In Class AA, which featured 28 teams, No. 18-ranked West Lafayette (90) topped No. 13 Fort Wayne Concordia (99) for the team title. Western (228) came in eighth place.
Jenn Elliott led the Panthers with a solid 15th-place finish. She covered the course in 20:41. Lacey Myer (21:49, 52nd place), Corianne Myer (21:53, 54th place), Bre Nicholas (22:02, 57th place) and Kayla Gaskins (22:03, 58th place) rounded out the Panthers’ top five.
"We had some good individual runs," Western coach Heather Yentes said. "I think four of the top five girls had [personal bests] and New Prairie is a tough course, so that was great, and to have Jenn finish in the top 15 out of 198 runners was a good run her.
"Considering we still have two girls out with injuries, [eighth] was pretty good for us."
In Class A, which featured 27 teams, Hebron (84) took the top spot and Northwestern (369) came in 13th place.
Jennifer Claudio (20:57) led the Tigers with a 16th-place finish. Hannah Ault (21:25, 28th place), Gretchen Catron (23:40, 93rd), Ruby Sanchez (24:54, 131st) and Morgan Hullinger (25:30, 141st) rounded out the Tigers’ team score.
"We had a very good race," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "For a long bus ride, I think all of the girls ran well. This was our first time in a meet this size so I was proud of them. The highlight of the day was Jenn and her 20:57 run. That is just a few seconds off her personal best. And the outstanding athlete for us was Hannah Ault, a freshman. She ran a season-best and a personal-best. She dropped a minute off her personal-best time."
In Class AA, South Bend St. Joseph’s topped the 26-team field with a score of 74. New Prairie (128) took second, Western (142) claimed third place and Peru (372) took 13th place.
Western put two runners in the top 20: Corey Scott (16:53) finished 11th and Zac Martinez (17:11) took 18th in the 177-runner field. Also for the Panthers, Kody Harmon (17:33) took 28th place, Chris Love (17:38) was 31st and Kyle Young (18:08) rounded out their top five with a 54th-place finish.
"Third place [in the team standings] was very good in this field," Western coach Joe Orr said. "Corey Scott was under 17 minutes for the first time, which was a highlight, and Kyle Young took a minute off his time as our fifth runner. He did a good job. Everybody on the team, both varsity and junior varsity, ran well."
Aaron Garretson (16:50) took 10th place to lead the Bengal Tigers. Shannon Garretson (17:42, 32nd place), Nathan Gillespie (18:51, 90th), Jordan Garretson (18:55, 93rd) and Sonny Orneles (21:27, 155th) composed the remainder of their top five.
"I’m very content with the top four [runners]. The three and four run right together and we’re scoring together with them. We just have to get stronger with our fifth-place runner," Peru coach Gary Downing said. "I thought Aaron Garretson ran awfully well. The competition was fairly stiff. He was looking for a 16:30, but he came in with a 16:50. It’s the semistate course so it’s something he can work on."
Downing noted the Class AAA race saw LaPorte’s Mike Fout set a course record with a time of 15:12.
In Class A, Oak Hill (75) topped the 32-team field. Northwestern (477) came in 17th place.
Kory Kennedy and Sam Freeman led the Tigers. Kennedy covered the course in 17:11 and finished in 12th place and Freeman followed in 18:09, which was good for 35th place. Joe Williams (19:13, 97th place), Steve Vas (21:32, 188th) and Bryce Bousum (21:43, 193rd) rounded out the Tigers’ top five.
"Kory had a tremendous run to finish 12th. The 17:11 was close to his season best," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "Sam Freeman is a freshman and he had a really good run. Joe Williams ran another personal best, by about another 20 seconds off his time. And a shining spot for us was Bryce Bousum, another freshman. He dropped his personal-best time by 1:20. I was quite impressed with the boys overall."