Wednesday, October 13, 2004
MARION -- All season long, Annina Gruber and Anna Hurlock have been the first runners in for the Western cross country team.
That was the case again Tuesday at the IHSAA Marion Sectional, but Cassie Myer and Megan Clearwaters proved there is more to the Panthers than just the frontrunners.
Myer and Clearwaters combined with Gruber and Hurlock to give Western four runners among the first eight places as it easily defended its sectional title with 33 points. Marion took second with 55. Kokomo (76), Northwestern (98) and Madison-Grant (103) earned the final three spots for Saturday's regional on the same Indiana Wesleyan University course.
Gruber captured the individual championship, passing Hurlock in the final 800 meters. Gruber finished in a meet record 15 minutes, 29 seconds and Hurlock was next at 15:37. Gruber broke former Panther Christan Bahler's record of 15:49 from 2000.
Myer claimed fifth in 16:00 and Clearwaters was eighth with a time of 16:15.
"We've had four girls in the 15s now and it was really nice to have four girls in the top 10," WHS coach Dana Near said. "All of our girls ran well."
The only people to break through the Panther juggernaut were Tri-Central's Addie Rayl in third, Taylor junior Danielle Glick in fourth, Northwestern's Lauren Sewell, who took sixth, and the Giants' Cali Spencer in seventh.
The top 15 individuals advance to the regional and that included freshmen Nicky Parry of Kokomo in 11th, the Tigers' Jennifer Claudio, who was 13th, and Eastern's Emily Rethlake, who grabbed the final individual spot by coming in 15th. Tipton senior Andrea Harper just missed advancing as she finished 18th.
Gruber and Hurlock were 1-2 a half-mile into the race. Hurlock passed Gruber just past the mile mark and led until the final 800.
"I was behind Anna about 50 meters. I just ran my normal race and kicked it in at 800 meters," Gruber said. "I'm so proud of Anna and I love running with her. Her legs have been hurting all week and she's been in the pool. I'm proud of how she ran."
Neer likes Gruber's chances of winning races come the final 800.
"She's very difficult to beat in that last half mile. She has a lot of speed to give. Annina didn't have to run her best to win, but she ran well," he said. "Annina and Anna ran smart races. We've tried some things with them and I think we've locked into a groove."
Muehr finished 25th with Becky Elliott in 36th and Vanessa Lorenz was 39th. Muehr and Elliott were running for the first time since Oct. 2.
"We were hoping both would come out of this with a positive experience and I think that happened," Neer said of the two seniors.
The Wildkats were paced by Parry in 16:22. Their next four runners finished over the next 48 seconds. Tiffany Williams was 17th, Summer Hickey 20th, Adrienne Shepherd 21st and Sarah Lee wrapped up the scoring in 24th.
"I'm really happy for Nicky. She ran very well," KHS coach Ricke Stucker said. "We had four girls set season bests and the three who didn't are our 1, 2 and 3 runners. They're all injured and ran on ibuprofen and guts.
"Some girls wouldn't perform well under those conditions, but these three ran well."
Northwestern coach Pete Schroer knew he'd get a good race out of Sewell, even though she slightly injured her ankle Monday, and Claudio.
"Lauren ran a strong race and she's been doing that all summer. Jennifer keeps getting better and better," he said. "She's a freshman who you allow to grow and mature into running at the high-school level. She's making adjustments every race."
Katie Tryling and Mary Cox were the Tigers' "difference makers" in 26th and 31st. Laura Bauson was 43rd.
"Katie has been bumped and nicked up all season, but she ran a strong race. Mary ran an incredible race and she came in steaming," Schroer said.
Tri-Central, Eastern and Tipton did not have the required five runners to score as a team.