PREP ROUNDUP: Comets, Panthers post strong showings

Eastern girls, Panthers boys each take third at Western CC Invite

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, August 29, 2010

Fishers took top team honors on the girls side of Saturday’s 11-team Western Invitational at Oakbrook Valley Park with 31 points. Eastbrook was a distant second with 92, and Eastern took third with 93. Oak Hill (101) and Northwestern (124) rounded out the top five, while the host Panthers finished sixth with 131. Maconaquah took eighth, Tipton was ninth, and Kokomo placed 11th.

Comet sophomore Bethany Neeley finished the course in 19 minutes, 40 seconds to take top individual honors, coming from behind to do so. Eastbrook freshman Sophie Seward was leading for much of the race, but finished second in 20:07, while Fishers’ Emily Kuhn (20:13) and Audrey Ramos (20:19) and Oak Hill’s Jenna Norris (20:23) rounded out the top five individuals. Eastern’s Brittany Neeley took sixth in 20:27.

Also for Eastern, Sarah Wagner was 18th (21:44), Ari Rinaldo was 29th (22:44), and Bailey Pressey took 43rd (24:30).

“I thought we did a very good job for our first 5k of the season,” Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. “It was kind of a sectional preview in a lot of ways, and we also got a chance to run on the [Mid-Indiana Conference] course. It was a nice outing for us. We had some excellent times, and it was a good early indicator of where we were.

“Bethany ran an outstanding race, and got a PR her first time out on a full 5k. The girl from Eastbrook was leading the entire race and Bethany caught her with 800 [meters] left and ended up putting 27 seconds on the girl in the last 800, so she did a super job of closing strong.”

Gretchen Catron led Northwestern with a 17th-place showing in 21:41, and Heidi Freeman followed in 21st at 22:06. Britanny Jocius (26th, 22:37), Hannah Ault (32nd, 22:57) and Karly Sprouse (35th, 23:05) rounded out the top five for the Purple Tigers.

“We’ve had some illnesses and injuries early that we’re working through,” Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. “Overall, I was very pleased as far as how well they ran. I had four girls running in their first 5K. They have a lot of improvement left in them, and we’ll get there as we get well. I’m pleased with a fifth-place finish, considering how we’ve been able to practice in the last week or so.”

For Western, Corianne Myer grabbed a top-10 finish, taking 10th in 21:02. Krissy Durr crossed in 22:42 for 28th, while Erin Weber (31st, 22:52), Gina Jakubowicz (34th, 23:02) and Cara Love (36th, 23:24) all added better times from a year ago.

“We did improve from last year,” coach Joni McCracken said. “If you look at our placing right now, we have a ways to go before tourney time as far as placing with other teams. We keep improving — our girls continue to drop one to three minutes from last year’s times. We are going to keep shaving off a little time as we go, and see where that puts us.”

Peru was led by Emilie Hobbs, who finished 18th in 21:44. Keyia McConahay added a 24th-place showing for the Bengal Tigers in 22:16.

Kierra Bronson (50th, 25:33), Anika Taber (51st, 25:33), Morgan Kemper (25:49), Briel Robinson (68th, 28:31) and Brooke Wininger (69th, 28:38) all competed for the Wildkats.

Boys race

On the boys side, Zionsville topped the field with 28 points, while Maconaquah (65) and the host Panthers (93) finished well behind in second and third, respectively.

Kokomo (7th, 154), Peru (8th, 245), Northwestern (9th, 245) and Tipton (11th, 314) also competed.

Jacob Bingham led Maconaquah in fourth place (16:39), Chad Gregory was 13th (17:32), Austin Wise was 15th (17:36), Bryce Comp was 18th (17:57), and Devin Shaffer was 19th (17:58).

Chris Love led Western with a ninth-place finish (17:00), Matt Grider was 10th (17:15), Braxton Bagwell was 20th (18:00), Christopher Nunan was 26th (18:14), and Kyle Starich was 33rd (18:33).

“Three of our top seven guys ran personal bests and three others ran their home course bests so I’m pretty happy with that,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “I’m really pleased with my second and third runners Matt Grider and Braxton Bagwell, both ran personal bests.

“Some of our guys need to understand that in order to run faster times they can’t go out and run an unrealistically fast time in the first mile and then hope to hang on. The time that you lose in the last two miles is always a lot more than you gain in that fast first mile.”

Kokomo’s Adrian Glover paced the field with a winning time of 16:16, just four seconds off the course record. Brent Noll was 24th (18:11), Nolan Arnold was 39th (18:50), Matt Scharenbroch was 46th (19:13), and Waylon Coulter was 50th. (19:40) .

Sam Freeman was 25th to lead NW (18:13), followed by Charlie Neher 51st (19:40), Nolan Cockrell was 52nd (19:49), Jacob Heredos was 64th (21:12), and Hayden Jarvis was 66th (21:16).

“I’m really excited for the boys,” said Northwestern coach Dave Stevens, who had six runners competing in their first 5K race. “All seven of our varsity boys ran 21:36 or faster, and I’ve never had seven runners that are that fast. I’m proud of our guys, we ran as a pack, and that helped each other. I look forward to them getting stronger and stronger as the season goes on.”

Peru was led by Jordan Garretson, who took 27th in a time of 18:19. Evan Tansy led Tipton in 53rd at 19:57.

Eastern did not have a complete team, but Ryan Horner took eighth overall in a time of 16:57, Lewis Duke was 44th (19:09), Luke Kimmel was 60th (20:42) and Quinn Connolly was 62nd (20:58).

“Ryan Horner, our senior, did a super job,” Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. “He was just really consistent and paced himself very, very well. He got up toward the lead pack, and stuck with some guys near the front. He had been trying to get under 17 [minutes] all last year and didn’t quite get it, and this year he got it in his first race out of the gates, and got a PR. He’s really excited, and we’re happy for him.”

Jordan Garretson led Peru with a 27th-place finish in 18:19.