Wednesday, October 15, 2003
MARION -- A basketball analogy seemed appropriate for Dana Neer as he stood in Bill Green Arena waiting for the awards ceremony for the IHSAA Marion Girls Cross Country Sectional here Tuesday.
"This is a joyful feeling," said Neer, who took over the reins of the Western girls program last season. "It's like the old IHSAA basketball tournament where you could go into the sectional and beat the big school on its homecourt. It's the same exact feeling"
Neer's Western Panthers claimed their first-ever sectional championship by running away from everyone in the race - including the two-time defending champion Marion Giants on theft home course at Indiana Wesleyan University.
Joining the Panthers in Saturday's Marion Regional on this same course will be Northwestern and Kokomo as well as individuals Laura Boltz of Eastern, Taylor's Danidle Glick, Addie Rayl of Tri-Central and Tipton's Andrea Harper.
Boltz defended her individual championship, cutting 31 seconds off her 2002 winning time despite the "nasty" weather. By the time the gun went off at 5 p.m., the temperature was below 50, the winds were coming strong and rain was falling.
"After a while you get used to it and ignore the weather. You can use the conditions to your advantage, like using the wind to draft 'off someone," the Comet senior said. "You have to be mentally tough to make it on a day like this. You have to forget times and go for the effort level.
"I felt good, I felt strong."
Last season, Boltz won the sectional with a time of 16 minutes, 20 seconds. Tuesday, her Winning time on the four-kilometer course was 15:49.
Boltz knew right when she planned to make her move for the finish line.
"At the 1 1/2 mile mark, from there on you weren't running into the wind. I figured that out in warmups and from that corner on, I knew I could push and go from there," she said.
Pressuring Boltz was Panther sophomore Annina Gruber, who came in second at 15:58. Senior teammate Brittany Stellhorn took third at 16:11 while freshman Anna Hurlock was fourth at 16;14 for the Panthers. Megan Clearwaters took 10th and Cassie Myer wrapped up Westerns team score of 33 by finishing 17th. Becky E1liott, in her first race after a long bout with illness, came in 21st and Vanessa Lorenz was 45th.
"I thought our top three ran their usual get-out-and-go race up front," Neer said, "Megan's race was stellar and consistent. She was in her position all race long. For Becky, to come back in her first race and get 21st in the sectional, it has to give her tremendous confidence after sitting out so many weeks."
Northwestern - placing three girls among the top 13 - took home second place with 87 points, nipping the Giants by one.
Katie McCool claimed eighth for the runners-up while Lauren Sewell was 10th and Sarah Bauson claimed 13th.
"What carried us was putting three girls in the top 15. Those three / have been solid all year, pushing each other and working together," Tiger coach Pete Sdtroer said. The other girls did a good job of narrowing the gap from the beginning of the season. They've just worked their way up and improved."
Kokomo nipped Oak Hill by one, 99-100, for fourth as freshman Adrienne Shepherd came through in ninth for the Kats. "
"We're happy, we were just hop, lng to get fifth," Wildkats coach Ricke Stucker said.
Glick, a sophomore running cross country for the first time, took fifth for the Titans in 16:35 and Ray[ finished 12th overall for the Trojans. Harper also earned an individual berth by claiming 14th.