LAPEL — That’s the funny thing about running. Yes, the clock is there — always there. However, if you can bring your friends along, perhaps that’s even more fulfilling than racing against that clock.
Such is the case for The Herald Bulletin Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year, Lapel’s Leah Steele. She explained that this season may not have provided the times of seasons past. However, seeing her friends’ excitement build toward running strengthened her love for the sport.
“I feel like I’ve grown a lot mentally, with how I prepare and how I train,” Steele said. “This year my times weren’t as great as they were last year, but I don’t feel like that matters as much because I wanted to bring my teammates along with me.”
That’s not to say this season was a disappointment, results-wise. Far from it, in fact, as Steele claimed the Madison County championship, a runner-up finish in sectionals and placed third in regionals.
“She dominated in our county,” Pendleton Heights coach Melissa Hagerman said. “Nobody was really there to challenge her.”
Though Lapel moved to the Indiana Crossroads Conference this season, the Bulldogs were asked to compete in the White River Athletic Conference meet as well.
Steele won the WRAC title and took second in the ICC meet, but said her greatest thrill of the season could have been the performance of the Lapel boys team in the WRAC race, where the Bulldogs swept the top six positions.
And she said she’s helping to lead an offseason workout regimen that will hopefully pay many dividends next year.
“I know that a few of us are going to run during the winter,” Steele said. “Some of the guys are coming along, and we’ll come back strong next fall. I think we have a chance to compete.”
Though Hagerman doesn’t see Steele on a regular basis, she said the importance of putting in the mileage in the offseason is key to success during the season. After stepping onto the scene as a sophomore, it’s that sort of work ethic that’s helped Steele emerge as a standout.
“Last year, she had a good season,” Hagerman said. “This year, I think that experience — knowing who the competition is outside of the county — paid off.
“It’s just knowing what goes into making you better at your sport. She’s definitely on the right track.”
Steele’s hoping that track will lead her past high school, as she’d like to continue running in college while working toward a degree in nursing. Nursing her teammates along, continuing to build a strong foundation at Lapel — that’s the legacy Steele hopes to leave behind.
“Ever since last year, I realized my potential for running, and I think I’d like to do (cross country and track),” Steele said. “That’d be my ideal situation. It seems like it’d be really fun to pursue that dream.”
High School Sports
Steele enjoys Lapel's success
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Triumphant Tribe
Seventeen years of frustration and disappointment for the Anderson Indians baseball team ended in a jubilant dog pile atop junior pitcher Curtis Wilson on Monday night at Pendleton Heights’ Field of Dreams.
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Argylls squeeze into crown
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Bulldogs’ comeback falls just short
Not even a heroic seventh-inning rally could save the Lapel baseball team in the Class 2A sectional title game at Frankton on Monday afternoon.
The Bulldogs scored four runs in the seventh inning but still came up a run short as the Wapahani Raiders won the championship 9-8. -
Tribe rallies past Pendleton Heights into final
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The kind of game that defines a rivalry.
The kind of victory that breathes new life into a program.
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Tipton bedevils Madison-Grant
The Madison-Grant softball team dug a deep hole on Friday night in the championship game of the Class 2A, Sectional 39 at Eastern High School in Greentown. Trailing 5-0 after four innings, the Argylls scratched their way back into the game, but were on the short end of a 5-4 decision against the Tipton Blue Devils.
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Indians’ Dabney headed to state
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Roller coaster ride comes to end for Lapel
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Mason powers Bulldogs into final
The Frankton pitching staff opened the door just a tick Thursday with occasional bouts of wildness. Lapel sophomore Dane Mason blew the door off its hinges with the first multi-homer game of his high school career — including a walk-off grand slam — and the third-ranked Bulldogs stomped the rival Eagles 14-3 to reach this Class 2A baseball sectional final.
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Panthers upset Tigers in sectional
Elwood used a seven-run third-inning to stun Alexandria 11-5 and advance to the semifinals of the Class 2A baseball sectional at Eastern.
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Shenandoah bows out with loss to Wapahani
Wapahani’s Red Raiders advanced to the championship game of the Class 2A Frankton Baseball Sectional with a 7-2 win over Shenandoah.
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