MARENGO — It was a three Dog night at the front of the girls’ cross country field Tuesday night at the Crawford County Sectional.

Three New Albany runners led the pack to the finish line, helping push the Bulldogs to a repeat championship.

On the boys’ side, Floyd Central packed four runners into the top six spots as it rolled to a seventh consecutive title.

Each of the two winners claimed a spot in Saturday’s regional round, which will also be held at Crawford County. New Albany, Providence and Borden all punched tickets to regional on the boys’ side, while Floyd Central moved on in the girls’ event with a second-place effort.

The top five teams and 15 individuals moved on to the regional round.

GIRLS

Stephanie Cave led the flock of New Albany runners at the top of the standings as she won the individual’s championship by finishing the 5-kilometer course in a time of 20:09.3.

It didn’t take long for her teammates to follow behind her though, as fellow seniors Saisha Rairdon and Kimberly Condra filled the following two positions.

“We had hopes for those three that they would be able to finish that way,” said Bulldog coach Paul Hamilton. “We respected the other teams here certainly. But those three have been very close all year, and we felt like if one could come in up top the other two would be right there with her.”

Cave was pushed early by fast-charging freshman Rachel Pease of South Central, but settled into the front of the pack early.

“I had run against (Pease) several times this year, and I knew she’d probably go out to an early lead,” Cave said. “I had to stick with my race the way I wanted to run it, and it all worked itself out.”

Finishing first was good enough for Cave, but finding her teammates rolling right in behind her was even better.

“We wanted to do that,” she said. “We’re the leaders on the team, and we set a goal to do it so we’re pretty happy.”

Lindsay Gall (26th) and Abigail Ragains (30th) finished the top five finishes for New Albany, which tallied 58 points overall.