Kyle Walsh and Blaine Zimmerman have had some great races in cross country and track over the last couple of years.

The 2003 Mid-Indiana Conference Cross Country Meet Thursday at Northwestern was no exception as Walsh, the Western senior, pulled away from Hamilton Heights' Zimmerman to win the boys individual championship and also help the Panthers win the team title.

With senior Jim Jackson limited to standing on the sideline cheering on his teammates, the Panthers claimed the boys championship by just two points, 52-54, over Peru. Heights was third with 87. The host Northwestern Tigers finished fourth with 99. Eastern (125) was fifth and followed by Maconaquah (13), Cass (162) and Taylor (200).

During track season, Walsh and Zimmerman raced four times twice each in the 3,200-meter relay and 1,600 run - and they split victories in each.

"In the four races, there was less than a second between us," Zimmerman said. "I think the biggest gap was 7/~ of a second?

The two runners took the early lead and ran away from the rest of the 53-runner field.

"I tried to surge at the mile to break clear," Zimmerman said, "but he went right with me?

Walsh wasn't going to let his rival pull away from him. "I just matched him," he said.

Zimmerman trailed Walsh by "three to four steps at four kilometers and then Kyle just took off?

"He had a great finish. He'd make a surge and pull away a tittle bit each time," the Huskies' No. 1 runner said. "There wasn't much I could do"

Walsh matched his plan for the race by pulling away in the final stretch, winning the meet in 15 minutes, 5I seconds. Zimmerman took second in 16:31.

"He stayed there and I made some surges and kept building onto my lead," the Panther runner said. "I stretched the lead out over the last kilometer.

“It was my best race time wise this year. This is the first time I've broke 16 minutes. It's been tough getting under 16 and it feels great to finally break that.”

Michael Marley ran second for Western, finishing sixth overall in 17:50, but then victory came when the pack of Andy Snow, Luke Minor. Eric Walsh and josh Shepherd finished 14th through 17th with just eight seconds separation.

"We knew it was going to be close and when we figured it, we thought it would be about seven or eight points," Western coach Dana Neer said. "Peru had us at the 2 ½ mile mark.”

"Josh, Eric, Andy and Luke all moved up a position or two and got us the victory. That just shows the fortitude and depth of this team. I have to give those guys all the credit for wanting to win it:

Peru's Bengal Tigers fought their way into contention by placing three runners among the top 10, but placings were key up front for the Panthers' victory.

They got some help from other county runners. Taylor's Christopher Sinnett helped out the Panthers by nipping Peru's Elliott Cohee by a second for third place at 17:03. Marley came in seven seconds ahead of the Tigers' Cody Siblisk for sixth and Eastern's Derek Woods finished just ahead of Conrad Warder in eighth.

Cass' effort was led by Chris Schoff in fifth with his time of 17:23 and Jared Holycross earned the last all-MIC spot by coming in 10th.

Heights claim girls title

The Huskies' No. 10-ranked girls ran away with the MIC girls crown by finishing with 39 points. Maconaquah finished in front of Western for the first time this season as it claimed second by two points, 55-5Z

Western's Annina Gruber claimed the girls individual championship by covering the 4K course in 15:37. Second went to Eastern's Laura Boltz al 15:42.

"I knew she'd be my main competition," Gruber said. "I figured I'd stay with her. I started feeling good and went ahead and passed her.

"When 1 heard her coming up behind me, I'd surge and extend my lead. I've been focused on this meet for a long time. I wanted to do good in it.”

The Huskies weren't even a concern for Western, according to Neer.

"I didn't push the issue with Hamilton Heights. We were looking at being the runner-up," he said. "Maconaquah is a super program and we're looking ahead to the sectional now:

Heights' runners claimed third, fourth, ninth and 11th and wrapped up the title as their fifth runner was 15th. Taylor's Dantelle Glick cruised in at third.

Western's Anna Hurlock and Brittany Stellhorn came in sixth and eighth as Maconaquah's Michelle Denham squeezed in between them for seventh. Ashley Lehman was ninth for the Braves.

Fourth in the girls team scoring went to Northwestern at 102 and the hosts were followed by Cass (152), Peru (153) and Eastern (163).