Western boys, girls run well at Mac

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, September 14, 2014

The Western boys cross country team ran to the best local finish out of 15 teams at Saturday’s Maconaquah Invite.

The Panthers finished fourth overall with 134 points behind Noblesville (30), Warren Central (47), and Twin Lakes (106). Warren Central’s Tyler Lowhorn finished first place overall with a time of 16:40.

The Panthers placed three runners in the top 20. Riley Carter finished 13th with a time of 17:54. Caleb Maddox finished just behind him in 17th place with a time of 17:58, and Josh Everetts crossed the finish line 20th at 18:10.

“I thought we should have run better than we did,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “The course was really slow and soft. It definitely played to guys who are strength runners. Caleb Maddox did a really good job with the conditions.”

Kokomo finished fifth overall and also had the top area individual time with Ethan Sharp, who finished fourth in a time of 17:16. Max McHaney was 33rd with a time of 18:41 and Colton Pearce was 34th at 18:47.

“We had three out of seven run pretty well,” Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said. “The course was soggy but it was still pretty fast. Times were pretty good. We’re improving and pretty happy with where we are at right now.”

Peru was eighth, Tipton came in ninth, and Eastern ran to an 11th place finish with Brenton Cherry finishing 38th with a time of 18:56.

“We had some time goals based on optimal conditions of the course and since it was muddy we adjusted,” Eastern coach Ben Cox said. “Brenton did a great job adjusting and had a nice finish. Our next four guys came in within about 15 seconds of each other. We’ve been working on guys running as a pack and we are getting better at that.”

Mac came in 12th, while Northwestern finished 13th

GIRLS RACE

On the girls side, Nicole Hampshire led Western to a fourth-place overall finish out of 12 teams, taking seventh at 20:30.

“If you look at the competition she was running against, she ran a really good race,” Panthers coach Joni McCracken said. “The main thing right now is that the girls are running very consistently. Our pack of second through fifth is staying consistent and that’s all I can ask.”

Maconaquah ran to a fifth place finish. Eastern finished eighth overall, with Carly Jones placing 13th at 20:49 and Avery Ewing following in 20th at 21:39.

“The girls were obviously up against some challenges with the course conditions,” Comet coach Ben Cox said. “We had some girls who really stepped up.”

Northwestern and Kokomo placed 11th and 12th respectively in the event.