PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers place high at Fountain Central

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, August 22, 2010

Western's boys and girls cross country squads both earned top-five finishes in Saturday's Fountain Central Grand Prix.
The Panther boys took fourth in the 15-team invitational with 97 points, finishing . behind champion West ; Lafayette (35), Indianapolis Perry Meridian (59) and Terre Haute South (60).  McCutcheon rounded out the top five with 127.

"The schools I ahead of us  - West Lafayette, a similar-sized school, is ranked third in our semistate, the other two are big schools. We ran pretty well with the big boys, and are pleased by that," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "Every [Western] returner ran faster than we did a year ago. We're doing a lot of work right now, pointing towards later in the season. It's good to run against good competition early. It helps us realize that we need to pick it up."

Chris Love led the Panthers with a seventh-place finish in 17 minutes, 30 seconds.

"That's a great time for that course, which is a very slow course," Jewell said of Love. "A year ago, he ran an 18:10 in this race.  He's put in a ton of miles, and is a very motivated senior with good guys around him."

Freshman Matt Grider took 16th for Western in 18:17, and was among the top freshmen in the race.

Christopher Nunan (22nd, 18:42), Kyle Starich (25th, 18:56) and Braxton Bagwell (27th, 19:00) rounded out the top five for the Panthers.

West Lafayette's girls made it a clean sweep in the Grand Prix, joining the Red Devil boys as team champions with 25 points. Terre Haute South took second with 63, followed by Greencastle (79) and Perry Meridian (87). Western rounded out the top five with 125 points.

Corianne Myer led the Panther girls with a lOth-place finish in 22:07. Bre Nicholas (25th, 23:49), Erin Weber (28th, 24:12), Gina Jakubowicz (30th, 24:18), Krissy Durr (32nd, 24:22), Cara Love (38th, 25:13) and Jessica Love (39th, 25:13) rounded out the top seven for Western, and Tori Berger added a personal-best time in the JV race.

"[Saturday's] meet was a very encouraging season opener," coach Joni McCracken said. "Fountain Central is a really tough course, and overall, every girl that ran [Saturday] improved their time between one and three minutes from last year. Two girls had PRs, and as tough as this course is, it's a testament to the hard work they've put in.