Eastern girls, Western boys win MIC XC titles

Eastern girls, Western boys extend MIC XC reigns

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, October 9, 2013

— RUSSIAVILLE — The Neeley sisters and Sarah Wagner may have moved on to the college ranks, but the road to the Mid-Indiana Conference girls cross country title still runs through Greentown.

Eastern’s girls put four in the top 10 in Tuesday’s MIC championships at Oakbrook Valley Park to claim the program’s fifth straight conference crown. Not bad for a squad that features no seniors after having to replace the top three runners from last season’s squad, which finished seventh at the state finals.

“It really goes back to when those girls, the Neeleys and Sarah Wagner, were freshmen and we got our first conference title,” Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. “We were just starting this process. And, now that they’re gone, it’s almost like were restarting this process over again. To hit that — our fifth conference in a row, without those girls — is just very special for us.”

The Comets weren’t devoid of experience, though. Sophomores Carly Jones and Jessie Sprinkles and junior Avery Ewing all played integral parts in the team’s state run a season ago, and led the charge to Tuesday’s title.

Jones finished second in 19:59 and Ewing followed in third in 20:10, while Sprinkles finished sixth in 20:33. Freshman Kaylie Forgrave followed in 10th — the final all-conference spot — at 21:35 to help Eastern post a score of 43 points, safely ahead of runner-up Western (60) and third-place Hamilton Heights (70).

“We do have some experience, and those girls are just now starting to take that leadership role and really develop a vision for what they can be,” Mink said. “That tradition that was started five years ago, these girls are trying to keep that alive. These girls know what it takes to be a champion, and are following along in those footsteps.”

No one was going to catch Northwestern senior Taryn Thor in the girls race. After years of also following in the Neeleys’ footsteps, Thor took control early in the race and led wire to wire, crossing the finish line in 18:58, over a minute ahead of runner-up Jones.

“I’ve been working for this for a long time, and it feels good to see all my hard training pay off,” Thor said. She built a nearly 20-second lead in the first mile. “I usually hold back in the first mile on this course because it’s mostly uphill, and then I try to take advantage of all that downhill momentum through the middle of the race. At the end, I just gave it a good kick, but next week [in the sectional] is where I’ll really test myself.”

Hamilton Heights’ Kat Williams (fourth, 20:12), Western’s Nicole Hampshire (fifth, 20:20), Taylor’s Cami Hansen (seventh, 20:40), Western’s Emma Nixon (eighth, 21:04), and Cass’ Gabi Carney (ninth, 21:24) rounded out the girls’ all-conference finishers.

BOYS RACE

Western put in a dominant performance, placing its top seven runners in the top 11 overall to win with 27 points, ahead of runner-up Hamilton Heights (60) and third-place Eastern, to win the Panthers’ fourth straight conference crown.

KT Photo| Kelly Lafferty

“Honestly, I’ve been sweating this meet for awhile,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “I knew Heights was getting better, and the last three and four weeks, we’ve been running without [top runner] Matt [Grider], who’s overcoming a little bit of a foot problem. So, we had a question mark coming in, but Matt did a great job of tempo-ing our other guys. I’m happy with what we did. Four in a row for us is pretty nice. Hopefully we can keep up this string.”

Grider was in good enough shape to still take second-place in 17:05. Teammate Riley Carter took fourth in 17:31, Caleb Maddox was fifth in 17:40 and Auston Davenport was seventh in 17:53. Austin Elliott (ninth, 18:16) and Mark Boss (10th, 18:20) rounded out the all-conference spots for the Panthers.

Eastern senior Lewis Duke was the race winner for the second straight year, holding a seven-second lead at the mile marker before winning by 25 seconds in 16:40.

“I wish I could’ve gone a little faster,” Duke said. “I guess it wasn’t the day to go faster, but it feels good to repeat. My lead was definitely a surprise. I came in expecting Matt and [Hamilton Heights’] Craig [Schildmeier] to run hard like they did last year. But I found out Matt was going to take it easy and Craig kind of dropped back, so It kind of became workout tempo. I finished with no fatigue, so I could’ve pushed it a lot harder.”

Schildmeier (third, 17:14), Northwestern’s Zach Duranto (sixth, 17:44) and Heights’ Jarrett Walbolt (eighth, 18:08) earned the other all-conference spots.