Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, October 19, 2008

Mac, Kokomo, 2 area individuals also earn spots in semistate

CULVER — The Western boys cross country team has operated the entire season with one goal in mind — to vastly improve on last year’s disappointing semistate performance.

Along the way, of course, it doesn’t hurt to capture a little hardware.

The No. 19-ranked Panthers picked up more accolades by winning the Culver Academies Regional championship here Saturday on the shores of Lake Maxinkuckee with a score of 59 points.

Culver Military Academy was second with 74, followed by Maconaquah (111) third, Oak Hill (118) fourth and Kokomo (132) fifth.

The top five teams and top 15 individuals advance to the New Prairie Semistate next Saturday, where the Panthers can now finally turn all their attention.

“Individually some of the guys can run better, but it was a good team win,” said coach Joe Orr, who guided Western to regional titles in 1979 and ’80.

“Most of our guys ran their best [at the Logansport Sectional] Tuesday and it’s hard to run two good races in one week. With the whole week to get ready for semistate we’ll have an opportunity to get our work in early and then be rested for Saturday.”

Senior Corey Scott turned in yet another strong performance, finishing second with a time of 16 minutes, 21.0 seconds.

After beating Cameron Balser of Oak Hill on Tuesday, Scott saw the standout junior surge a kilometer from the finish but let him go in order to stay ahead of CMA’s Alejandro Arroyo.

While Balser won, defending his individual title in 16:07.9, Scott’s finish over Arroyo (16:24.9) helped Western hold off the host Eagles.

“We had a hard workout on Thursday, so I was pretty tired,” Scott said. “When [Balser] made that move, I tried to go with him but that quickly changed. I decided to stay with Arroyo.

“If that wasn’t for the team I would have really tried to go with [Balser], but it would have been risky. I gave it all I had. I just didn’t have it [Saturday] I guess.”

Trailing Scott were teammates Zac Martinez in 13th place, Austin Young 14th, Kody Harmon 20th and Chris Love 22nd.

Orr praised Scott for his decision.

“I think it was smart,” Orr said. “Balser was probably upset about getting beat Tuesday and had something to prove. He came out and did that.

“The other guys all came through, too. I’m sure Austin and Zac thought they could have run a better time. Chris Love did a good job, staying closer to Kody than he did Tuesday.”

Senior Ian Holtson paced the Wildkats to their fourth consecutive semistate berth. He was 12th in 16:58.6, followed by Jordan Lee 30th, Drew Simon 33rd, Dylan Walker 36th and Matt Wyss 39th.

“We ran the best we have in two months, so you can’t ask for much more,” Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said, noting his team’s health is improving.

“We’re really happy and lucky to get out of here. We’ve got our medicine man and our voodooist with us [Saturday].”

Stucker called the Braves the surprise team of the day. They were fourth at the Logansport Sectional but leapfrogged Kokomo and Oak Hill to grab the No. 3 spot Saturday.

Jacob Bingham finished seventh for Maconaquah in 16:42.6 and Bryce Comp was ninth.

“We beat the teams we wanted to beat from [the Culver Academies Sectional] but Maconaquah got by us,” Stucker said. “They were impressive and we’re happy for them.”

Individually, Northwestern senior Kory Kennedy was able to finally erase the bitter disappointment of finishing 16th last season — one spot shy of a semistate appearance.

Kennedy was eighth Saturday, clocking in at 16:46.0.

“I am so proud of myself for getting eighth. That’s a lot better than 16th last year,” Kennedy said with all smiles. “I’m so proud to finally make it to semistate for the first time ever in my career.”

Kennedy, who is legally blind, came out ahead at the start, settled in around 12th up and over a tricky hill climb, then turned on the afterburners.

“We had a plan and the young man executed the plan perfectly,” said Tigers coach Dave Stevens. “We knew he had to get out fast and not get caught in the pack, we knew he had to run faster in the flats than other guys, and we took whatever he could get up the hill and through the technical spots.

“He lost three or four spots there but we were willing to sacrifice, knowing he could outrun some of those boys on the flat. He ran a perfect race.”

Joining Kennedy at New Prairie as an individual will be Peru senior Aaron Garretson. He was sixth in 16:41.4.

Garretson was sixth as well last year and will make his third straight semistate appearance.