Athlete of the Fall Finalist

Kristy Hamilton, South Decatur sophomore cross country runner

Nick Gonnella

For a sophomore, Kristy Hamilton of South Decatur showed that she could run among the best not only in Decatur County, but throughout the entire region.

The cross country runner followed up her regional appearance as a freshman with another qualification for the regional meet.

Hamilton gave herself another chance to represent the Cougar harriers at the regionals in Greensburg.

“Bethany and I were both excited to see Kristy move on to Regional,” said South co-head coach Megan Brancamp.

Along with Bethany Allen, Brancamp just wrapped up her first season coaching cross country at South.

Hamilton was the youngest of the four female runners, as Lauren Cunningham just concluded her junior season, while seniors Nacole Hamilton and Lindsay Spillman will graduate next year.

In a sport geared toward personal improvement and encouraging one’s teammates to get better, too, Kristy Hamilton fit right in with both the girls and boys who represented South on the courses. Many of those courses posed as much of a challenge as any course in the state, at least south of Interstate 70.

Hamilton began the season with a time of 25 minutes, nine seconds at Batesville.

She cut more than a minute off her time at Rising Sun, clocking a 23:42.

She notched a time of 24:25 at Morristown, following that up with 25:31 at Jac-Cen-Del. She dropped nearly three minutes off that time at the Rushville Invitational when she finished in 22:58.

At Greensburg, she clocked a 23-minute course, and continued her stretch of sub-24-minute runs with a 23:56 at East Central.

Against North Decatur, Hamilton completed the circuit in 25:38, but clipped off more than four minutes at the Jac-Cen-Del Invitational with a 21:26. The effort paid off because it was her personal best time this season.From there, Hamilton steadily improved her times and streamlined her approach to navigating the final stretch of the season.

She clocked a time of 23:03 at Milan, then cut that by nearly a minute with a 22:16 at the South Dearborn Invitational to place fourth. Against North, she finished in 21:58, and improved that with a 21:48 at the Greensburg Invitational.

Hamilton excelled at the County Meet with a 21:54, showcasing her running by placing third among girls from the three county schools at Greensburg.

She completed the Mid Hoosier Conference Meet just 10 seconds off her season-best, clocking a 21:36 at the Johnson County Horse Park in Edinburgh.

Hamilton stayed within her season average with another solid time at the South Dearborn Sectional tournament, notching a 22:10.

She finished 33rd in the regional with a time of 21:59.

“She's worked really hard all season,” said Brancamp. “It will be neat to see how far she goes in the future as a junior and senior. She has had a very supportive team and family behind her in her successful season.”

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