Western boys surge to second place

Kokomo Tribune - Wednesday, October 10, 2007

By CHRIS GARNER
Tribune sportswriter

But Western, with 60 points, showed that this year isn’t over yet — not by a long shot — finishing second to champion Oak Hill (46) here at Tuesday’s Logansport Sectional.

The top five teams, including Kokomo (77) third, Maconaquah (149) fourth and Peru (151) fifth and top 15 individuals advance to the Culver Academies Regional on Saturday.

The next step beyond that for the surging Panthers would be the New Prairie Semistate.

“We’re not talking about next year yet, but I think the guys deep down know there’s a lot more in store next year if they keep working hard,” said Western coach Joe Orr. “If we get to the semistate [this year] we’ll find out what it takes to get one step further.”

  

OFF AND RUNNING: Runners from local schools including Kokomo, Western and Northwestern take to the course at the Logansport Boys Cross Country Sectional Tuesday afternoon. Western led the Tribune-area boys squads, finishing second, a spot ahead of the Kats. KT photo

Scott said he rebounded from a sub-par race at the Mid-Indiana Conference meet a week ago Tuesday.

“That’s normally how it goes for me — one great race and one not so great,” Scott said. “[Tuesday’s weather] was cool and I ran good.” Scott said even he was a bit surprised by the team’s season thus far.

“I didn’t expect us to be this good,” he said. “We worked really hard over the summer and pulled it together.”

Teammate Zac Martinez wasn’t far behind in fifth place in 17:20.35. Kody Harmon was 12th and Chris Love was 16th.

“Corey ran a lot smarter race than he did at the MIC,” Orr said. “He slowed down by about 10 seconds in that first mile and was really able to compete that last mile and pass some really good runners. Zac ran a really good race as well, as did all of them. I’m real pleased.”

The Wildkats lost their sectional crown from last year at Marion to the same Golden Eagles team that won in 2005 and advanced to the state meet. Kat coach Ricke Stucker was impressed with Oak Hill, which put five runners among the top 20 finishers and all seven in the top 37.

“Oak Hill didn’t run exceptionally well, but you can see how good they are,” he said. “They were almost coasting, like they were on a training run out there.”

Brandon Sheline led the Kats with an eighth-place finish in 17:27.96. Ian Holtson was 10th and Devin White 14th. Stucker said his team finished just about where he expected.

“We don’t have any business beating Western but we were trying to,” said Stucker. “I’m an old Bobby Knight fan and I’m always looking for the perfect game. We’ve had seven out of seven [run their best race] at one time, but not [Tuesday].”

Northwestern junior Kory Kennedy recovered from a fall in the Berry Patch around the mile and a half mark to finish ninth in 17:32.07, his third trip to regional.

“I’ve been dreaming of going to a regional meet for the third year in a row,” Kennedy said. “My dream come true would be to make it four years straight next year.”

Kennedy, who is legally blind, has difficulty on courses like Logansport that run through woods with no opening in sight, according to NW coach Dave Stevens.

“This is by far his most challenging course to run on,” said Stevens. “He had a tumble in the woods but popped right back up and kept running. I’m really proud of him. He did a great job [Tuesday].”

Peru’s Aaron Garretson was fourth overall in 17:12.35 but it wasn’t enough to keep the Bengal Tigers from slipping a spot behind the Braves.

“We’ve been back and forth with Maconaquah,” said Peru coach Gary Downing. “My [Nos.] 2, 3 and 4 ran well but I thought we’d be fourth. We’re out and going to regionals and I guess we should be happy with that.”