Panther athletes make waves

Grider sets course record at oakbrook

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, September 01, 2013

Western cross country standout Matt Grider had a race to remember Saturday.

Grider roared to victory in the Western Invitational at Oakbrook Valley, turning in a course-record time of 15:57
and becoming the first to crack 16:00.

Runner-up Cooper Williams of West Lafayette tied the old record of 16:08.

"Matt looked great," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "That's a really good time for this course. Our course can be slow or it can be fast depending on how you run it Matt went out conservatively, then hammered the middle part of the course in the second and third kilometers. He showed why he is one of the best in the state"

No. 10-ranked West Lafayette won the meet with a score of 34. No. 9 Westfield (41), No. 17 Terre Haute South (124), Kokomo (155) and Western (160) rounded out the top five in a field of 15 complete teams. Tipton was ninth, Northwestern (314) was 12th, Maconaquah was 15th and Eastern had an incomplete team.

Former Western standout Kyle Walsh is Terre Haute South's coach. Jewell noted Walsh's squad ran without its top two runners.

Western's other runners included Auston Davenport (26th, 17:44), Jacob Bradshaw (40th, 18:22), Caleb Maddox (45th, 18:28), Mark Boss (52nd, 18:44) and Riley Carter (53rd, 18:47).

"We ran better than we did last week when we were at Fountain Central, but we can be a lot better than this," Jewell said. "Riley Carter had a little [asthma] problem with the humidity and it's a little dusty out there. That badly affected his-race. He is normally our No. 2 runner."

Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker liked his squad's showing. The Kats cut 12 seconds off their team time and reduced their gap time (1-5) by 39 seconds. Five of their top seven runners set personal-best times.

The Kats' top five runners were: Jeremy Breedlove (ninth place, 16:54); Jordan Fivecoate (23rd, 17:38); Ethan Sharp (24th, 17:39); Max McHaney (48th, 18:35) and Jaclyn Whitehead (56th, 18:49).

Northwestern's top five runners were: Zach Duranto (31st, 17:58); Charlier Neher (43rd, 18:26); Taylor McLain (76th, 20:07); Josh Perry (78th, 20:10) and Josh Garner (96th, 21:46).

"We had a really tough week of practice and I think the heat got to some of them a little bit [Saturday] but I thought they did all right," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "We had two or three guys set course bests."

GIRLS RACE

Eastern's girls squad led the local contingent in the 13-team invitational by placing fourth.

West Lafayette won the meet with a score of 37, Carmel was second at 41, Fishers was third at 99, Eastern was fourth with 163, Western was ninth with 212, Northwestern was 10th with 254, Maconaquah was 12th with 310, and Tipton was 13th with 379. West Lafayette's Lauren Johnson was the overall winner in a time of 18:50.

Avery Ewing was 18th to lead Eastern in a time of 20:18. Jessie Sprinkles was 22nd (20:39),Carly Jones was 23rd (20:41) and Kaylie Forgrave was 42nd (22:03) and Elyssa DeAngulo was 67th (23:41).

"It was our first 5K," Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. "Most of the girls that have had experience ran better this year than in previous years. I was especially pleased with our fourth and fifth girls. Kaylie Forgrave, it was her first 5K ever and she did a great job. And Elyssa DeAngulo, it was the first time she'd really nailed down a fifth spot for us. She really came through for us and took quite a bit of time off from where she had been.

"The top three really came through too. To nail down a fourth place was really special considering the caliber of teams that were there this year."

Taryn Thor led Northwestern with a ninth-place finish in 19:25. The Tigers' other top runners were Kindra Gingerich (57th, 23:19), Karly Sprouse (64th, 23:35), Rachel Johns (70th, 24:04) and Nicole Crocker (77th, 24:30).

"Taryn broke our school record. The old record was 20:00 so she broke that by 35 seconds," NW coach Dave Stevens said. "I'm not disappointed in the girls' performance. We ran really hard this week."