Western boys, Eastern girls win XC sectionals

Kokomo Tribune - Wednesday, October 16, 2013

—LOGANSPORT — As a former cross country runner at Western High School, Gary Jewell remembers well his battles with Kokomo and coach Ricke Stucker.

The Panthers won sectional titles in 1977, ‘78 and ‘79 in Jewell’s sophomore, junior and senior seasons, each time edging out Stucker’s Wildkats by slim margins.

Now as the coach of Western’s boys program, Tuesday was a blast from the past for Jewell, as the Panthers received an inspired effort to hold off the Kats 50-59 and claim their second straight sectional title and third in four years at Logansport High School’s Berry Patch.

“My hat’s off to Ricke. He’s been doing this a long time and knows his stuff,” Jewell said. “Both programs have some good kids coming up, so we’re expecting to do this again.”

Eastern was tops on the girls side, winning its fifth straight sectional.

In the boys race, Western put each of its top five runners in the top 15, led by Matt Grider, who finished third in 16:23.88 despite still nursing a foot injury. Riley Carter followed in sixth in 16:50.47.

“It’s been kind of a trying year,” Jewell said. “You come in with really high expectations. You have someone like Matt Grider who you expect to be running up near the front, and suddenly midway through the season he comes down with an injury — what’s that going to do to the psyche of the team? You hope that everyone looks at it and thinks this is the chance for the rest of us to really move up, and that’s what my guys have done. Riley Carter has been a team leader through this, and ran a PR in the sectional.”

Jacob Bradshaw finished 12th for the Panthers in 17:13.08, a full minute faster than he ran at the MIC meet last week as he continues to recover from a respiratory issue.

“If he doesn’t run that Tuesday night, we don’t win — we’re second by a couple points, I think,” Jewell said. “Having that was great.”

Caleb Maddox (14th, 17:28.84) and Auston Davenport (15th, 17:32.25) rounded out Western’s top five.

For Kokomo, the afternoon was filled with thoughts of what might’ve been despite putting three runners in the top seven.

“We can do better, and we will try to do better on Saturday [at the Culver Academies Regional],” Stucker said. “We had one kid that ran 79 seconds slower than he normally does. [His normal time] would’ve moved us up by a full 20 spots and we got beat by nine, so you can do the math. We had some kids who ran well, and overall, we ran pretty well as a team.”

Jeremy Breedlove led the Kats with a second-place showing in 16:09.58. Ethan Sharp finished fifth in 16:45.64, and Jordan Fivecoate was seventh in 16:56.93.

Eastern’s Lewis Duke repeated as the individual sectional champion, clearing the course in 15:58.39, the first sub-16:00 five-kilmometer race of his career.

�I�m pretty pumped I finally broke 16 minutes,� Duke said. �That was a goal going into this year and I final got it. It takes a lot of mental [toughness]. They say running is 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental. I wanted it really

bad and I went for it. Every step of the way on to state is going to take more and more mental [toughness]. I’m just going to have to keep wanting it more and more.”

Duke, Breedlove and Grider jockeyed for position at the front for most of the race, overtaking one another in one form or another on five different occasions before Duke made his final push with just over one kilometer left to win by over 11 seconds.

Winamac (third place, 83 points), Logansport (fourth, 107) and Northwestern (fifth, 150) snagged the three final advancing positions. Zach Duranto led the Purple Tigers in ninth at 17:01.49, while Shad Jakes followed in 13th at 17:19.55.

The top 10 competitors on non-advancing teams also earn passage to the regional round, meaning Eastern’s Kevin Zheng (29th, 18:24.96) and Brenton Cherry (36th, 18:41.46) will join Duke in Saturday’s regional.

GIRLS RACE

Northwestern’s Taryn Thor put in the most dominant sectional race in recent memory, leading wire to wire with no one in her sight for much of the last half of the race, taking top honors in 18:15.16, topping the nearest competitor by over 1:26.

“I just really want to win and I keep that in mind when I race,” Thor said. “I just make sure I’m clocking in at the right splits and try to stay focused. It’s easy to lose focus when you’re far ahead and there’s nobody to catch. I just try to keep my goals in mind, and it paid off [Tuesday].”

Had Thor run that time at the state finals, it would’ve been the ninth-fastest time ever run in state finals history.

“I just want to fulfill my dream of making it to the state meet and winning the semistate,” Thor added. “I just keep training and pushing harder every single meet, and try to stay focused on pushing myself.”

Eastern’s girls team maintained its stranglehold on the top team spot, placing four in the top 10 on its way to winning the sectional for the fifth straight year, topping runner-up Winamac 41-88.

Carly Jones (19:41.32). Avery Ewing (20:00.28) and Jessie Sprinkles (20:05.33) took second, third and fourth, respectively, to bolster the Comets’ championship aspirations. Kaylie Forgrave followed in 10th at 21:03.22 in her first run through the Berry Patch.

“We’re starting a new chapter and I’m very proud of how these girls have picked up on what those girls have done in the past,” Eastern coach Brandon Mink said. “They’re keeping the tradition going. We had some individually just outstanding efforts [Tuesday] night. I couldn’t have asked for more out of them. They blew away all my expectations.”

Western (third, 97), Maconaquah (fourth, 111) and Northwestern (fifth, 113) also advanced to the regional round.

Samantha Luginbuhl led Western in ninth at 20:55.37 while Emma Nixon took 14th at 21:15.66.

Taylor’s Cami Hansen was the top finisher on a non-advancing team, finishing seventh 20:22.25 to advance to the regional in her first season in the sport. Kokomo freshman Cinnamon Andrews (17th, 21:34.33) also earned passage to the regional round.