Eastern wins girls sectional; Western’s Grider 1st among boys

Kokomo Tribune - Wednesday, October 12, 2011

LOGANSPORT - It wasn't supposed to look that easy, but Eastern's girls cross country team made it look nearly effortless.

The Comets took the top four spots, and five of the top ten overall, to cruise to their third straight IHSAA sectional championship Tuesday in dominating fashion at Logansport High School's Berry Patch.

The individual times were a bit slower than a year ago, but that was all by design for Eastern and coach Brandon Mink.

“We really wanted to get the girls packed together at the end,” Mink said. “We have a much tighter group this year, and that makes it all the more sweeter. We had five in the top 10, but we had to challenge ourselves compared to where we were last year and try to climb that mountain, so to speak, to get a little better every year. This just encourages us more as we advance on to the next round. We're excited.”

Junior Bethany Neeley set the early pace with sister Brittany Neeley and Sarah Wagner following closely behind. Near the two-mile mark, the Comet trio started to reel in No. 4 runner Avery Ewing, who overtook Oak Hill's Shallen Lenhart for the fourth spot overall.

The foursome continued to put the field further in the distance as the race went on. Bethany Neeley went on to take her third individual title in as many years in 20 minutes, 18.27 seconds, while Brittany Neeley followed in second in 20:20.05, Wagner third in 20:22.95 and Ewing fourth in 20:38.11. Ari Rinaldo rounded out Eastern's top five in 10th place at 21:34.89.

Bethany Neeley didn't seem concerned to be a bit slower pace-wise, and was more concerned with the team's success.

“I think this is the most exciting team-wise,” Bethany said of her team's third straight sectional crown. “The individuals are still the same, but we executed the race plan well. It was nice to pack it in like we did.

“At a sectional with 12 teams, that is the best we've ever done. This is as much fun [as winning as an individual] when something like this happens.”

Knowing it had a chance to dominate the field, Eastern let Tuesday's race serve as a quasi warmup for Saturday's regional at Culver Academies.

“I'm not really worried about the time. I know I'm in better shape than last year,” Bethany Neeley said. “I know in the next two weeks big things are to come as a team. We're all set for PRs [because] training is going really well.”

Northwestern took a satisfying third on the girls side to advance as a team, paced by Taryn Thor, who took 12th place in 21:51.06.

“This is the first time in a while that we've been able to run all seven of our girls,” Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. “I'm very happy with the way the girls finished. We had three girls set personal bests and another set a course best. I'm looking forward to them having a couple more good days of practice, and going into Saturday looking for a chance at qualifying for semistate.”

Western edged Cass by two points for fifth place to snag the final spot in the regional, led by Krissy Durr's sixth-place showing in 21:09.54.

“We've had our share of obstacles this year, and I think that’s what makes advancing so sweet,” Western coach Joni McCracken said. “I believe we were written off by the other teams. No one expected that from us, and we believed that we had the potential to do it, but we had to pull it all together. It took every kid on our team, one through seven, to make the difference.”

Boys race

In the boys race, Western sophomore Matt Grider coasted to an improbable victory in a season that’s been marred by injury.

Grider missed most of the first half of the season with a balky iliotibial band in his right leg, but has rebounded remarkably well in recent weeks, winning the Mid-Indiana Conference meet and pacing the field in Tuesday’s sectional in 16:51.49, topping Logansport’s Tate Gellinger by nearly 19 seconds.

“The injury was pretty devastating, but I’m coming back,” Grider said. “[Tuesday] I was just trying to see how it felt. I felt like the pack went out pretty fast, and I was told to not go out too fast, which I did well at. I went hard the last mile, and was surprised because I thought there would be more people [giving chase].

“I think I still have more left in me. I’ll probably go out faster in the regional Saturday and try to hang on.”

Logansport claimed it’s first team sectional title since 1969 and Oak Hill took second. Western finished third, Northwestern was fourth and Kokomo rounded out the top five. Northwestern will advance past the sectional round for the first time since 2005.

Western coach Gary Jewell, while not a fan of Logansport’s course, was happy to be moving on with a relatively young squad.

“Every time we step on this course in the last three years somebody has gotten hurt,” Jewell said. “Back in the woods there are rocks and tree stumps that are obscure, and it’s just not a race-safe environment. I speak for a lot of the other coaches that come in there, and they all have similar concerns about their runners getting hurt.

“When you lose a kid the quality of Austin Elliott, who’s sitting here with ice packs on his ankles, that doesn’t look very promising. We’re a very young team with a junior, seven sophomores and two freshman in the top 10. It’s almost like a junior-high team sometimes, and the kids are still learning a lot of things, but the future is there.”

Northwestern was led by Charlie Neher, who took 11th place in 17:49.45, Braxton Bagwell added a 15th-place showing for Western in 18:00.02, and Matt Scharenbroch paced Kokomo in 17th place at 18:07.17.

AHEAD BY A MILE: Western’s Matt Grider cruises to a first-place finish well ahead of Logansport’s Tate Gellinger during Tuesday’s Logansport Boys Cross Country Sectional. Grider led the Panthers to a third-place finish and a spot in Saturday’s Culver Academies Regional.

“All the boys were focused really well on one mission,” Stevens said of the Northwestern boys. “That was to qualify for the regional. Each one of them knew they had to run their best and earn our spot. No one was going to give it to us.”

Eastern just missed moving on as a team in sixth place, but had two runners finish in the top 15 to advance as individuals. Adam Schaaf took fifth in 17:26.97, and Lewis Duke took ninth in 17:44.31.