CARMEL, Ind. — Sarah Bennett paused to think when asked when she had beaten her more heralded teammate on the Carmel High School cross country team.

“Never,’’ Bennett said.

She quickly corrected herself.

“Maybe once in sixth grade,‘’ she said of teammate and fellow sophomore Renee Wellman. "She ran at Clay (Middle School); I was at Carmel Middle School. It was a big cross-town rivalry.’’

Bennett did it again during a cold, blustery Carmel Semistate at Northview Christian Life Church on Saturday morning. She took the lead in the final 200 meters and pulled away from both Wellman and Avon’s Maya Nagy to pull out the victory in 18 minutes, 42 seconds.

In the process, she led the top-ranked Greyhounds to their state-record 13th semistate title and a spot in next week’s state finals at Terre Haute.

North Central’s Futsum Zeinasellassie dominated the boys race, rolling to a 21-second victory over the rest of the field.

That was expected. Bennett’s victory was not.

“Sometimes your head just needs to catch up to your body,‘’ first-year Carmel girls coach Mark Ellington said. "She’s definitely a believer now.’’

Bennett would be the top runner at virtually any other program in the state. At Carmel, she has run in the shadow of Wellman, who finished fifth in the state last season as a freshman and had lost to an Indiana runner just once this season before Saturday.

Ellington said Bennett has the talent to run in that elite company at well. In the previous Saturday’s Brebeuf Jesuit Regional, she led with about a mile left before falling to third. That may have convinced her what was possible.

“We told her as a coaching staff, you should be in that group,‘’ Ellington said. "Just because you’ve got Renee Wellman on your team, don’t think you’ve got to be relegated to two, three or four.’’

Avon’s Nagy finished in second place, nearly two seconds behind Bennett. Wellman finished third in 18:47.1, one-half second ahead of Franklin Central’s Dani Sullivan, the only senior in the top 16.

Carmel finished with 58 points, 21 ahead of Hamilton County rival and third-ranked Noblesville. Also qualifying for state was No. 2 Columbus North (82), No. 4 Franklin Central (98), No. 16 Cathedral (167) and Brownsburg (203).

Zeinasellassie broke away from the boys field at the two-mile mark and cruised to the victory in 15:16.5, one-tenth of a second faster than the course record he set at last year’s semistate. Brownsburg’s Scott Vicenzi finished second.

Top-ranked Columbus North put five runners in the top 12 and rolled to the team title with 44 points. Also headed to state are ninth-ranked Noblesville (101), No. 2 Carmel (131), No. 3 North Central (132), No. 13 Zionsville (145) and No. 12 Hamilton Southeastern (152).

Elsewhere

At Brown County Martinsville’s boys, led by fourth-place finisher Jace Lowry (16.49.9), finished fifth with 169 points, 144 behind winner Terre Haute North.

At New Haven Pendleton Heights’ Nathan Hendershot finished second in 16:03.7 and the Arabians boys finished sixth, scoring 212 points. Concord won with 103 points.