Friday, August 27, 2004
The Western girls cross country team turned in a record performance Thursday in the 42nd annual Northwestern Combinational.
The Panthers' team total of 63 minutes, 23 seconds set a reocrd and easily gave them the title. Pioneer came in second with a total of 69:02, Northwestern (71:23) took third and Carroll (72:09) was fourth. Eastern, Taylor, Tipton, Peru, and North Miami failed to field complete teams.
In addition to setting a team record, Western runners finished 1-2 in each of the three races. Annina Gruber and Anna Hurlock topped the 1-2 race, Megan Clearwaters and Becky Elliott led the 3-4 race, and Cassie Myer and Jessie Muehr led the 5-6-7 race.
"We didn't go in with the desire to set a course record, but it was nice to come away with that," Western coach Dana Neer said. "The girls ran well on a muggy, hot night. Finishing first and second in each of the races was nice. It was fun to watch our girls in the 3-4 race and the 5-6-7 race. They normally don't lead the way, so they learned what it is like to have peole chasing them down."
Gruber (11:47) and Hurlock (11:52) posted times that rank third and fifth, respectively, in Combo girls history. Taylor's Danielle Glick finished third with a time of 12:16. The Carroll duo of Courtney Rhinehart (12:54) and Kelsye Kennedy (12:58) and Northwestern's Lauren Sewell (12:58) rounded out the top 5.
On the boys side, Carroll took top honors with a team totoal of 51:41. Eastern (53:56) edged Western (53:59) for second place and Northwestern (55:07), Tipton (56:43) and Peru (56:47) finished 5-6-7. Taylor fielded an incomplete team.
Eastern's Tony Martin topped the field with a time of 9:33, and Northwestern's Carleton Smith followed in seond at 9:36. Taylor's Christopher Sinnett (9:44), Tipton's Sam Compton-Craig (9:51) and Carroll's Bryan Hazel (9:52) rounded out the top five.
Western had its best showing in the 5-6-7 race where Sean Parkins, D.J. Shepherd and David Moser placed in the top 5.
"I was really proud of the boys to finish just a few seconds out of runner-up," Neer said. "They have been coming along nicely. Our top 10 runners were all within 1 minute and 20 seconds of each other, so the pack is in nice and that is going to help us down the road as we continue to progress as a team."