Kokomo Tribune October 10, 2020

Western's boys cross country team kicked off the biggest month of the season by winning the Hoosier Conference meet. That was no small feat considering West Lafayette had a 24-year stranglehold on the title.

The Panthers will look to collect more hardware Saturday when they run in the IHSAA Logansport Sectional. The girls race begins at 10:30 a.m., followed by the boys at 11:15 a.m.

"While it was great achievement winning conference, I told our guys last week that it was just the first step and that each week we have to progress," Western coach Gary Jewell said.

The state tournament series runs for four consecutive Saturdays. The Panthers' goals extend far beyond the sectional. There is the Logansport Regional on Oct. 17, the New Prairie Semistate on Oct. 24 and the State Finals on Oct. 31.

"We’re doing OK, but we could be better," Jewell said. "... We saw some nice gains at conference last week. However, if we have designs on running on Halloween, we really need to have four runners under 17:00 and we’re not that far from that. Brayden [Curnutt] and Joseph [Packard] are now solidly in the 16s and we now have two runners in the low 17s — Pete [Bradshaw] and Drew [Caldwell] are within a couple seconds from breaking into the 16s. Matt Edison made a big move into the 17 teens last week.

"Going into sectional, we want to avoid a mental breakdown by being complacent. We want to run well without going to the well."

The 12-team sectional also has Carroll, Eastern, Kokomo, Lewis Cass, Logansport, Maconaquah, Northwestern, Peru, Pioneer, Taylor and Winamac. The top five teams move on to the regional. The top 10 individuals from non-advancing teams also advance.

Western is the defending sectional champion and an overwhelming favorite to win again. Curnutt and Packard are good bets to finish 1-2 just like they did in the Hoosier Conference meet where Curnutt clocked 16:12 and Packard followed in 16:29. The Panthers also are capable of putting Bradshaw and Caldwell in the top five and Edison in the top 10.

The Panthers' cumulative time of 84:09 in the HC meet was their lowest since the 2008 season. Jewell loved that — but is looking for more gains.

"A requisite improvement in our cumulative time would go far in assuring our late season goals," he said.

In last year's sectional, Curnutt was second and Packard and Bradshaw finished fourth and fifth. Caldwell and Edison are new to the lineup this year.

Jewell sees Carroll, Northwestern and Eastern as good bets to also advance to the regional. The fifth spot could come down to Peru, Logan and Maconaquah.

"Northwestern had a good run at conference. Coach [Dave] Stevens has a young team. They’re not too different from where we were two years ago," Jewell said.

Eastern's Brayden Richmond and Caleb Vogl are other top individuals in the field. They finished 2-3 in the Hoosier Heartland Conference meet.

GIRLS RACE

For six straight years, Western and Maconaquah have dominated the sectional's girls race. Western took titles in 2015, '16, '18 and '19 — with Mac the runner-up each time. And the Braves took titles in '14 and '17 — with the Panthers in second place both times.

The teams could contend again this year, but they will face strong challengers.

Last week, the Braves were runners-up in the Three Rivers Conference meet and the Panthers took third in the Hoosier Conference meet. The Braves' 1-5 runners had an average time of 21:18 (led by runner-up Abby Jordan's 19:44) and the Panthers had an average time of 21:24 (led by Cami Caldwell's 20:47).

Meanwhile, Winamac won the Hoosier North Athletic Conference meet in impressive fashion. Led by individual winner Kate Collins' 19:44, the Warriors had an average time of 21:00.

Another team coming in with momentum is Carroll, which won the Hoosier Heartland Conference meet. Chloe Goodrich led a 1-2-3 Cougar finish in the meet. Carroll is looking to move up from a third-place finish in last year's sectional.

Individually, Northwestern's Hannah Moore and Kokomo's Julynne Spidell could challenge for the title. Moore was runner-up in the HC meet with an impressive time of 18:42. Spidell won the North Central Conference meet in 19:25.

Spidell won last year's sectional with a time of 20:17.