Eastern girls, Western boys take NW Combo titles

Kokomo Tribune - Friday, August 24, 2012

By Josh Sigler
Tribune sportswriter

—This early in the season, Eastern girls cross country coach Brandon Mink wanted to see his team break the ice and ease into the 2012 campaign in Wednesday’s 50th running of the Northwestern Combination three-kilometer races.

The Comets broke the ice. They went out and broke a couple records as well.

The fivesome of senior Bethany Neeley, senior Brittany Neeley, senior Sarah Wagner, freshman Carly Jones and sophomore Avery Ewing combined to finish with a time of 59 minutes, 49 seconds to set a new meet record and give No. 12-ranked Eastern the team title. It was a strong start for a squad that returns nearly everyone from last season’s run to the state finals.

“It never gets old because there’s always something new to shoot for,” Mink said. “With this group of senior girls [the Neeley sisters and Wagner], one of our biggest concerns was can we bring the newer ones along with us? Each time we see new improvements. ... For us to be successful this year, not only do we have to have the girls who we here last year come back and do what they did last year, we have to get the new faces in as well. They did awesome. Our seniors’ positive attitudes are so contagious, and that’s exciting.”

Bethany Neeley, the reigning state champion in the 1,600-meter run, picked up right where she left off from a dominant spring, setting a new meet record with her top time of 11:06 to win the girls 1-2 race.

“It was little different [Wednesday] because we have the Western Invitational Saturday. That’s a big meet and that’s our focus for the week,” Bethany said. “[Wednesday] I just wanted to come out and run a solid time but still run hard. We were going after the team record and we got it. I wanted to dip under 11 [minutes] and set the course record my last time here, but the grass is high and it was hot. I’m happy with my time and I thought the team did really good — a lot better than I thought we would.”

Sister Brittany Neeley took second overall in 11:27. Wagner boasted the fastest time from the 3-4 race in 12:17, the identical time for Jones, who blew away the field for top honors in the 5-6-7 race. Ewing’s 12:42 took second place in the 3-4 race.

Northwestern finished in second place (65:50), led by Taryn Thor’s third-place finish in the 1-2 race in 11:50, one of only three girls to break the 12-minute mark. She also broke a long-standing school record on the home course in the 3K with that time. Teammate Carly Sprouse finished in sixth place in the 1-2 in 13:01, while Kindra Gingerich took fourth in the 3-4 in 13:09. Jensen Freeman (13:42) finished directly behind Gingerich, and Rachel Johns’ (14:08) fourth-place finish in the 5-6-7 rounded out Northwestern’s card.

“I have 17 girls, and they all ran really well [Wednesday],” Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. “Some of them are brand new and have never done this sport before, so I am proud of all of them. My varsity girls came out on a mission to run their best, and there were several personal bests. Taryn’s been working really hard all summer, and that hard work’s paid off [Wednesday]. Outstanding effort from all of them.”

Western’s Emma Nixon (12:39) and Erin Kneppley (12:56) rounded out the top five in the 1-2 race for the third-place Panthers.

Boys race

Western junior Matt Grider kicked strong down the homestretch to win the boys 1-2 race in 9:44, topping Eastern’s Lewis Duke by six seconds, leading the Panthers to their sixth straight title in the event in 53:05.

“[Wednesday] I was just going for the win,” Grider said. “It was really hot out and it’s early in the season, so times aren’t really all that important. You still like to run good, and I accomplished what I wanted to. I just sat behind the leaders for the first mile and then kicked and took off. Normally in a more important meet, I would try to push the pace a little more.”

Riley Worl (10:26) finished fifth in the 1-2 race for the Panthers. Jake Bradshaw took top honors in the 3-4 race in 10:45, while Riley Carter (10:59) was the top finisher in the 5-6-7 race. Caleb Maddox rounded out the top five for Western, taking third in the 5-6-7 race in 11:11. The Panthers took 11 of the top 13 spots in the 5-6-7 race.

“A friend of my said you need to run fast all year, and this is kind of in line with what we did two years ago when we won the sectional,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “We’re about three minutes faster than we were last year [in this event], and I’m very pleased with that. We’re looking at some guys who are scoring that, a year ago, no one ever heard of before. ... It’s one of those things where you get your kids to buy into what you’re telling them, and they start to see the results of that. It really starts to pay off, and you see that in a meet like this.”

Adam Schaff added a fourth-place finish for Eastern, which ran incomplete.

Charlie Neher (10:28) and Zach Duranto (10:34) finished fifth and sixth respectively in the boys 1-2 race for runner-up Northwestern.

“All nine of my guys came out here focused,” Stevens said. “They knew Western was tough, but no one else was going to beat them [Wednesday]. Western is really strong, and we got to see how strong they are. We’re missing a runner which wouldn’t have changed it much, but I was still pleased with how focused all nine of my guys came out.”

Stevens and Northwestern were proud to host the Combo for the 50th time, something they hope to continue to build on long into the future.

“The community looks forward to it every year, and there are a lot of people who are proud to say they have run in this meet,” Stevens said. “Our tee shirts are everywhere since we started doing them. I have some very, very good friends from my era back in the 1970s who remember their runs in the Combination. It’s a tradition we hope we can keep going, and are looking to maybe even add more teams and expanding it a little bit.”