Wednesday, September 08, 2004

For the third straight season, the Western girls cross country team took top honors in the Oak Hill Invitational.

Western posted a score of 30 points to easily top runner-up Jay County (58) in the Tuesday meet. Fellow area schools Eastern, Peru, and Tri-Central also competed, but failed to field complete teams.

Anna Hurlock lead the Panthers' charge to victory. The sophomore covered the course in 16 minutes, 20 seconds to take first in the individual standings. Teammate Megan Clearwaters (17:04) placed fourth, and fellow Panther runners Annina Gruber (17:57), Cassie Myer (17:58), Becky Elliott (18:16) and Jessie Muehr (18:35) finished 8-9-12-17.

"Anna had a great race to win. She was third last year; to win this year as a sophomore is a great accomplishment," WHS coach Dana Neer said. "Megan Clearwaters was running stronger and stronger throughout the race and she finished No. 4 to receive a medal.

"We were happy with our girls taking six of the top 17 places," Neer added. "Annina was not feeling that well tonight, but she still gave a great effort. Becky and Cassie continue to mature and they ran the races tonight that they were supposed to in preparation for Saturday's meet at Maconaquah."

Emily Rethlake was the top Eastern runner. She posted a time of 18:31, which was good for 16th place. Addie Rayl led TC with a time of 16:54.

On the boys side, No. 16-ranked Blackford posted a score of 33 points to top the 11-team field. Peru (116) took third and Western (121) and Eastern (132) placed 5-6.

Eastern's Tony Martin continued his strong season as he covered the course in 17:94 which was good for second place. Michael Marley led Western with a sixth-place finish.

"I am very proud of the boys team, placing fifth. They pulled together to make up for the absences of our No. 4 and Nor. 5 runners," Neer said, noting Sean Parkins and Trevor Mann sat out with minor injuries. "The boys are putting together some great races because of their team mindset."

Cody Siblisk led Peru with a fifth-place finish. He posted a time of 17:39.

"We ran a nice race, and we ran against a ranked Blackford team," Peru coach Gary Downing said. "We ran against two conference teams."

Jake Ritchie was the top runner for Tri-Central with at time of 20:28 for 53rd place.