In his 16 years as girls’ cross country coach at Floyd Central, Hinton’ s teams advanced to the state meet 14 times, had four firsts, one second and two third-place finishes.
“ Cross country is a true team sport. Jill and I may have crossed the line first and second for our team, but state titles are not won by two people— they’ re won by seven,” Bryant-Salazar said.“ Runners three through seven were just as critical, holding position, passing opponents, and shaving seconds. Joe made it clear early on that no one wins a state title alone.”
Despite its successful record and depth, Floyd Central never entered the state tournament ranked No. 1 during its four-year run. But rankings never win races, performances do. And the Highlanders were just better than the rest of the state during those four years.
“ We knew we were going to be a good team. But to win state you must have people up front,” Hinton said.“ The one year we won we had three girls in the top 10. It’ s hard to predict what girls will do. These girls just got better and took care of their bodies. They knew how to run. They were much different runners as they got older … smarter runners.”
Schuler began running at 9 years old with the Little Highlander Running Club, as did most of her teammates. Hinton said a lot of credit for Floyd Central’ s cross country success goes to the club’ s organizer, Clyde Miller. Schuler’ s father, Larry, also helped coach the Little Highlander Running Club.
“ I knew I wanted to be in a sport. I remember in fourth grade it came on the announcements about cross country. I jumped on it,” Schuler said.“ My dad coached me. He put so much time into it. I was not a natural runner; I was more of a natural athlete. I was winning elementary races, and the pressure was just kind of building. I was winning as an eighth grader so expectations heading into my freshman year were high. I really didn’ t like to run but I was good at it, and I liked to win.”
“ Jill had good speed. She was built like a runner,” Hinton said.“ She really worked at it and her dad worked with her.”
Schuler moved into the Floyd Central district during middle school which
helped solidify an already strong class. Hinton said Bryant-Salazar was the top runner in the county before Schuler moved to Floyd Central and the two teamed up to make a very formidable combination.
“ Carrie was such a great teammate. She was a really consistent runner,” Schuler said.“ Without these great teammates none of it would have been possible.
Hinton also credits long-time Floyd boys’ cross country Don McWilliams and Southern Indiana running guru Fred Geswein for growing the sport locally. McWilliams’ boys also won the state title in 1991.
“ We had a lot of success, but I had a lot of good help,” Hinton said.“ The year both the girls and boys won was special for Don McWilliams and his team. Don put in so much time to the cross-country program. We all got along really good.”
Schuler said that her senior year running cross country became a little more of a challenge. That fall she won the semistate before finishing fifth at the state meet to help secure Floyd Central’ s fourth consecutive title.
SEPT / OCT 2025 NEWS AND TRIBUNE SPORTS MAGAZINE PAGE NO. 21