Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, September 30, 2007

GREENTOWN - The Western Panthers remain the program to beat in the Howard County following the 2007 edition of the boys and girls county cross country meets at Eastern Saturday.

Western’s girls team won its sixth straight county meet, and the Panthers boys won their second straight county meet.

In the girls race, Western had a total of 28 points followed by Northwestern (45), Eastern (59) and Taylor (88).

The Eastern course was unfamiliar to some racers according to Western coach Heather Yentes.

“We haven’t raced on this course before,” Yentes said. “The course was nice and very flat, and it had a small wooded area.”

The Panthers’ Jenn Elliott was the overall winner in a time of 20 minutes, 29 seconds. Teammate Corianne Myer came in third (21:14), Kayla Gaskins (21:20) took fourth place, and Lacey Myer rounded out Western’s top runners with an eighth-place finish (22:01).

“Jenn had a great race,” Yentes added. “She started out really strong, and maintained the pace that she started with. It was a personal record for her. Gaskins had a great race. She likes the cool weather. Corianne has in the past week come on very strong. She has closed the gap between Jenn and her. All of them ran great races]. We have a goal to win Mid-Indiana Conference Tuesday.”

Sandwiched in-between the top three Western runners was Northwestern’s Jennifer Claudio, who placed second (20:45). The Tigers’ Hannah Ault was sixth (21:46), and Gretchen Catron placed 10th (23:04).

“Claudio ran a solid time,” Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. “She has been in the 20-minute range all year long. Ault and Catron both ran very good races for them, and they were close to their personal best. I was happy with all the efforts with the girls, and Western is hard to beat.”

Eastern’s top runner was Emily Rethlake with a fifth-place finish (21:43), and Danielle Stiner was seventh (21:51).

“Rethlake did a great job of getting in the top five, and Stiner was right behind her,” Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. “Those two girls led the way, and did a great job for us. Overall, we had all but one girl get personal best, and I am personally pleased with our seniors. Five of the seven runners are seniors, and they all ran well.”

Leslie Maple was the top runner for Taylor with a time of 22:20 for ninth place.

In the boys race, Western came out on top with 19 points. Followed by Northwestern (55) and Eastern (59).

“It was a win, and we were kind of expected to win it,” Western coach Joe Orr said. “One main undecided factor was who was going to be the individual winner.”

The Panthers’ Corey Scott turned out to be the overall winner with a time of 16:47. Northwestern’s Kory Kennedy came in second (17:04), and Western packed the third through sixth spots. The Panthers’ Zac Martinez was third (17:18), Kody Harmon was fourth (17:19), Chris Love came in fifth (17:43) and Austin Young was sixth (17:55). Michael Ladd rounded out Western runners with an eighth-place finish (18:22).

“Scott ran a really good race,” Orr added. “Harmon is closing the gap between the first two runners, and we keep making improvement. The Western program is looking good, and everything for Western went real well.”

Kennedy was followed by the Tigers’ Sam Freeman with a seventh-place finish (17:57).

“Kennedy and Freeman did what I expected,” Stevens said. “I was proud of them. The other guys were solid. The four, five and six runners switch, and getting second place was a good thing for us. Western is a far superior team, and the boys ran hard.”

Hansen Martin was Eastern’s top runner with a ninth place finish (18:31), and Ryan Horner placed 10th (18:35).

“Overall, we didn’t run well,” Mink said. “We hoped we would have a chance to beat Northwestern, and it was close. We had a slow start, and we didn’t make up any ground.”