Panthers are deeper, younger

Kokomo Tribune August 17, 2018

A season removed from taking second at the Logansport Sectional, Western’s boys cross country team enters the 2018 season young and with a lot of question marks, but may have the answers in hand.

Four Panthers return from the sectional squad — including Brayden Curnutt, who took fifth at the sectional — and the team expects a lift from three solid freshmen.

“We’ve got seven back from last year and only four of those guys were varsity runners at some point in the season,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. Western has “a really young team this year with no seniors at all.

“There’s some question marks obviously. We have the potential to be pretty good eventually. We’re not sure how long eventually is going to be. Our goal this year is to make it to semistate. You’re not real competitive until you make there. If we win some things along the way, great. If we win sectional along the way, great. We have some athletes and we have some competitors.”

Returning Panthers are Curnutt, junior Chandler Ciscell (29th at the sectional), junior Trey Shock (47th), sophomore Joseph Packard (50th), junior Milo Jones and sophomores Cade Shock and Zac Cline. Curnutt won the 3,200 at the boys track sectional in spring.

The freshmen are Pete Bradshaw, who had been the top middle school runner, Taylor Rathbun and Evan Kretz. Bradshaw led Western’s winning effort Tuesday at the Northwestern Combos.

“I think all three of the freshmen are capable of running in our top five all season,” Jewell said. “Pete was our No. 1 runner the other night. He’s a step ahead of Brayden. Taylor wound up being our fourth man, which is good [for his] first high school meet. Evan is capable of being a top five easily.”

The three freshmen plus Curnutt, Ciscell, Packard and Trey Shock are the top contenders to get into Western’s top five. Jewell said this year’s team is deeper and better able to make up ground if someone has a bad day.

Western gets a boost this season as former Panther and Purdue runner Matt Grider returns as an assistant. He’s able to run with the current crop to simulate competition and guide them directly.

The Panthers were openly disappointed to not win the sectional last season. They finished just six points behind champ Logansport. The Berries and Panthers separated themselves from the pack as Western finished 51 points ahead of third-placed Cass.

“Brayden and Trey have been our two leaders so far this summer and so far into this early part of the season,” Jewell said. “They’ve taken it on themselves to really start pushing guys and get them to understand what we’re doing in Western cross country. Brayden’s only a sophomore and has been running for less than two years. He’s one of those kids who [says], ‘Hey, we can be a whole lot better than what we’re doing. This is our expectation.’”

The following are looks at the other Howard County boys teams, in order of their sectional finishes.

The 2017 Wildkats ran to fifth place in the 12-team Logan Sectional and eighth place in the 10-team Culver Academies Regional.

Veteran coach Ricke Stucker will have to rebuild. He graduated four runners and returns only two — senior Julian Wallace and junior Nathaneal Elkin.

Stucker noted Wallace had a season-best time of 17:36 and placed 20th in the North Central Conference meet at Indiana Wesleyan, ninth in the sectional, 23rd in the regional and 136th in the New Prairie Semistate. Elkin had a season-best time of 20:16.

Stucker calls Travarion Corbin a “promising freshman” and classmates Isaiah Marden and Isaac Elkin also are in the mix.

“We need more runners to join our squad to fill in for sick or injured runners,” Stucker said.

Stucker recently was selected for the Howard County Sports Hall of Fame’s 2018 induction class.

The Comets fell just short of advancing to the regional last season. They finished sixth — one back of the final advancing spot.

“We had a shot last year to be a top-five team in the sectional but didn’t quite make it happen, and we’re hungry for another chance,” coach Ben Cox said.

Cox returns a nice group of runners including a big senior class of Seth Snyder, Macaiah White, Nick Hillman, Taylor Yoder and Jack Johnson. Also back are sophomores Brayden Richmond and Caleb Vogl.

Vogl led the Comets in the sectional with an 18th-place finish in 18:32. Richmond was second on the team and 26th overall. Both advanced as individuals to the regional where Vogl was 71st and Richmond was 74th.

Freshmen Owen Taylor and Benjamin Kurfman are pushing for spots as well.

“It’s great to have a couple years in a row now with 10 boys on the team — it really feels different in a positive way from a few years ago,” Cox said. “The kids are great and we’re excited to take last year’s success and try to improve on it. Half of the boys are seniors, and we want to make the most of their experience.

“We worked hard on race strategy last year and made some improvements, but we can still race smarter.”

The Comets have 10 runners in camp.

“We’re a stronger team than last year,” coach Ben Cox said. “The large number of kids on the team really has everyone excited to compete and we have a good team dynamic.”

Seniors Olivia Vogl and Katrina Witt and junior Molly Hapner give the Comets good experience. Hapner was runner-up in the 2016 Hoosier Heartland Conference meet and a team-best 26th in the sectional. She qualified individually for the regional where she finished 41st.

Sophomore Victoria Leeder and freshman Ella Kantz lead the newcomers. Leeder ran in middle school, but missed her freshman season because of medical reasons.

“I’d like to see Molly repeat as a regional qualifier this year. She ran really well at the meet last year, and was in a position to advance to semistate halfway through the race. Another shot at that would be exciting,” Cox said. “Ella Kantz may also have a chance to move on to the regional.

“I’d also like to see the team be more competitive in the HHC and sectional than last year.”

NORTHWESTERN

The Tigers have a big crop of 17 runners including nine back from last season.

“Largest boys team I’ve ever had,” coach Dave Stevens said. “I see a lot of competition in practice and can’t wait for the team to get a couple 5Ks in so the new runners get more experience. The returning guys are helping with the new guys learning what to expect from high school cross country.”

Northwestern finished ninth in the sectional last season. Mason Correll led the Tigers with a 30th-place finish in 19:20.

Now a junior, Correll leads the Tigers’ returners. Also back are seniors Gus Bourff, Mitchell Harrell, Nicholas Jozwiak and Jacob Myers, junior Jace Cournoyer and sophomores Nolan Floyd, Jeremy Bell and Owen Myers.

“We have Mason returning from his first regional qualification and Jacob, Gus, Nick and Mitchell are looking to help the team advance to regionals this year,” Stevens said. “Jace had his best track season in the spring and is also looking good.”

Stevens’ newcomers are juniors Kevin Badgley, Drew Feazel and Jarrin Smith, sophomores Aaron King and Hunter Mohr and freshmen Isaiah Kanable, Caden Lechner and Grant Robb.

“I see a lot of potential in this group,” Stevens said, noting the juniors and sophomores in that group are all new to high school cross country. “Isaiah and Caden had very good races in our [Northwestern Combo] 3k meet.”

TAYLOR

The Titans have a pair of runners in senior Eli Paul and junior Konner Boley.

Paul is in his fourth season with the team. Boley moved over from the soccer team.

“Konner hasn’t had a chance to run much yet. He had his appendix removed and he was just cleared,” coach Matt Carlile said. “He logged a bunch of miles over the summer but hasn’t been able, since the season started, to practice until this week. It was only two weeks, it was just the first two weeks of practice.”