New Palestine High School

Running on the State Finals and NCAA championship course, the New Palestine girls cross country team won its fourth straight invitational meet Friday, winning the Nike Town Twilight meet at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. Hailey Pardieck's second-place finish led the Dragons to the victory. Mike Bauer won the boys event, leading the Dragons to a second-place finish as a team. The Dragons won the 29-team meet going away, as they tallied 66 places to beat Evansville Mater Dei (135), Cathedral (145), Culver Academy (193), Mt. Vernon (208) and the rest of a multi-state field. Pardieck ran the 5K course in 18:40.7, finishing second to Southwestern (Hanover)'s Harper Green by 14 seconds. She was 35 seconds ahead of the third-place runner. Elena Daugherty was seventh (19:31.4), Adi Smith 18th (20:18.7), Brynn Richey 20th (20:20.2) and Willa Novotny 28th (20:32.8) in a field of 256 runners. For the Dragons boys, Bauer ran the 5K course in 15:51.8, beating Shelbyville's Shia Veach by 2.6 seconds. The Dragons tallied 117 places to finish second to Brownsburg (88) in the 42-team meet. Christian Brothers of St. Louis was third (126), Mt. Vernon fourth (147) and McCutcheon fifth (155). Carson Cooper was 13th for the Dragons (16:49.5), Gabe Silvey 22nd (16:59.0), Nick Holland 46th (17:25.0) and Cody Lowe 50th (17:27.7) in a 385-runner field. The Dragons next compete Oct. 10 in the Dragon Invitational at New Palestine, their lone home meet of the year and the regular season finale.