CROSS COUNTRY: Western boys harriers dominate sectional

Kokomo Tribune October 12, 2020

By BRYAN GASKINS

Western’s boys cross country team dominated as expected in the IHSAA Logansport Sectional on Saturday.

The Panthers’ top five runners finished 1-2-5-6-7 for a tiny score of 21. Eastern was a distant runner-up with 104. Carroll (104), Northwestern (113) and Peru (150) rounded out the top five in the 11-team field. The top five teams advance to the Logansport Regional.

Also from the KT area, Maconaquah (175) was sixth, Kokomo (187) was seventh and Cass (225) was 10th.

As usual, Brayden Curnutt and Joseph Packard led Western’s charge. Curnutt was the individual winner in 16:46.7 and Packard was runner-up in 16:47.1.

We wanted for Brayden and J.P. to take first and second overall. Having two runners that can finish that high in the race is huge going forward,” coach Gary Jewell said.

Western’s next wave of runners had Drew Caldwell (17:29.3) in fifth, Pete Bradshaw (17:29.4) in sixth and Matthew Edison (17:29.8) in seventh.

“I think the highlight for the team was having our 3-4-5 pack of Drew, Pete and Matthew finishing within a half second of each other. That led to our best 1-5 split of the season of only 43 seconds,” Jewell said.

All seven of our runners improved on their times on this course from when we ran at the Jacob Graf Memorial Invitational back in August,” he added. “Our top five runners dropped a cumulative 2:12 from then.

The sectional title is Western’s second in a row and 12th all-time.

Eastern’s Caleb Vogl and Brayden Richmond finished 3-4 with Vogl clocking 17:21 and Richmond following in 17:25. The Comets’ next runner was Jordan Armogum in 22nd with a time of 18:52. Eastern edged Carroll for second place on the tiebreaker, which was better sixth runner’s time.

“The boys had a great day. Everyone looked solid, and it was great to see Caleb and Brayden in the top five. I thought we might have a shot at second place going into the race, and it took the whole team racing well to do it,” Eastern coach Ben Cox said.

Carroll put three runners in the top 20 — Mason Ray (eighth, 17:30), Jake Skinner (13th, 18:21) and Eli Harshbarger (18th, 18:34).

Northwestern also had three in the top 20 — Caleb Champion (10th, 17:48), Caden Lechner (15th, 18:25) and Isaiah Kanable (20th, 18:49).

“Top to bottom, the boys did what needed done to get one more week at regional. This was a team goal,” Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said.


Peru was led by Alex Legg’s 19th-place finish. He clocked 18:46.

The top 10 runners from non-advancing teams qualified for the regional as individuals. Maconaquah and Kokomo had two runners apiece qualify — Isaiah Wittenberg (12th, 18:10) and Kaden Miller (30th, 19:26) for the Braves and Collin Keesling (14th, 18:25) and Bryan Stoltzfus (24th, 18:57) for the Kats. Cass’ Enoch Hines (17th, 18:33) also is moving on.


GIRLS XC LOGAN SECTIONAL

Winamac used a balanced showing to win its first sectional championship. The Warriors’ top five runners finished 9-10-12-14-27 for a score of 72.

Maconaquah (86), Western (96), Carroll (98) and Cass (109) rounded out the top five in the 11-team field. The top five teams advance to the Logansport Regional.

From the area, Eastern (165) was seventh, Northwestern (222) was ninth, Kokomo (226) was 10th and Peru (298) was 11th.

Individually, Northwestern freshman Hannah Moore took first place with a time of 19:19.

“Hannah ran an outstanding race,” Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said.

Kokomo’s Julynne Spidell was runner-up in 19:36.

“This was a great way for Julynne to start off the IHSAA tournament, and I know she is focused on making a deep run in the tournament,” Kokomo coach Chadrick Salinas said.

Abby Jordan led runner-up Maconaquah with a third-place finish in 20:01. The Braves also put Karli Miller (fifth, 20:44) and Lauren Driscoll (eighth, 21:02) in the top 10.

Western had four runners in the top 20 — Cami Caldwell (15th, 21:38), Sarah Manuel (18th, 22:04.3), Lauren Bradley (19th, 22:04.9) and Avery Shock (20th, 22:05.2).

Chloe Goodrich led Carroll with a fourth-place finish in 20:17. The Cougars also had top-20 runs from Isabelle Altic (11th, 21:20) and Anna Goodrich (16th, 21:41).

Cass was led by Makenna Leicht (sixth, 20:52) and Liberty Scott (13th, 21:29).

The top 10 runners from non-advancing teams qualified for the regional as individuals. Northwestern qualified Moore and Ella Deck (26th, 22:53). Kokomo qualified Spidell. Eastern qualified Ella Kantz (21st, 22:27) and Emily Slaughter (22nd, 22:28).

“It was good to see Ella make it to the regional her senior year,” Eastern coach Ben Cox said, “and Emily ran a 24-second PR to move on, as well.”