Sunday, October 27, 2003
FORT WAYNE -- Western High School's colors will be flying at Saturday's IHSAA Cross Counta3, State Meet.
As expected, senior Kyle Walsh qualified as an individual from the New Haven Semistate by finishing second. On the girls side, sophomore Annina Graber will be the lone Panther competing as Western's girls finished 20 points shy of advancing in sixth place.
“This one really hurts. These girls are overachieving champions,” Panther coach Dana Neer said.
Northridge ran away with the girls team title, Finishing with 62 points to runner-up DeKalb's 89. Third went to Fort Wayne Concordia (119) with Homestead (172) fourth and Northrop (200) fifth. The Panthers scored 220 with Angola in seventh at 222.
To come so close and yet not advance was tough and Neer realized how much the midseason illnesses some runners suffered meant at this point of the season.
"It hit us hard. I think we recovered nicely, but if this were two weeks earlier in the season, the week of the conference instead, it would be a different story coming out of here? he said. "We talked all week long about the four teams we needed to beat and we beat three of them.
"These girls believed in each other and were unified. They were totally ready to race _~d ran their best races of the year;
Gruber finished 13th for the Panthers in 15 minutes, 9 seconds and Brittany Stellhorn took 19th at 15'28. Anna Hurlock was 35th in 15:46.
Gruber gave Stellhorn credit for boosting her throughout the race.
"Brittany was right there pushing me and she kept me there in 12th and 13th. Brittany kept encouraging me, saying 'you can't drop back, the Panther sophomore said. "We dropped back a little to 16 and 17, but people started yelling for us. There was a group of about five or six girls about 10 meters in front of us with 400 meters to go. That's when I started to push and passed them and got back to 13th.
"I'm really excited. I knew it would be great to make it but I didn't expect it. I thought maybe it would be next year. This is a total shock for met'
Neer felt Gruber got out strong through the first 800 meters and mile.
"She looked a little beat coming up on two miles, but then she .lengthened her stride and poured it on," he said.
Becky Elliott was 86th and Megan Clearwaters was 101st.
"Brittany ran a superb race and PR'd by a lot. We were hoping to get three into the top 30 and that was accomplished," Neer said. "Becky, we wanted in the 16:40S and she was in the 50s.
"Brittany is the only I really feel bad about. We never talk about individuals, we stress team, but I feel bad for her and Jim [Jackson] as seniors."
The boys race started off quickly and never slowed down. Walsh covered the first mile in 4:45, but was still second to Fremont's Alan Hiner by nearly 10 seconds.
"I began to get concerned that Kyle wasn't bridging the gap at two miles," Neer said. "He was holding people off and trying to move up"
The battle was for second and several different people challenged Walsh throughout the five kilometers.
"I kept hearing different names being called out behind me. There was always someone back there pushing me," he said. "With a half mile left, I realized it was a race for second with me and four other guys. I just wanted to hang on and run as good as I could."
At the awards ceremony afterwards, Hiner singled out Walsh as the rationale for his start.
"I wanted to go out fast because of this guy," he said, pointing to the Western runner. "He finishes like crazy. I don't want to be near him in the last 800 meters."
Walsh's time was 15:40, a personal best by eight seconds.
"That is the fastest I've ever gone out. It's the fastest time I've ever run and it wasn't quite good enough," he said. "I'm very pleased with what I did, but I'm not done yet."
The Panthers' boys ran '13th with 327 as Northrop won the team title with 84. Also moving on were Huntington North (102), Northridge (148), West Noble (164) and Fort Wayne Snider (186).
After Walsh, Michael Marley was next in at 47th in 16:55. Jackson battled his injury and finished in 17:43 in 102nd.
"We had five guys PR. That's 'great. We got great times out of almost all of them," Neer said. "Michael finally got into the 16s and I feel he has a very bright future. Josh Shepherd ran 18:01, what a competitor. The future looks bright here with Luke Minor, Eric Walsh and some JV guys waiting in the wings to come in next year."
"Jim's one of the finest young men I've ever known. Running 17:45, there are a lot of people who would be thrilled to run that one time. Jim has a heart that will never give up."