Western’s boys cross country team practices Thursday at Jackson Morrow Park. Shown are, left to right, Taylor Rathbun, Joseph Packard, Cade Shock, Brayden Curnutt, Pete Bradshaw, Charlie Conkle, Zac Cline, Matthew Edison and Drew Caldwell. Kelly Lafferty Gerber | Kokomo Tribune

Kokomo Tribune October 16, 2020

There’s no shortage of familiarity or motivation on Saturday when local squads take aim at regional competition in cross country and soccer.

Western’s boys cross country team won the Logansport Sectional last Saturday. Next up is the regional, and perennial champ Warsaw. The Tigers have won eight straight regional titles and are the measuring stick for all contenders. Western was fourth last season and hopes to mount a challenge this season.

In soccer, Western’s girls team and the Tipton girls team are both in the regional. The Panthers head to Class 2A Marion Regional, where Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger awaits. Dwenger knocked Western out of the last two regionals.

For Tipton, Eastbrook awaits in a Top-10 clash at the Class A Northwestern Regional. Eastbrook knocked Tipton out of the regional last year in an eight-goal thriller.

LOGAN XC REGIONAL

BOYS RACE
Western started generating momentum two weekends ago when the Panthers dethroned West Lafayette at the Hoosier Conference meet, snapping West Side’s 24-year run of league titles. Then the Panthers surged to the title of the Logansport Sectional with a thrifty score of 21.

They look to keep picking up the pace Saturday morning at the Logansport Regional.

Joining the Panthers in the regional are the next four squads from the sectional, Eastern, Carroll, Northwestern and Peru, as well as the five qualifiers from the Manchester Sectional — Warsaw, Culver Academies, Plymouth, Manchester and Rochester. Western’s last regional title was in 2008.

“We want to run as well as we possibly can and keep the momentum that we started two weeks ago at conference,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “I’m not sure how close it’s going to be between us and Warsaw.”

Western’s Brayden Curnutt and Joseph Packard went 1-2 in the sectional. The Panther pack of Drew Caldwell, Pete Bradshaw and Matthew Edison went 5-6-7.

“Honestly [the Panthers] stack up really well [with Warsaw],” Jewell said. “Everything I’ve seen says Brayden is the guy to beat. Actually, the guy who won the Culver

Regional a year ago is back, but Brayden I think, looking at what he ran in conference, is probably the favorite to take that top spot. Their No. 2 guy and Joseph Packard are in a similar area, and then after that it spreads out.

“I’ve looked at it a number of different ways and it could be anywhere from a couple points either way to eight or 10.”

Eastern’s Caleb Vogl and Brayden Richmond were third and fourth at the sectional and can make an impact on how the top shakes out. Carroll’s Mason Ray was eighth at the sectional, and Northwestern’s Caleb Champion was 10th.

Western’s team time at the sectional was 1:26:02 and the gap between the first and fifth Panthers was just 43.1 seconds as Western put 83 points between itself and second place.

Jewell said getting that kind of a narrow gap between first and fifth runners, and posting a good cumulative time are important. Additionally, if Curnutt and Packard can contend at the front again, that can pull the team up the standings.

“That’s huge. If we can have those guys pull off a 1-2 like that, that’s tremendous,” Jewell said. “I think back to 2014 in sectional, Winamac did that to us and they won by six points at sectional. [If you can do that] you’ve got a really good [chance] of if not taking the top spot, at least you’re in the race. And for us having our 3-4-5 guys a half a second apart … we need to improve on their time a little, but you can’t fault those guys being that competitive coming in.”

Area runners who qualified for the regional as individuals include Maconaquah’s Isaiah Wittenberg and Kaden Miller, Kokomo’s Collin Keesling and Bryan Stoltzfus, and Cass’ Enoch Hines.

The top five boys and girls teams, and top 10 individuals not on an advancing team qualify for the New Prairie Semistate.

GIRLS RACE

Sectional champion Winamac, Maconaquah, Western, Carroll and Cass qualified for the regional from the Logansport Sectional, and join Manchester Sectional qualifiers Warsaw, Culver Academies, Rochester, Manchester and Plymouth in Saturday’s regional. The girls race fires off at 10:30 a.m.

Abby Jordan (third), Karli Miller (fifth) and Lauren Driscoll (eighth) gave Maconaquah three runners in the sectional’s top 10. Cami Caldwell led Western in 15th. Carroll’s Chloe Goodrich was fourth. Cass’ Makenna Leicht was sixth.

Northwestern freshman Hannah Moore was the Logan Sectional champ. Kokomo’s Julynne Spidell was second at the sectional. Moore and Spidell qualified for the regional as individuals along with Northwestern’s Ella Deck and Eastern’s Ella Kantz and Emily Slaughter.