Kokomo Tribune - Wednesday, August 15, 2007

-- The two-pronged realignment that started in the spring with the track and field tournament concludes this fall with cross country as all Howard County teams find themselves headed in different directions.

Intended by the IHSAA to make both tournament series more closely resemble each other, no longer will the cross country trail go through Marion and ultimately Fort Wayne’s New Haven Semistate.

Instead, the sectional will be at Logansport, with the regional at Culver Academies and the semistate at New Prairie. The change is for both boys and girls and it’s getting mixed reviews from area coaches.

"Marion was a flat, fast course. Northwestern has a flat, fast course," explained Tigers coach Dave Stevens. "That’s where [we] practice, so to have the sectional and regional at Marion, we were kind of built for that."

The course at Logansport High School is considered more difficult with much greater elevation changes. That becomes a problem, says Stevens, for his best runner, Kory Kennedy, who is legally blind.

"We’re trying to figure out how to adapt for that," Stevens said. "Kory has tremendous abilities, but he also has a couple limitations."

Kokomo was to have been the defending Marion Sectional champion. The Kats advanced as far as the semistate as a team in 2006 but will have to do so this year on mostly unfamiliar courses.

Logansport is a fellow member of the North Central Conference and Kokomo will run there for the Logan Invite in late September. But after that it’s all uncharted waters.

"We have never been to Culver, we have never been to New Prairie, but I know the courses are tough," coach Ricke Stucker said. "It’s going to be different, but overall I think it might be a little easier for us.

"The [Logansport] course is a little tougher. My kids seem to like that. Our course is pretty tough, so it will get us ready for the tournament series."

A familiar face returns to the local scene as Joe Orr, after a long hiatus, is once again mentoring the Western boys and teaching math at the high school.

"I’m very excited to be back," he said. "I told the [team] I found out after doing some other things that I really enjoy teaching and I’m glad to be back."

Kokomo

The Wildkats graduated three of their top seven runners, including No. 1 Ryan Perry, but are still considered to be the local favorite entering the postseason.

"It’s a reloading year," said Stucker, who led Kokomo to its first cross country sectional title last year since 2000.

"If we stay healthy, by tournament time we should be decent. But if we don’t, we just don’t have that much depth."

Ian Holtson and Devin White should be consistent frontrunners. Both performed well in last year’s postseason and have had a productive summer.

Brandon Sheline ran No. 2 for the Kats at sectional but fell to sixth for Kokomo at regional and seems to be constantly fighting injuries.

"He is one of the keys to our success," Stucker said of Sheline. "He’s got a bunch of talent, but we have to get 100 percent out of him in all areas."

Mason McGovern ran No. 6 in 2006. Vince Calabro, Matt Wyss and Jordan Lee are returnees to the program who should vie for a top-seven spot.

"We have some decent kids; we just have to see if we can beat anybody," said Stucker. "We run some teams that’ll have one or two kids that are just way out in front of us, so we’re going to have to have a pack. Oak Hill comes to mind.

"Oak Hill could be the team to beat at sectional."

Northwestern

The Tigers look to Kennedy for leadership after the graduation of semistate qualifier Matt Ullmer.

Kennedy himself was ninth at sectional last year but failed to advance. Like Ullmer was mentor to him, Kennedy is expected to take an outstanding freshman, Sam Freeman, under his wing.

"I’m looking forward to Kory getting better and better," said Stevens. "He works hard and will lead us on the course.

"Having Kory around to set the bar for [Freeman] is kind of like Matt Ullmer and Kory, but now it’s Kory and Sam. With Kory’s on-course leadership Sam knows where he needs to go."

Senior Joe Williams is the only other runner with postseason experience and should run No. 3. Two other freshmen, Hayden Jarvis and Bryce Bousum, are expected to contribute right away.

Junior Steve Vas, who is in remission from bone cancer in his forearm, and junior Chris Fox, a move-in from Kansas, round out the team.

"We’re a little thin and young," Stevens said. "The boys are working hard and will get better. We’ll be stronger come the end of the year."

Western

The Panthers return six runners with postseason experience, including their top three runners from sectional — junior Zac Martinez, sophomore Kody Harmon and junior Corey Scott.

Orr says that strong corps of returnees has Western looking beyond just last year’s regional-qualifying team.

"I think we’re going to be a team to shoot for in [the Mid-Indiana Conference]," said Orr. "That’s one of our goals, to win the MIC this year, and we’re going to work toward qualifying for semistate. Those are reasonable goals for us."

Martinez was 17th overall at the Marion Sectional and ran No. 1 all season with Harmon No. 2. They and Scott are joined by senior Rick Price, who ran No. 6; Kaleb Hollingsworth and Austin Young.

Three other seniors are on the squad — Michael Ladd, Alex Miller and first-time runner Kyle Young. Junior Russell Showers, who is also a member of the boys golf team, is out as well as sophomores Jacob Huffman and Nathan Lyons. Freshman Chris Love has the potential to run with the top group of seven.

Orr, who coached previously for 22 seasons at Western, is back in his element. He left after the 1994-95 school year.

"Cross country has been special to me," he said. "We’ve had some pretty good teams. I try to tell the kids that running is something you can pursue lifelong."

Eastern

The Comets are unable to field a complete team thus far with only four boys in the fold. Coach Brandon Mink said it has been a struggle ever since Eastern finished the sectional in 2006 with just four runners.

"We had some injuries last year, and some of those injuries have actually kind of plagued us trying to build our team for this year," he said. "But I am pleased with the four guys who have been working hard and I look for them to make progress."

Sophomore Hansen Martin, who placed 34th overall at sectional last year, should be Mink’s No. 1 runner. He’ll be followed by juniors Cody Young and Anthony Laughman, a first-year runner, and freshman Ryan Horner.

"Cody has been a good leader and a good motivator for the other guys," said Mink.