Northwestern Cominational

Kokomo Tribune - Friday, August 22, 2014

BY TRIBUNE STAFF REPORTS

Boys Race

Western’s boys cross country team took the top scoring spots in each of the three races at the Northwestern Combo meet on Thursday, combining to win the event in a time of 54:43. Tipton was second (60:41), Northwestern third (61:49) and Maconaquah fourth (62:17). The rest of the teams were incomplete.

In the 1-2 race, Western’s Riley Carter ran the 3K course in 10:24 and Josh Everetts finished in 10:39 for a Panther sweep. In the 3-4, the Panthers again swept the top two positions as Caleb Maddox finished in 10:50 and Auston Davenport in 11:09.

In the 5-6-7 race, Western runners grabbed the top three scoring spots, and took the next three spots for good measure. Alex Taylor won the race in 11:41, followed by Josh Scott in 11:53, and Cooper O’Neal in 11:55.

“I think we expected to run a little better than we did, but obviously when you have the weather conditions that we had where it really warmed up and very humid, that really slowed things down,” said Western coach Gary Jewell, who estimated the weather took about 40 seconds off his squad’s times. “[The meet] was kind of a yard stick to see where you are. We have a lot of freshmen and it was good to see them get a race in and see where they are. The 5-6-7 race, we had seven freshmen in that race and all those guys ran really well.

“It’s always good to start off the season with a win.”

Tipton was led by Jacob Benefiel’s third-place finish (10:46) in the 1-2 race. Tipton’s Jacob Peusher (11:38) and Robert James (11:41) were third and fourth in the 3-4 race.

Spencer Hutchins was tops for Northwestern with a fifth-place finish (12:03) in the 3-4 race.

“Hutchins and Jake Duranto each set personal records in the 3-4 race,” Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. “We had a lot of new runners, and they ran their first race ever. Duranto took 30 seconds off his personal-best time.”

Girls Race

Maconaquah won the combo with a total time of 67:06, edging runner-up Western (67:37). Northwestern (73:35), Eastern (75:05), Tipton (76:39), Carroll (78:17) and Kokomo (90:43) followed in the team standings.

Maconaquah runners won all three races. Olivia Winegardner was tops in the 1-2 race in a time of 12:15. Madison Winegardner took first in the 3-4 race in 13:27 with Haley Wimmer taking fifth (14:22). And in the 5-6-7 race, Addie Shinn was first in 14:01 with teammates Vanessa Frazier (14:25) and Amanda Shinn (14:30) taking third and fourth.

“This is a great start to our season,” Maconaquah coach Charlie Hubler said. “We have some strong returning runners in Olivia Winegardner and Kate White along with newcomers Madison Winegardner and Haley Wimmer. This is the first year in quite some time that we’ve had this kind of depth and were looking forward to improving as a team.”

Western was led by Nicole Hampshire’s third-place finish in the 1-2 race. She covered the 3K course in 12:36. Erin Knepley was fifth (12:55) in the 1-2 race. Also for the Panthers, Allison McMinn (13:54) and Taylor Walden (14:01) were second and third in the 3-4 race and Logan Buck was second (14:11) in the 5-6-7 race.

Kate Bilkey led Northwestern with a fifth-place finish in the 5-6-7 race (14:41).

“We are happy to get the first one in,” Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. “The heat index was up there. Bilkey, who is only a freshman, ran a very solid race for her first cross country race ever.”