Cross country meet draws more than 100 teams

Local squads tested themselves in a tournament environment Saturday in the 42nd annual New Prairie Cross Country Invitational, which drew more than 100 teams and 2,000 runners. The meet featured three classes, based on school enrollment.

Eastern's girls team had the best finish of the local teams, taking fourth place in a Class A field of 21 teams. "Five out of our seven girls had never ran in this race and this is one of the bigger races in Indiana and really in the Midwest. I thought they handled it very well," Eastern coach Brandon Mink said.

Bethany Neeley placed ninth in 20:32 to lead the Comets. Twin sister Brittany took 13th in 20:47. Other Eastern runners included Sarah Wagner (30th, 21:58); Emily Wilcox (53rd, 22:59) and Lind-sey Reprogle (62nd, 23:18).

"This was our strongest team performance overall," Mink said, noting the Comets achieved their goal of a top-five finish in a competitive field. "Sarah Wagner was just outstanding - getting 30th place was real key for us. I was very happy to see that"

CLASS A BOYS

Eastern finished 12th in the Class A boys race, which featured 29 teams. The Comets' top five runners were: Ryan Homer (llth place, 17:21); Hansen Martin (49th, 18:34); Brett Buckmaster (70th, 19:06); Mitch Padfield (90th, 19:43) and Sam Clark (94th, 19:52).

"We were hoping to crack top 10, we were a little outside of that, but I thought we had our best team effort overall," Mink said. "Ryan Homer did a super job of getting up there amongst the leaders and to capture llth out of 199 runners is pretty good.

"We're starting to get stronger," Mink added, noting Martin and Padfield are back from injuries.

CLASS 2A GIRLS

Northwestern took 13th out of 30-plus teams in the 2A race, Western finished in 20th. Northwestern's top five runners were: Hannah Ault (23rd place, 20:54); Heidi Freeman (31st, 21:05); Lauren De-whurst (58th, 21:49); Britanny Jocius (76th, 22:10); and Alii Combs (181st 27:20).

"Of the nine runners I had run, all had either a course-best season-best or personal-best so I was quite happy with the girls' races," NW coach Dave Stevens said. "We ran very well - a 13th-place finish is probably the best we've had there as a team. All of my runners show continuous improvement."

For Western, Krissy Durr was 69th (21:57), Corianne Myer was 81st (22:15), Kayla Gaskins was 96th (22:33), Erin Weber was 129th (23:25), and Gina Jakubowicz was 142nd (23:56).

"Krissy Durr ran a season best, Gina ran a [personal record] and our two JV girls ran their two best times ever too," Western coach Bo Britton said. "I was fairly pleased with the way they ran. I thought they did a good job moving up through the pack throughout the meet. Not all of them had their best race but I thought they had strong races."

CLASS 2A BOYS

Western led three Kokomo-area teams in the 2A race, taking fifth. Peru was 23rd and Northwestern was 26th out of 30-plus teams.

Austin Young was fourth overall to lead the Panthers and score the top local finish on the boys side, cov-ering the course in 16:28. Chris Love was 24th (17:18), John Capps was 42nd (17:48), Kody Harmon was 48th (17:54), and Christopher Nunan was 57th (18:10).

"I'm very impressed with Austin," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "He was up with the front of the race the entire way. He did a nice job of staying with the lead pack and not letting the leaders get away. "Overall, as a team I thought we could have done better, but looking at the results, I've got three guys who ran [personal records]. I shouldn't be too disappointed but at the same time, there's plenty of room for improvement and hopefully we'll be seeing that in the next couple of weeks."

Shannon Garretson was 51st (17:59) to lead the Bengal Tigers, Nick Lipari was 81st (18:34), Jordan Garretson was 132 (19:31), Dalton Sparks was 155th (20:06), and Tyler Kitner 160th (20:21).

"I thought the boys did well for being shorthanded," Peru coach Gary Downing said. "Shannon Garretson ran a great third split It's something they're working at and getting better at."

Northwestern's top five runners were: Sam Freeman (49th place, 17:56); Nolan Cockrell (96th, 18:49); Kyle Condon (168th, 20:57); Jordan Wilson (172nd, 21:14); and Hayden Jams (176th, 21:40).

"Every guy had either a personal-best, season-best or course-best," NW skipper Stevens said "I was quite happy with all their efforts. All six of the guys ran really hard. Once again, they continued their improvement and Tm looking forward to the next race."

Curtis Kent of Angola was the fastest runner at 16:17