Kokomo Tribune - Friday, October 20, 2006

Semistates offer stiff competition

— The IHSAA State Cross Country Tournament moves to the semistate level on Saturday, and while three area teams are still in contention for a state berth, several individuals view this as an opportunity to shine.

Two runners who could finish among the top 15 of their respective races, Matt Ullmer of Northwestern and Adrienne Shepherd of Kokomo, have already seen their teams eliminated — the Tigers at the Marion Sectional and the Wildkats at the Marion Regional.

Others like senior Ryan Perry, whose Kokomo team finished third at regional and will try to improve on last year’s 16th-place semistate finish, see this as a chance to reach the pinnacle — the State Finals meet Oct. 28 in Terre Haute.

“I want to do it,” Perry said of reaching the state meet. “I can’t just say I’m going to, but I’m definitely going to try. I’m not going to lie — the top 15 is the goal.”

Perry and his Kats, the Western girls, Ullmer and Shepherd head northeast to the New Haven Semistate on the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne campus.

Heading northwest are the Peru boys to the New Prairie Semistate. The Bengal Tigers finished fifth at the Culver Academies Regional on Saturday.

The New Haven girls race begins at 11 a.m. The New Prairie race begins at 11:30 a.m. Kokomo time. Along with the top 15 individuals, the top five teams from each of four semistates across Indiana advance to the state meet.

Perry was 46th at Fort Wayne a year ago in 17:01. He finished fourth at the Marion Regional last Saturday with a time of 16:21.6.

Shepherd was 30th in last year’s semistate race in 15:35.6. She finished fifth at Marion a week ago in 15:30.8.

Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said Perry, Shepherd and the Kats need to be at their best Saturday.

“[Ryan] can run faster than [his regional time] and he’s going to have to run faster to get in the top 15,” Stucker said after the regional race.

“At this point you just have to have [everyone] run well. We’re alive for [Saturday] and we want to go up there and go seven for seven [on the boys’ personal-bests] and get Adrienne up as far as we can.”

The Panthers were also third at the Marion Regional this year and finished sixth at semistate in 2005.

Junior Katie Hollingsworth is running her best at the right time. She was eighth at Marion in 15:45.5 and hasn’t given up hope of making the state meet, either as an individual or as a team.

“I really want to move on from semistate,” Hollingsworth said. “It’s been a goal for me this year, but it’s also important for me for my team to do well. We’re looking to try our best and compete well. That’s our goal.”

Sophomore Jenn Elliott is another capable of a top-15 finish. The Marion Sectional champ this season (in 15:27.6), Elliott was 34th at New Haven as a freshman in 15:39.1.

Western faces stiff competition as always. According to the cross country coaches poll, five ranked teams are ahead of the Panthers, including No. 4-ranked Northridge, last year’s winner.

Coach Dana Neer believes this young team has some doubters to disprove.

“This group of girls, many ‘experts’ counted them out early on as bona fide contenders,” Neer said. “Right now, Goshen, Fort Wayne Dwenger and Western are real solid sixth-place finishers. Anyone of us could get that.

“Our goal is to run with [regional runner-up] Huntington North, and we’re going to try and do that.”

Two seniors did reach the promised land in 2005 when Western’s Annina Gruber and Taylor’s Danielle Glick both qualified for the State Finals.

Ullmer, a senior this season, had the best finish a year ago of any area returnee. He was 17th in the boys race in 16:27. Ullmer placed fifth in Saturday’s Marion Regional in 16:26.8.

“That’s our goal [for Matt] — to be running in the State Finals,” says coach Dave Stevens.

Peru senior Cody Siblisk has been a constant on the area scene alongside Ullmer and Perry. They finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, at the Maconaquah Invitational on Sept. 9.

Siblisk was third overall at Saturday’s regional in 16:39.4. He was third last year as well, but failed to advance out of the always-tough New Prairie Semistate, which is dominated by teams from the Northwest Indiana Region.

“Cody has kind of leveled off, and I think the more competition is coming to him, his times will probably come down,” said coach Gary Downing. “It’s going to be awful tough. If he would go out and perform at 16:15 this [Saturday], yes, he should advance. It’s something he has wanted for four years.”

This is Peru’s first semistate run since 2003. Teammates Aaron Garretson, Tony Zimmerman and Siblisk were part of the 3,200-meter relay team that finished 21st in the state last spring.

“We’re proud to be going back to the semistate,” Downing said. “It’s a nice accomplishment for the boys.

“The seniors have really carried this team and it all goes back to their success in track last season. They scored a lot of points for the track team and it’s really carried over.”