Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, October 05, 2008

Panther boys and girls sweep county CC meet

The Western cross country teams added to their Howard County championship streaks Saturday at Northwestern. Western won the girls meet for the seventh straight season and the boys meet for the third straight season.

In the girls meet, Western used its usual balanced approach to record a score of 21. Northwestern(40) took second place and Eastern had an incomplete team.

Northwestern's Hannah Ault won the race in 20:27, but Western runners Corianne Myer (20:40), Ashley Gaskins (20:47), Kayla Gaskins (20:53) and Kris- s Durr (21:05) took second through fifth. Jenn Elliott (21:54) took seventh to complete its team score.

"They've been really consistent in that tight pack aseason and they continued that [Saturday]," Western assistant coach Bo Britton said. "Northwestern has been improving aseason so we knew they were going to be right on our tails and gunning for us, but the girls really responded well.

"I was really pleased with Lacey Myer," he added. 'She is coming off some sickness and she had a really strong race for her."

Lacey Myer, who was crowned Western's homecoming queen Friday night, finished eighth in 22:17.

Northwestern coach Dave Stevens praised Ault for her winning run.

"I'm pretty certain it was a girls course record for Hannah and she also tied her personal best," he said. "She ran out to the front and she had to run by herself the rest of the way and I thought she did an excellent job."

Northwestern's top five also included: Gretchen Catron (sixth lace, 21:23); Lauren Dewhurst (10th, 22:650); Ruby Sanchez (11th, 24:10); and Morgan Hullinger (12th, 24:28).

"Gretchen Catron's 21:23 and Lauren Dewhurst's 22:50 were good times for us," Stevens said. "I had two other girls set personal bests so overall, a good effort for us."

Eastern had two runners: Emily Wilcox (25:01) and Sarah Willis (26:33). They finished 13th and 16th, respectively.

"Emily took two minutes off her best for the season," Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. "She is coming back from an injury and she is starting to do a lot better now. And Sarah was just a little off of her best."

All three teams compete next in the Mid-Indiana Conference Meet on Tuesday at Oakbrook Valley.

Boys meet

Led by individual winner Corey Scott, Western ran away from the competition. Western had a score of 19, Eastern took second with 57 and Northwestern (71) and Taylor (80) completed the field.

"Obviously Western is super strong and there was no way we were going to touch them so we did about as well as we could [Saturday]," Mink said of the Comets' runner-up showing.

Scott repeated as count champion. He covered the 5,000 meter course in 16:11. Northwestern's Kory Kennedy took second in 16:46, but Western took the next four spots to complete its team score.

Kody Harmon took third in 16:59 and Austin Young (17:23), Chris Love (17:27) and John Capps (17:30) completed the Panthers' pack.

"I thought the guys ran extremely hard," Western coach Joe Orr said. "We e had run Eastern and Northwestern just Tuesday, so they could have run just well enough to win, but they ran really hard. Kody Harmon broke 17 [minutes] for just the second time ever, John Capps tied his personal best and Joe Whitmore, who got to move up to varsity [Saturday],. all had a personal best Ain all, I thought everybody ran really Well."

Whitmore finished 15th in 20:08.

Ryan Horner (17:56) and Hansen Martin (18:14) finished seventh and eight to lead Eastern to its runner-up sport. Cody Young (12th, 19:25), Brett Buckmaster (13th, 19:37), and Kelly Kingseed (17th, 20:55) completed their team score.

"All but two of our runners had their best times of the sea-son and Ryan was just a coupe seconds off his best," Mink said. "Kelly Kingseed was strong for us in fifth place. He took over a minute off his personal best and Luke Kimmel took 30 seconds off his best. So we ran pretty well.'

Kimmel came in 23rd in 22:23.

In addition to Kennedy, Northwestern's top five included Sam Freeman (ninth place, 18:19); Kyle Condon (18th, 21:18); Hayden Jarvis (20th, 21:39) and Steve Vas (22nd, 22:13).

"Kory Kennedy ran his personal best for our course and just missed [an overall] personal best by five seconds, so just another outstanding effort for him," Stevens said. 'Sam is still working on getting well from an injury. I was pleased with his ninth-place finish. I had three of my boys set personal bests –Alex Fruth and Jeremy Catt [on varsity] and Gary Burns [on JV]."

Alex Fruth (22:35) and Jeremy Catt (22:53) finished 245h and 25th.

Justin Anderson lead Taylor with a 10th-place finish in 18:24.

All four teams compete next in the Mid-Indiana Conference Meet on Tuesday at Oakbrook Valley.