Boys Meet

Spurred on by a top finish by Austin Young, Western won the nine-team invitational with 36 points. Rossville was second (58) and Delphi was third (82). Carroll was fourth (98), Eastern was fifth (109), Clinton Central was eighth (195) and Tri-Central was incomplete.

Young finished first in a time of 17:22. Teammate Chris Love was fifth (18:09), Kody Harmon was sixth (18:09), John Capps was 10th (18:47), Braxton Bagwell was 14th and Christopher Nunan was 15th in the same time (19:07).

“We came into the meet knowing we needed an easier meet.  We ran hard at Maconaquah on Saturday,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “We looked at this as a fun meet because we’re going to be working hard this week and have a big meet on Saturday [at New Prairie].  I had my guys going 20 or 30 seconds slower than they have been going out, and amazingly, their times were around the same as they’ve been running.  Austin Young ran consecutive 5:36 splits for each of the miles."

Blake Mills led Carroll, taking second in 17:28. Ryan Horner led Eastern (4th, 17:43). Montrail Johnson led Tri-Central (24th, 19:46)

Girls race

Western (50) edged Winamac (57) to win the Carroll Invitational, which drew seven complete teams. Eastern (64) took third, Carroll (76) was fourth and Delphi (117), Clinton Central (138) and Caston (171) rounded out the standings.

Western put four runners in the top 10: Corianne Myer (fourth place, 22:21); Krissy Durr (seventh, 22:33); Bre Nicholas (ninth, 22:58) and Kayla Gaskins (10th, 23:04). Erin Weber completed the Panthers’ team score with a 24th-place finish in 25:00.

“I was pleased that we kind of ran in a nice pack up front,” Western coach Bo Britton said. “It was Bre Nicholas’ strongest race of the year so I was really pleased with that. Our first-year runner, Erin Weber, was our fifth man again. She didn’t have her best race, but she sure hung tough and gave us that score that enabled us to win it.”

Twin sisters Bethany and Brittany Neeley took the top two spots to lead Eastern. Bethany covered the course in 20:25 and Brittany followed in 21:37.