking forward to seeing how we fair in conference this Saturday at Silver Creek!”, commented Head Coach Jerry Doyle,

The guys finished fifth as a team at New Washington, led by Seth Parker in 13th place and Drashaun Morrow in 17th place.  Running personal records were Drashaun Morrow, Josh McCoy and Matt Fellows. “I am proud of the guys for pushing themselves and achieving personal goals”, added Coach Doyle.

Charlestown Cross Country traveled to Madison for participation in the Duke Meyer Classic (formerly known as the Madison Courier) at Hanover Saturday morning.  Lady Pirate medal winners were Freshman Carley Conway in 8th place and Junior Katie Rhodes in 13th place. “Our 3-6 runners really stepped up today with all of them running either a season best or personal record”, commented Coach Jerry Doyle.  The top 25 runners received medals, which included six Lady Pirates in the top 33!  Kelsey Lakes finished 28th, Piper Clark in 29th, Claire Mitchell in 32nd, and Alexis Gurr in 33rd.  Samantha Matthews, who finished in 46th, continued to show improvement as a new runner this season.  Charlestown girls finished 4th as a team, only 10 points from 2nd place New Albany, and 9 points from 3rd place Silver Creek; while Jennings County took the win.  “I can’t say how proud I am of these ladies today!  We are peaking at the right time, and I think this meet made them hungry to improve even more”, concluded an excited Coach Doyle.  Charlestown will make the short trip east to New Washington on Tuesday.

Charlestown Cross Country ran the Silver Creek Invitational Tuesdaye evening.  Leading the way in 6th place was Freshman Carley Conway in a time of 21:50, and Junior Katie Rhodes in 11th place in a time of 22:42.  Top 25 runners received medals.  The ladies finished 7th out of 13 teams, but were without the points from our #3 runner Claire Mitchell, who was struggling from the heat and dehydration, and had to drop out of the race at about 2.5 miles. “If we can get everyone healthy and running their best in the same meet, we will finish much higher.  I don’t think that we have run a meet yet, without some sort of setback.  When it all comes together, we can be very competitive”, commented Coach Doyle.  For more information about Charlestown Pirate and Lady Pirate Cross Country log on to www.PiratePride.BLUE/CrossCountry.

The Charlestown Cross Country team had two medal winners Saturday at the Crawford County Invitational on a sloppy course!  Carley Conway finished 4th in the Freshman race, and Katie Rhodes was 3rd in the Junior race.  The event runs four races, Fresh/Soph girls, Junior/Senior girls, then the same for the boys.  “We had some good times today in spite of the sloppy conditions.  We haven’t got team results yet since it’s such a big meet, and how they do the four races.  No guys received medals, but I am seeing steady improvement.  They just need to get hungry and have a desire to always push, and never just be content! commented Charlestown Head Coach Jerry Doyle.

Charlestown Cross Country traveled to North Harrison Thursday evening to participate in their annual invitational.  On a beautiful/perfect day for running, the girls finished 12th out of 20 teams. The girls were lead by Junior Katie Rhodes who finished in 18th place, who also had her season best time of 21:43. We had several ladies run their person best and season best times tonight. Senior Piper Clark ran her person best in the tins of 26:09. Freshman Claire Mitchell ran her personal best in the time 23:42. Sophomore Alexis Gurr ran her season best in the time of 25:26. Junior Kelsey Lakes ran her season best in the time of 25:40. Sophomore Samantha Matthews ran her person best time in 29:18. Freshman Carley Conway struggled midway through the race, but finished strong in the time of 22:59.

The boys placed 20th out of 22 teams. The guys were lead by senior Seth Parker, who ran his season best in the time of 18:54. Senior Logan Gurr ran his personal best in the time of 21:39. Freshman Josh McCoy ran a personal best in the time of 20:20. Other season bests include senior Darian Zeis (21:06), sophomore Drashaun Morrow (20:57), junior Matt Fellows (21:35), sophomore Harrison Adams (21:59).