Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, October 22, 2006

No local runner emerged from soggy semistate

FORT WAYNE — Sixteen cross country runners from three Howard County schools toed the line to start the IHSAA New Haven Semistate here Saturday and dreamed of earning the right to one more week of competition.

Those dreams of a State Finals berth Saturday in Terre Haute all came up bitterly short. Of the two teams from Kokomo and Western and individuals Matt Ullmer of Northwestern and Adrienne Shepherd of Kokomo, none placed well enough to advance.

Panther junior Katie Hollingsworth had the best day of any county athlete. Her 24th-place finish helped Western place eighth as a team with 255 points.

Northridge won the team title with 56 points, and Fort Wayne Carroll was second with 84.

Ullmer led the local boys contingent. He was 26th with a time of 16 minutes, 42 seconds. Of course, Ullmer had hoped for better.

The senior was 17th in last year’s semistate race. Only the top 15 individuals and top five teams punch their tickets to Terre Haute. Fort Wayne Northrop’s Robert Moldovan won in a time of 15:24.

Ullmer battled overconfidence in the Marion Sectional race Oct. 10 when he was third. In his own words he was “very disappointed” Saturday. Ullmer said overconfidence may have been a factor again.

“I probably was too confident that I was going to make it, but I don’t know,” Ullmer said. “I just tried my best.”

Several runners, including Ullmer, found the new course on the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne campus not to their liking. Set alongside the St. Joseph River, rain all week left it soggy and waterlogged.

Ullmer ran 15th for the first mile, but dropped to 20th near the end of the second mile.

“We don’t run on any courses [that are] muddy at all,” he said. “It probably would have helped if we had done a course like this earlier in the season. I just wasn’t used to the conditions, but I tried my hardest.”

The Wildkats placed 14th in the boys race, won also by Northridge with 84 points. North Central Conference rival Huntington North was second with 142.

Kokomo senior Ryan Perry was another runner who anticipated doing much better. He faded from 40th near the second mile to 78th overall in 17:19.

“I went out hard for about the first 500 meters and that took a lot out of my legs,” Perry said. “It’s a really soft course, so that also took something out of my legs. I didn’t have it [Saturday] I guess.

“I hate to say I gave up, but after two miles when I realized I didn’t have it, I was about to shut down and finish up.”

Sophomore Ian Holtson was first in for the Kats. He was 44th with a time of 16:55, a personal-best for him despite the slow track.

“We figured, for the guys, that course was about 30 seconds slow, so that’s about 34 seconds faster than [Ian] has ever run in his life,” said Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker. “He ran really well for us. He has a nice career ahead of him.”

Devin White (97th) clocked the 5,000 meters in 17:32, followed by senior Cameron Cunningham (102nd) in 17:39, Mason McGovern (105th) in 17:41, Jordan Lee (137th) in 18:31 and Brandon Sheline (147th) in 18:49.

Stucker reflected on what he called a “bizarre season” that included the team’s first sectional title since 2000.

“We’ve never been [completely] healthy,” Stucker said. “We ran our best team meet maybe the first week, and then we’ve had one thing after another impede our progress. We have done well; we just didn’t know when it was going to be.

“We have some kids coming back that could be really good next year if they work hard over the winter.”

Shepherd, another senior, was 37th in the girls race to close her career with a time of 16:01.

“She did OK, but at this level, you just have to set a personal-best if you want to progress to the State Finals,” said Stucker. “You have to run the times that have been there in the past.”

Sixth twice and seventh once in the last three years, Western coach Dana Neer felt like his young team’s eighth-place finish was exceptional.

“We had a solid, solid race,” he said. “The course was sloppy, so obviously at times it was a struggle. It was a strong person’s race and we think we are strong, so I think that strength helped us through.”

Hollingsworth and teammate Jenn Elliott ran nearly together for much of the 4,000 meters until Hollingsworth pulled away. She finished in 15:47, only two seconds off her PR.

“My best time before this race was 15:45, so [considering the course] that’s right on,” Hollingsworth said. “[Our girls] all raced really strong [Saturday]. We obviously would have loved to have gotten fifth, but we worked really hard and have a lot more opportunities next year.”

Elliott was 44th in 16:11, followed by Kelsey Durr (78th) in 16:48, Kiley Camp (91st) in 16:55, Lacey Myer (97th) 17:00, Vee Weitbrecht (109th) in 17:13, and the team’s lone senior, Vanessa Lorenz (119th) in 17:29.

The Panthers capped another successful campaign, winning the Mid-Indiana Conference title and their fourth consecutive sectional championship.

“There were a lot of bright spots and we have a lot of great kids coming up,” Neer said. “We take pride in the fact that anybody who wants to run cross country for Western can. For whatever reason, we will help them become a better athlete, a better person.

“It’s been a great year for Western cross country.”