Kokomo Tribune - Friday, October 13, 2006

Local boys and girls to race at Marion

Ever wonder what happened to the Tipton Cross Country Sectional that was moved to Marion and is held at Indiana Wesleyan University?

For that matter, ever wonder what happened to Tipton cross country?

The Blue Devils used to be perennial regional qualifiers in the 1990s, but after their boys and girls teams made it out of the first Marion Sectional in 1999, both have struggled just to field complete squads this century.

Now, after a six-year drought, a Tipton team is back in the regional. The Blue Devil boys finished fifth in Tuesday’s sectional and are one of five area teams geared up to return to the IWU course Saturday for the Marion Regional.

“We’re real excited,” said coach Stacy Hare. “[To qualify] was definitely the boys’ goal from the beginning of the season, so we accomplished that.”

Kokomo’s boys enter the regional as the Marion Sectional champions, along with Western and Tipton. Northwestern’s Matt Ullmer and Kory Kennedy will participate as individuals.

Only the top five boys and girls teams and top 15 individuals will advance to the New Haven Semistate on Oct. 21. The girls race Saturday begins at 11 a.m., with the boys race at 11:30.

On the girls side, Western carries the banner for the Marion Sectional as the four-time champion. Kokomo will vie for a spot in the semistate, as will two more Tipton runners, individuals Megan Harper and Eroica Stackhouse.

“My first year [in 2002] I had two boys and one girl, and we had 22 kids this year,” Hare said. “We’ve had some individuals who have gone on to the regional in the past and that has helped these younger guys step it up.”

Hare ran for and graduated from Tipton in 1993 as Stacy Tolle, daughter of former football coach Mike Tolle and sister of current coach Aaron Tolle.

“Coaching’s kind of in the blood,” Hare said. “It’s something I have a passion for, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know the coaches around the area.

“The biggest thing for us now is to go [to Marion] and show that we’re worthy of being there. We’re probably not going to be a fifth-place team [Saturday, but] I’d like our seniors to leave with [personal-bests] and the other kids to realize what we could build on.”

The boys race should be a tight one. Huntington North, the Fort Wayne Carroll Sectional champ, is considered the favorite by way of its North Central Conference win over the Wildkats and Marion, another regional qualifier.

Defending champion Oak Hill, which lost to Kokomo by seven points Tuesday, also won’t go down without a fight. Carroll, another player in the standings, was runner-up in 2005 and runner-up to the Vikings on Tuesday.

The Kats were fourth last year. Coach Ricke Stucker didn’t pull any punches when he critiqued his team’s effort despite the win Tuesday.

“[Our guys] stunk up the place,” Stucker said after the Wildkat boys won their first sectional title since 2000. “I expect them to do a lot better on Saturday. We have a lot of room for improvement.

“We know we can do it. We just haven’t put it all together yet, and maybe Saturday will be the time.”

Panthers coach Dana Neer was happy just to see his team back in the regional. Last year’s sixth-place sectional finish snapped a string of five consecutive regional appearances.

“They have a lot to be proud of,” Neer said of his boys. “It’s a young team and they just really came through. The key was that pack. They really fed off each other and kept each other in visual contact.”

Ullmer, a senior, was sixth a year ago. His goal is to advance as far as the State Finals on Oct. 28 in Terre Haute.

“The key is to move on,” said Tigers coach Dave Stevens. “You run Saturday, and Saturday’s the big one where you get to go on to semistate. He’ll be ready.”

Kennedy is a sophomore.

Carroll strong as defending champ

The Panther ladies won easily Tuesday but will have two ranked teams ahead of them Saturday, No. 10 Carroll and No. 19 Huntington North.

The Chargers outran Western 27-89 in 2005 and they return five of their top seven runners, including defending champ Chelsea Blanchard.

As young as the Panthers are with three sophomores, two freshman, a junior and a senior, Carroll is marginally younger. The Chargers used all juniors and sophomores to beat the Vikings 25-52 on Tuesday.

“I think we’re going to be a solid third behind Carroll and Huntington North,” Neer said. “The other teams in that sectional we can handle.”

Sophomore Jenn Elliott is the Marion Sectional champion. She was 11th in last year’s regional race.

“It’s going to be good competition,” said Neer. “I think Jenn can be below 15 [minutes] on this course on Saturday if the conditions are the same.”

Kokomo finished third last year but Stucker knows just to reach the top five will be a challenge Saturday.

“We took 22 seconds off our team time [Tuesday], which is unbelievable,” said Stucker, “[but] we’re going to have to beat Eastbrook [to have a chance], so that’s who we’re going to key on.”

Harper, a junior, was 21st in last year’s regional race. Stackhouse is a freshman.