Friday, October 22, 2004
For five area boys heading to Saturday's IHSAA New Haven Cross Country Semistate, it all boils down to the power of one.
The team competition has ended for Taylor's Christopher Sinnett, Eastern's Tony Martin, Western's Michael Marley, Northwestern's Matt Ullmer and Tipton's Sam Compton-Craig. Now, the rest of the season de-pends on what each of them accom-plishes in the meet at IPFW.
All five will be shooting for top-15 finishes, which would give them a berth in the Oct 30 state meet in Terre Haute.
"This is my senior year and I real-ly want to make it to state. I haven't had that chance yet," said Sinnett, who has run in the semistate the last two seasons. "Last year was a real disappointment. I was coming off a case of bronchitis. I wasn't to-tally healthy and I didn't have enough in me to make it to state.
"I've been thinking about what time to run, but i stopped thinking about time. Place is more impor-tant, but I know the time will have to be fast."
He and Marley, who has run the previous three semistates with the Panther team, have advice for new-comers like Martin, Ullmer and Compton-Craig
"The main thing is to stay focused, run your race and not let all the other guys make you run a dif-ferent race,' said Sinnett who finished 31st last year.
The Panther runner noted that the start is often the most intimidating thing at semistate.
"The pace you go out surprises you and they always go out fast," he said before reinforcing Sinnett's point. "Don't worry about the com-petition and run your own race.
"I want to run my hardest, try to get a PR and a good race to finish my career. I would like to get under 16:30. That would be a personal best"
Martin, the Comet senior who is running his first year of cross coun-try, has his goal as being among the top 15.
"I'd like to get in the top 10. I really liked that course when I ran it at the New Haven Invitational," he said. "I felt really smooth on it. I'm starting about the middle of the start line and I'm going to have get out a little extra quick so I don't get cut off."
A good point for both he and Sinnett would bt to feed off of each other.
"I'll see if Chris is up there with me. If we can push each other; hopefully, we could both advance. It would be nice to have a friendly face there."
A senior as well, Compton-Craig is going in knowing that the com-petition will be much faster.
"I have no idea what to expect. It will be a lot faster with a lot more runners," he said. "I'm looking for-ward to some good competition. I think going on to state would be a good goal or to at least finish in the top 25."
A sophomore, Ullmer is the only underclassman of the five and he's using this as training for the future.
"It's going to be a challenge. It's hard to imagine," he said. "There will be a lot more runners than at any of my other races.
"I'm going to go and try my hardest. That way, I'll know what to expect next year."