Shelbyville High School

he Shelbyville HS Cross Country teams traveled to CERAland Park in Columbus, IN, on Saturday morning for Regional 4. The whole girls team competed at 10:30, while individual qualifiers Shia Veach and Eden Ortega raced at 11:15. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day for fast racing and these runners did not disappoint. The girls - originally projected around 22nd going into Regionals - finished a very competitive 16th place overall, averaging 21:40 for their Top 5. Macey Robbins had an especially impressive day, PRing for the 3rd week in a row with a time of 19:48 for 52nd place - a massive 38-second PR, only 5 seconds off the school record (Danielle Lubbe, 19:43). America Leon ran a race of heart and determination, as she lost a shoe very early on in the race and continued to race without it, finishing 59th place in 19:55 - a 15 second PR and her first time under 20. Our girls program hasn't seen a girl break the 20 minute barrier since our record holder (D Lubbe, 2015) - today we had 2! We are SO proud of the way that these girls finished this season and can't wait to see what we can do next year, since we are only losing 1 senior. Other finishers for the Lady Golden Bears: Harper Kinsey, 145th, 21:54 (54 sec PR!) Kat Seal, 172nd, 22:42 (13 sec PR) Anne Marie Fansler, 204th, 23:55 (8 sec PR) Bell Orem, 211th, 24:21 (8 sec PR) Claire Kamplain, 223rd, 25:22 A great day improved even more after the boys (Shia Veach & Eden Ortega) reached the starting line. Senior Shia Veach put together an absolutely spectacular race from start to finish, starting out strong around 30th place and gradually passing more and more runners throughout the race until he finished overall with an incredible 12th place overall in 15:38 - a 16 second PR and only 2 seconds away from our school record of 15:36 (Sean Hudson, 2003). For context, Sean Hudson was an Indiana All-State athlete who finished 5th overall at State in 2003. Shia Veach has secured his spot as the 2nd fastest XC runner in our school history and punched his ticket to STATE finals! His new PR now ranks him as the 49th fastest XC boy in Indiana this season, and we can't wait to see what he does in Terre Haute (LaVern Gibson) on Halloween next weekend! Eden Ortega finished out an incredibly strong sophomore season with a time of 17:47 (147th). Earlier this week, Eden was recognized by Indiana Milesplit as a "Sophomore on the Rise" in Indiana - he is the 3rd highest riser in state rankings for Sophomores from last year to this year (up 357 places, PR improved from 19:44 to 17:25). We can't wait to watch his progress over the next 2 years. Results: https://in.milesplit.com/meets/772819-ihsaa-cross-country-regional-4-2026/results?type=formatted