Kokomo Tribune - Wednesday, October 13, 2010

LOGANSPORT — Western reclaimed the top spot in the boys race of the Logansport Cross Country Sectional here Tuesday, its second title in three years.

The Panthers, who edged the host Berries on the strength of their sixth man, proved their victory a week ago at the Mid-Indiana Conference meet over defending MIC and sectional champion Maconaquah was no fluke.

Western and Logan tied with 66 points, with the Braves (72) third.

Oak Hill, fourth with 95 points, and fifth-place Kokomo (136) claimed the last two berths for their teams in Saturday’s Culver Academies Regional.

“The guy who came through [Tuesday] was a senior, Kyle Starich, my sixth man,” Panthers coach Gary Jewell said. “He finished ahead of Logansport’s fifth man and that was huge for us. That pushed them back a point, forced a tie and on a sixth-man tiebreaker we win.”

The Berries, led by race winner Kyle Overway (16:21.45), and the Braves pushed the pace from the start despite the unusually hot October weather. They led the early stages leading into the Berry Patch.

Senior Chris Love (16:56.92) finished fourth overall for Western behind Overway, Maconaquah’s Jacob Bingham (16:41.24) and Kokomo’s Adrian Glover (16:51.98).

Love was followed by teammates Matt Grider (sixth), a freshman; Christopher Nunan (10th), Braxton Bagwell (21st) and Austin Elliott (25th), another ninth-grader, as well as Starich’s all-important 26th-place finish.

“I expected Logan and Maconaquah to go out and hit it hard early in the race,” said Jewell. “And I knew that because of the way this course is laid out, you run a huge risk of going over the edge.

“I told my guys to sit back and wait. I thought this race was going to be won by the team that exhibits the most restraint, intelligence and patience. And they did that.”

The Kats just did edge Eastern (150) for fifth place, extending their streak of regional appearances that stretches for more than a decade.

Dylan Walker was eighth for Kokomo with Brent Noll 36th, Matt Scharenbroch 40th and Waylon Coulter 49th.

“We only had two people run decently because of the heat,” said longtime coach Ricke Stucker. “And [Glover] is better than he showed. His practices are just unbelievable. We’re trying to get him to rest a little bit but it’s hard to do because he’s such a hard worker.”

Senior Ryan Horner (17:27.93) paced the Comets in ninth place, one of the top 15 individuals to advance to regional, as was Northwestern senior Sam Freeman.

Freeman, whose Tigers finished 11th last year and eighth this year, missed qualifying as an individual in 2009 by just one place – 16th. He finished 14th Tuesday in 17:35.02.

“I can’t believe how happy I am,” Freeman said. “I’ve prayed and I’ve worked on everything to see that I could [qualify for regional] and I did.

“It was definitely the hardest race I ever ran, but I can’t do more than thank the Lord for it. It’s all for Him.”