New Prairie Invitational

Boys race

Western finished in third place in the Class AA race with a score of 128. Northwestern (521) and Peru (533) were 19th and 20th. West Lafayette was the winner with a score of 54.

Chris Love led Western's pack with a fifth-place finish (16:40). Other Western runners included: Matt Grider (13th place, 17:03); Christopher Nunan (26th, 17:44); Braxton Bagwell (31st, 17:50) and Ben Bradshaw (58th, 18:17).

"I am very pleased with Christopher of all the things he has done in setting a huge personal record in dropping 30 seconds from last week to this week," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "Eight of the 13 guys who ran for us ran personal-best times, and the course has a nice big hill in the middle."

Northwestem's top five runners were Sam Free­man (36th place, 17:55); Charlie Neher (112th, 19:17); Nolan Cockrell (113th, 19:18); Zach Duranto (140th, 20:06) and Logan Redman (146th, 20:28).

"I am really proud of the boys," NW coach Dave Stevens said. "Freeman and Cockrell ran season bests and Neher and Duranto ran personal bests. Those are two of our freshmen, and Redman would have had a personal best, but he lost a shoe."

Peru's top five runners were: Jordan Garretson (25th place, 17:43); Clint Hazlet (92nd, 18:59); Isiah Stevens (138th, 20:01); Tyler Kitner (145th, 20:27) and Zach Allee (160th, 21:02).

In the Class A (small school) race, Carroll took fourth place and Eastern fielded an incomplete team.

Carroll's top five runners were: Blake Mills (fifth place, 16:29); Jordan Tooley (20th, 17:29); Tallis Bowers (36th, 18:07); Brain Bordner (47th, 18:34) and Cory Ritter (71st, 19:16).

Eastern's runners were: Ryan Homer (16:58, ninth place); Sam Clark (18:02, 33rd) and Lewis Duke (18:45, 52nd).

"Ryan once again ran pretty solid for us, dipping under 17 again, and Sam and Lewis both had siz­able personal bests," Eastern skipper Mink said. "It was a good experience for us to run with as many people as we had to run with [Saturday]. They looked strong — they were passing people at the end rather than being the ones being passed."

Girls race

Hebron (81 points), Tri-County (83) and Eastern (93) led the way in the Class A (small school) race, which featured 21 squads.

"I thought we did very well," Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. "Of the girls who ran, five out of the seven had personal-best or season-best times and our average time was actually better than the second-place team and just barely behind the first-place team. Both in our time average and in our points, we're quite a bit ahead of where we were last year.

"Bethany and Brittany were the strongest 1-2 punch in the meet so that certainly helped out quite a bit."

In the Class AA race, Western (360) was 13th, Northwestern (369) was 14th and Peru (408) took 16th.

Western's top five runners were: Corianne Myer (20th place, 20:28); Krissy Durr (58th, 21:44); Erin Weber (69th, 22:03); Bre Nicholas (98th, 22:43) and Cara Love (118th, 23:22).

"Overall, I just can't ask for anything more from the girls," Western coach Joni McCracken said. "Our five had overall personal records [Saturday], but we still have a ways to go."

Northwestem's top five were: Gretchen Catron (45th place, 21:19); Heidi Freeman (61st, 21:49); Hannah Ault (71st, 22:05); Britanny Jocius (84th, 22:26) and Karly Sprouse (111th, 23:07).

"I was hoping for a little bit better placing for the team, but I will take 14th out of 30 teams," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "Freeman ran a seasonal best, and Olivia Price ran a personal best in 25:46. We had a very busy week this week, and I think the girls did well."