PREP ROUNDUP: Neeleys go 1-2 at Western Invite

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, August 28, 2011

For Eastern junior Bethany Neeley, Saturday's Western Cross Country Invitational was a deja vu experience.

In the 2010 Western invitational, Neeley ran down Eastbrook's Sophie Seward to score a come-from-behind victory in the race in 19 minutes and 40 seconds, and Saturday was eerily similar.

Trailing Seward again in the late stages of the race, Neeley made her move with 800 meters and left the Eastbrook sophomore in her dust, winning the invitational for the second straight year, this time in 19:42, at Oakbrook Valley.

Sister Brittany Neeley was also able to over-c o m e Seward, taking second in 19:51. Seward settled for third in 19:57.

"Bethany and Brittany both really closed out well in those last 800 meters, and really just poured it on and closed the gap on [Seward] and pulled away," Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. "They used their track speed and did an awesome job of closing there."

The Comets put four runners in the top eight, but settled for second place with 60 points, losing out to Fishers, who won with 50.

Eastern Junior Sarah Wagner took sixth in 20:49, while Freshman Avery Ewing finished eighth at 21:04. Breann Donson rounded out the Comets' top five in 47th place in 24:38.

"Overall we did a super job," Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. "We were three minutes faster than last year as a team. It was nice to see some new runners and see how they did in their first time out in an invitational."

Fishers freshman Adriana Murphy took fourth in 20:24, while Rochester junior Anna Myer rounded out the top five in 20:31.

Northwestern took fifth with 141 points and the host Panthers finished seventh with 171 points, while Maconaquah (eighth, 180), Tipton (ninth, 229) and Kokomo (10th, 255] rounded out the 10-team field in the girls' race.

Sophomore Taryn Thor led the Purple Tigers in 15th place in 21:53. Junior Heidi Freeman (27th. 22:50), senior Brittany Jocius (32nd, 23:15), sophomore Karly Sprouse (33rd, 23:20) and sophomore Olivia Price (39th, 23:56) rounded out Northwestern's top five.

"We had a very good day," NW coach Dave Stevens said. "We had nine girls run [Saturday] and set five personal bests. I thought the girls ran a good race. They've been training really hard, so they got a little reward for what they're doing. We're looking forward to getting' better in the rest of the season."

Senior Krissy Durr led Western in 16th place in 22:07. Senior Cara Love (22nd, 22:29), Freshman Nicole Hampshire (37th, 23:45), Senior Gina Jakubowicz (50th, 24:46) and junior Olivia Nixon (56th, 25:19) rounded out the Panthers top five.

Junior Kayla Cunningham led the Blue Devils with a 12th-place showing in 21:31, while Maconaquah was paced by junior Alex White, who took 21st in 22:26.

Senior Annika Taber (24:21) and junior Kierra Bronson (24:35) led the Wildkats in 43rd and 44th, respectively. Junior Erica Goodman (53rd, 25:00), junior Alyson Rohlfing (64th, 26:38) and sophomore Hannah Reecer (71st, 29:44) rounded out Kokomo's lineup.

Boys race

Zionsville dominated the field in Saturday's boys side of the Western Invitational, taking seven of the top 10 spots, led by junior Sam Berger, who won in a course-record time of 16:08, breaking the old record by three seconds.

The Eagles missed a perfect score by four points at 19. Eastbrook took second with 63, while Rochester (96), Frankton (122) and Oak Hill (125) rounded out the top five. Kokomo led the locals in sixth with 163, the host Panthers were seventh at 181, while Northwestern (eighth, 243), Tipton (ninth, 247), Peru (10th, 261) and Maconaquah (11th, 265) rounded out the 11 -team field.

Eastern junior Adam Schaaf led the locals with an 11th-place finish in 17:44, but the Comets competed with an incomplete team. Lewis Duke took 19th for Eastern in 18:10 and junior Damon Byers rounded out the Comets' lineup in 67th at 21:28.

Kokomo was led by sophomore Jeremy Breedlove's 20th place showing in 18:10. Junior Brent Noll finished 23rd in 18:16, senior Matt Scharenbroch was 37th in 18:50, junior Waylon Coulter took 38th in 18:53 and sophomore Jordan Fivecoate rounded out the Wildkats' top five in 55th place at 19:49.

Western was led by the triumvirate of sophomore Jacob Bradshaw (18:27), junior Braxton Bagwell (18:29) and sophomore Austin Elliott (18:31), who took 30th, 31st and 32nd, respectively. Sophomore Abel Barrera (44th, 19:12) and freshman Auston Davenport (54th, 19:43) finished off the Panthers' top five.

"I liked how our top three finished, pushing each other at the end," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "I have to keep reminding myself how young this team is with six sophomores and one freshman running in our top eight. Sometimes, I have to remind the boys they're competing against the guys that aren't in the black shirts. We're not competing against ourselves, we're competing against other teams and sometimes we get lost in that running against each other every day."

Western sophomore Matt Grider is coming off an injury, and won the JV race Saturday as he continues to progress back into the varsity lineup after a leg injury this summer.

Sophomore Charlie Neher led Northwestern in 24th place at 18:18, and was followed by sophomore Zach Duranto (49th, 19:31), junior Bradley Jakes (50th, 19:34), senior Jacob Heredos (62nd, 20:30) and senior Tyler Barnes (69th, 21:34).

"We had nine boys finish [Saturday], and had four personal bests and six course bests, and I thought that was a very good job for them," Stevens said. "Our boys have also been working hard in practice, and that's one our better finishes [at the Western Invitational] in recent memory."

Sophomore Nathan Gonzalez led Tipton in 18th at 18:08, freshman Quinn Reinhardt paced Maconaquah at 39th in 19:01, and sophomore Shane Garretson led Peru in 40th at 19:04.