The New Prairie boys cross country team competed in the IHSAA Sectional at home on Saturday morning. While the team’s season came to a close in a tightly contested race, the Cougars battled with grit, and the season will continue as six individuals fought to earn a spot to compete in next week’s Regional. Leading the way for NP was junior Braden Bachmann, who ran a powerful and strategic race to finish 4th overall in 16:38.9, securing his place at the front of the pack. Following closely behind was Mitchell Walls, who stepped up in a big way to finish as the team's #2 runner in 17:45.4. Senior Evan Wiesemann also ran a tough race, finishing strong as the Cougars' #3 in 18:00.7. Lukas Hannewyk (18:11.1), Ayden Carpenter (18:19.9), Aidan Jaronik (18:20.2), and Sullivan Young (19:23.8) completed the varsity lineup, with all seven fighting hard to the finish. The reserve runners also competed yesterday morning in a 1600m Time Trial on the track and delivered incrediblemperformances. Isaac True and Evan Thibodeau battled to the line, running phenomenal times of 5:18 and 5:20, respectively. The entire group finished with huge personal records, with Chase Shelton (5:37), Chase Vann (5:38), Samuel Ringer (5:38) and Mason Skoglund (6:29) all securing personal bests. Joey Smith (6:02) also capped his season with a great time. The advancing Cougars will carry this season of hard work into the New Prairie Regional next Saturday, primed to run their best races of the year.