CROSS COUNTRY: Western takes girls sectional title

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, October 7, 2018

By Beau Wicker | For the Kokomo Tribune

LOGANSPORT — After a one-year hiatus, the Western girls cross country team returned to the top of the field at the Logansport Sectional.

The Panthers won their third sectional title in four years and ninth all-time on Saturday at the Berry Patch course.

“We’re ecstatic that we got the trophy back,” Western coach Joni Neer said. “We were trying to pick up from last year where we really had a chance for four years in a row and kind of lost that chance. This year we were determined to make sure we got the trophy back and we did. We were really excited about that.”

Western won with 50 points. Maconaquah (77), Northwestern (91), Lewis Cass (101) and Winamac (116) also advanced to next Saturday’s Culver Academies Regional as a team.

It was a hot and humid day to run. The race time temperature was 78 degrees with a heat index of 83. The course was also muddy after rainfall earlier in the morning, especially in the Berry patch woods.

Olivia Lushin led Western with a fifth-place finish overall in 21:14. She was followed by Hannah Lushin (sixth, 21:21), Natalie Nicholson (ninth, 21:27), Megan Hampshire (17th, 22:14) and Emma Marley (20th, 22:26). The top 20 finishers overall each received ribbons.

“Our top three as a whole group ran a little bit faster, a little bit higher up in the pack than what we had anticipated,” Neer said. “The whole pack of them was a little bit higher than what we expected, so that was a real plus for us.”

Maconaquah sophomore Karli Miller was the overall winner in 20:10.

“It was amazing. I was so excited,” Miller said. “When I went out this year, I wasn’t expecting to win sectionals. I was hoping top three maybe, but I wasn’t expecting to win a sectional title.”

Miller was followed by Braves teammates Haley Salinas (11th, 21:35), Annie Isenburg (16th, 22:10), Bailey Hays (21st, 22:32) and Madison Wilson (37th, 24:23).

Northwestern was led by Lauren Longshore’s seventh-place finish in 21:23. She was followed by Casey Lechner (10th, 21:33), Ella Deck (15th, 22:10), Sophia Yager-Motl (25th, 23:08) and Ellie-Marie Hendrickson (46th, 26:13).

"Extremely proud of the third-place finish for the girls," NW coach Dave Stevens said. "Ella Deck ran like a minute and 30 seconds faster than she did in the invitational [at Logan] earlier this year. All the girls top to bottom ran their best."

Three-time defending sectional champion Miah Martin of Lewis Cass battled a back injury and placed 22nd in 22:32.

Martin said she hurt her back after the very first meet of the season and it has just gotten worse from there. She ran her first race Saturday in several weeks.

“I have a minimal bulging disc and nothing’s helping it. I can’t get it under control. I’ve only been running for a week and a half, so I’m so out of shape,” she said. “It’s probably the worst it’s ever been. I hurt this morning and I kept telling myself that it didn’t hurt and I was going to be fine. It wasn’t the case. ... It’s just a sharp aching, every step I take is just a constant pressure, especially running, the pounding is bad.

“I didn’t want to finish, but I knew my girls needed me and I gave it all that I could.”

A two-time state finalist, Martin knows next week could be her final high school meet. She placed third at the regional, 10th at the New Prairie Semistate and 67th at the State Finals a year ago.

“I can run, it’s just not going to be where I want it to be,” she said. “It just sucks it happened my senior year and I was so far behind.”

Martin added she is proud of how freshman Makenna Leicht has stepped up this year. Leicht placed third overall on Saturday in 20:52 to lead the Kings, followed by Martin, Emily Tigler (23rd, 22:51), Odessa Vest (29th, 23:25) and Baylie Bryan (33rd, 23:42).

Other area girls runners advancing to the regional as individuals include Taylor’s Allison Abney (second overall, 20:34), Carroll’s Chloe Goodrich (fourth, 21:07), Kokomo’s Julynne Spidell (12th, 22:02), Eastern’s Victoria Leeder (13th, 22:07), Carroll’s Isabelle Altic (31st, 23:38) and Eastern’s Ella Kantz (32nd, 23:38).

"Both [Victoria] and [Ella] are repeating regional qualifiers. I'm happy for them accomplishing that," Eastern coach Ben Cox said.

BOYS RACE

Western finished runner-up to Logansport in the boys race. Logan won its third straight sectional title with 62 points. Western (70), Winamac (106), Peru (115) and Eastern (136) also advanced as a team.

“I think we’re like the perennial bridesmaids,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “When I scored this meet last week the first time it was 18 points. We got it down to eight. I’ve got a couple kids who don’t function well in the heat for whatever reason. When we have weather like we did last week, I think if it’s 50 degrees like it’s going to be next Saturday, we’d have a different race. But I think we did everything we could do to try to get the win.”

Brayden Curnutt led the Panthers with a ninth-place finish in 18:20, followed by Pete Bradshaw (11th, 18:28), Joseph Packard (12th, 18:28), Taylor Rathbun (16th, 18:55) and Evan Kretz (22nd, 19:13).

“We have three freshmen and two sophomores in our top five,” Jewell noted. “People keep saying next year you guys are going to be really good. I think we were pretty good this year and we came close, but it wasn’t quite close enough. Good job by Logansport, they ran a really good second half of the race. We’ll see them next week.”

Adam Garner placed sixth in 18:10 to lead Peru, followed by Alex Legg (15th, 18:50), Braxton Jimenez (24th, 19:21), Cole Sailors (30th, 19:41) and Tryden Curtis (41st, 20:13).

Brayden Richmond placed fifth in 18:03 to lead Eastern, followed by Caleb Vogl (19th, 18:58), Owen Taylor (33rd, 19:47), Jack Johnson (36th, 20:00) and Macaiah White (45th, 20:44).

"We felt like we had a shot to be fifth coming in," Eastern coach Ben Cox said. "We thought we had that chance last year and came up a few points shy, so it's exciting to be on the other side of that."

Cass junior Bailey Scott repeated as the overall champion with a time of 17:36.

“I came into the race thinking I’m going to go out and run my best race and try to win,” said Scott, who won by 9 seconds. “I just kept pushing with them the whole race and I’ve really been working my third mile this year and that’s helped a lot.”

Scott won in what is coach Don Bonsett’s 49th season of coaching. Scott will try to win his third title in a row next year in Year 50.

“He’s a good coach. He likes to joke around with us but it’s all heartfelt,” Scott said.

Scott added that Bonsett’s five decades of wisdom has helped him.

“My dad [Mark Scott] ran for him and he thought it was pretty cool that I ran for him too,” he said.

Other area boys runners advancing to the regional as individuals include Maconaquah’s Sam Bourne (third, 17:54), Carroll’s Alec Smith (seventh, 18:10), Northwestern’s Jacob Myers (13th, 18:28), Cass’ Carl Jay (18th, 18:56), Maconaquah’s Dalton Farnell (26th, 19:27), Northwestern’s Jace Cournoyer (27th, 19:30), Carroll’s Malachi Clelland-Sewell (28th, 19:33) and Northwestern’s Mitchell Harrell (31st, 19:43).

Northwestern's Stevens said it was "a very good day for the guys. We were hoping for a little better place, we wanted to get in that five to go as a team, just six points out though. I'm proud of their effort, they ran what they could."