Western, Cass take XC sectional titles

By Tribune Sports Staff

Western's boys team and Lewis Cass' girls team won their halves of the Logansport Cross Country Sectional on Saturday and each saw one of their runners take the individual title as well

In the boys meet, Camden Raab and Miles Rudy went 1-2 to lead Western to a repeat title. The Panthers put up a superb score of 25. Northwestern was second with 61, Kokomo third at 90, Clinton Central fourth with 115 and Rossville fifth with 160. The top five schools advance to regional competition. Additionally, the top 15 runners on non-advancing schools move on as individuals

Cass was sixth (161), Maconaquah eighth (209), Peru 12th (295) and Eastern 13th (314). Carroll and Taylor were incomplete.

Raab set the pace at 16:05.5. Rudy was next at 16:13.4. Also for the Panthers, Beck Bennett was fourth at 16:43.5, Maddox Carver sixth at 17:01.2, and Avery Franklin 12th at 17:31.6.

"I don't think it was a surprise to anyone when Camden and Miles took the top two places since they've been doing that all season," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "They're state-caliber runners and were there [at state] last year. Landing Beck and Maddox as high as they did and following it up with Avery just outside of the top 10 may have shocked a few people. However, we did the same thing at conference last week so it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. We've been saying all season that most of our improvement was going to come from our third, fourth and fifth men, and we got over 70 seconds of improvement on this course from those guys.

"The first mile was similar to the conference meet last week. We went out somewhat aggressively although not quite as fast. We guessed a couple others would try to push the pace in the early going so we were content to let them do that. By the time the pack came out of the Berry Patch things had settled out. Camden emerged with a 12-second lead on Miles and Kokomo's Cooper Cage. After that it was all about finishing well."

The sectional title was Western's 14th all-time, including the fourth in the last seven years.

Mason Broeker led Northwestern in seventh (17:08.4), Bryan Burkhalter was eighth (17:21.5), Colen Lechner 13th (17:37.4), Ryland Barnes 14th (17:39.6), and Isaac Everson 19th (18:07.1).

Cage paced Kokomo in third (16:33.2), Preston Arreola was ninth (17:26.6), Benjamin Wallace 20th (18:08.0), Maurice Wright 26th (18:31.1), and Leo Serra 32nd (18:50.0).

Cass was led by Kaiden Hughes in 16th (17:52.4), Ben Jay was 18th (18:04.2), Colton Copeland was 22nd (18:22.4), Sam Vandeburg 36th (19:01.7), and Brogen Younts 75th (20:55.6). Cass nearly advanced a team of individuals as four Kings qualified for the regional. Hughes, Jay, Copeland and Vandeburg each advanced as individuals.

Maconaquah's Christian Collins took 24th (18:30.5), Joel Loshnowsky was 25th (18:30.5), Abel Robison 27th (18:32.2), Brantley Evans 57th (19:40.6), and Jacob Bowman 85th (22:12.3). Collins, Loshnowsky and Robison each advanced to the regional as an individual.

Western's Maddox Carver ,left adn Kokomo's Connor Frederick push toward the finish line in the boys race of the Logansport Cross Country Sectional on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. Western won the team title and kokmo was runner-up.
Kelly Lafferty Gerber | Kokomo Tribune

Peru's Landen Emerson was 48th (19:30.0), Cole Yates

54th (19:35.0), Benjamin Garner 65th (20:00.2), Ian Childs 71st (20:32.1), and Marcus Garner 78th (21:06.5)

Eastern's Jakob Bertoline was 51st (19:33.4), William Kuntz 56th (19:39.6), Samuel Thomas 70th (20:28.1), Chase Roseberry 80th (21:27.9), and Hayden Leopard 81st (21:33.4).

Carroll's Noah Johnson was 45th (19:26.4) and Alexander Majors 99th (25:32.4).

Taylor's Braden Wunderlich was 49th (19:32.3), Xander Snow 50th (19:33.0) and Blaine Challis 90th (22:36.3).

"I’m happy for Obi to be racing again next week in the regional, and we’re looking forward to a strong race," Eastern coach Ben Cox said. "William [Kuntz, 41st] was aiming for a spot at the regional as well. The effort earned him a PR, even though he came up short of qualifying. It was also good for Parker [Smith-McCombs, 93rd] to end his career on a season-best only five seconds from his PR."

For full lists of scoring runners from local teams, see the scoreboard on A10.

GIRLS RACE

With Aftin Griffin racing to the individual title, Cass won the girls race with a score of 51 for its first sectional title since 1998. Logansport was second at 88, Northwestern third at 90, Maconaquah fourth at 99 and Western fifth at 120 to take the final advancing team spot.

Kokomo was sixth (151). Carroll and Peru were incomplete.

Griffin finished more than a minute ahead of second place, winning in 19:17.8. Also for the Kings, Hope Rush was sixth (21:21.2), AnnaLeigh Hedrick seventh (21:29.7), Brystalin Gillem 22nd (23:24.2), and Bianca Panmei 23rd (23:25.5).

Northwestern was led by Annabelle Brewster in fourth (20:39.4). Vanessa Morrow was 11th (22:30.0), Joy Wasmuth 27th (23:37.5), Meredith Kelly 30th, and Bella Winrotte 33rd (24:01.4).

Maconaquah saw Chloe Jordan finish second (20:24.1). Zoie Laber was 17th (22:59.5), Elaina Montgomery 29th (23:42.7), June Schrock 34th (24:12.9), and Macie McManus 35th (24:24.3).

Western's Lucy Schave was fifth (21:13.6), Mary Claire DiPaola ninth (22:05.1), Samantha Williams 28th (23:42.0), Marli Hunter 46th (25:32.8), and Gracie Shade 55th (26:12.2).

Kokomo's Alaina Thompson took 10th (22:16.1), Morgan Rakestraw 38th (24:34.1), Christina Durham 40th (24:46.8), Gretchen Riggle 42nd (24:52.4), and Macy Rakestraw 49th (25:41.9). Thompson and Morgan Rakestraw advanced as individuals.

Carroll's Riley Hayden was 13th (22:43.4), Jillian Salts 16th (22:58.2), Cora Altic 24th (23:29.6), and Oliva Schroder 66th (27:26.7). Hayden, Salts and Altic advanced as individuals.

Peru's Evaney Fischer was 15th (22:51.2), Esther Collie 21st (23:18.4), and Bailey Butt 37th (24:25.6). All three Bengal runners advanced as individuals.