Ryan Nix, Chesterton’s defending DAC boys cross country champion, finishes second to Lake Central’s Lucca Neves at Sunset Hill Farm in the Larry James Invitational and the Trojans place second to Northridge

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Looking back to the 2025 cross country season, identifying the best boys DAC runner depended on the time of year.
Lake Central’s Ben Perschon, Class of 2026, held the top spot early, one of the factors that made him the favorite to win individual honors at the conference meet.
Then Chesterton’s Ryan Nix (’27) moved to the front of the talented pack by upsetting Perschon at the conference championship meet.
Then Lucca Neves (’28) finished the season as the cream of the DAC crop. He took 32nd at the state meet, Nix was 58th, Perschon 84th.
Based on that and how things went Saturday at Larry James Invitational at Sunset Hill Farm, it looks as though Neves will be the favorite when the DAC meet rolls around on Oct. 3.
Neves won the Larry James and was clocked in 15:46.33. Nix (16:02.07) placed second. Rounding to the nearest second, Nix was behind Perschon by 23 seconds a year ago, and behind Neves by 16 seconds this season.
So, it’s way too early to discount the possibility of Nix defending his DAC title with another upset.
Nix explained his strategy going into Saturday’s race, the second meet of the season for the boys’ team: “I wanted to stick with the kid from LC as long as I could because he’s a top-ranked runner in the state, so I know as long as I stay with him for as long as I can, it’s going to be a good race.”
Neves checks in at No. 15 in the InCCstats.com boys individual preseason top 15 rankings and is the only one in the conference listed. No teams made the top 15. On the girls’ side, Lake Central is ranked second, as is its top runner, Macey Thompson. Teammate Lana Bruggeman is at No. 12.
The top 25 finishers at the state meet earn all-state honors.
“If you’re 15th in the state, I mean, you’re pretty good,” Nix said. “I was with him for about 2K and then I lost him, but I see him from week to week, so I hope to improve that (gap) a little more each week.”
Nix’s quest for improvement has him logging miles year-round. He said that over the summer he averaged 67 miles a week, “just a little bit more than last year. There were a few weeks where I went down to 60 just to make sure I didn’t get injured. I’m at about 55 during the school year.”
Nix is an inspiration for every young runner because he was closer to the back of the pack than the front in his early years of running before blossoming in high school.
Returning from injury, Nix classmate Spencer Martin placed sixth Saturday with a 16:34.10. Juniors Xander Sierazy (ninth, 17:00.65) and Aaron Pieters (10th, 17:00.74) also ran well.
Chesterton placed second in the team standings behind Northridge.Lake Central was the next DAC team with a fourth-place finish and Portage was sixth.
It was a busy week for the Trojans.
To make up for missing the season-opening meet in Terre Haute, Nix entered the inaugural Twin Lakes Invitational in Idaville, a meet that the Trojans originally were going to limit to JV runners.
Chesterton easily won the event, placing seven competitors in the top 10: 1. Nix (16:15), 2. Pieters, 4. Sierazy, 6. junior Colton Beckwith, and 7. sophomore Ben Hiestand.
Considering how many practices the Trojans missed in the wake of the derecho, they made a good showing the first week of the season, which means at least most of the athletes worked out without having a practice to attend.
“We got hit, but we got lucky with where the trees fell,” said of his residence in Jackson Township. “We’re surrounded by woods and the trees fell more back into the woods,” Nix said. “We were a little worried, but everything fell off of our property. But we had a lot of trees down in the roads in Jackson.
Like most, Nix had not heard the term “derecho” until after he witnessed its fury.
“Never,” he said. “In my mind, we don’t get storms like that in Indiana, 100 mile per hour winds. That’s supposed to be in Florida. Keep that down South.”