Local runners compete at regional today

Kokomo Tribune - Saturday, October 18, 2014

Get Kokomo boys cross Country coach Ricke Stucker Ding about today's Culver Academies Regional and it's asy to get fired up about what's on tap this morning.

"It's going to be really exciting to see the individual race and the race to get out beause this is as tough as it's been for a long, long time," Stucker said.

Teams and individuals are oolong to make it out of today's regional and qualify for semistate action. Today's girls race tips things off at 10:30 a.m. with the boys race to follow at 11:10 am. The Culver Academies Regional brings together the top five teams and 10 individuals on non-advancing teams from the Logansport Sectional and the Culver Academies Sectional.

BOYS REGIONAL

Western finished second at last Saturday's Logansport Sectional, just six points behind champion Winamac. Kokomo was third and Peru fifth.

On the individual side, Cass' Cail Brown and Lucas Bowman, Northwestern's Josh Perry, Maconaquah's Adam Root and Quinn Reinhardt, Eastern's Brenton Cherry and Evan Hersh, and Carroll's John Cooper and Colton Veach have spots in the regional race.

"Obviously, the top one is Warsaw, they're the 600-pound gorilla in the field, they have been for the last two years," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "The contenders: Obviously Winamac that won our sectional last week, and Western, and probably Rochester and Culver Academy. Kokomo has a shot but they have to improve by a little bit and get over some injuries."

Stucker had a similar view.

"Warsaw should win and then it's going to be very, very close, probably four teams in it for second place: Culver and Rochester they are excellent, and Winamac and Western. And they only take five teams [to the semistate] so we're going to have to have all seven guys run season bests and then hope one of those teams falters"

Western is led by Josh Everetts, who was fifth at the sectional. Riley Carter was sixth, Auston Davenport eighth and Caleb Maddox ninth. Jewell outlined the keys for Western.

"Last week, Winamac had one guy step up and that was the guy that had been running No. 5 for them, and that was the difference in the meet," Jewell said. "We need our top two guys, Josh Everetts and Riley Carter to improve. I think we need to have one guy, maybe two guys in the top 10.

"Our strength all year has been our 1-4 pack. They're only about 20-24 seconds apart We need to have that again, and we need our fifth man to run better than he did last week We need him to run under 17:50 and a lot closer to our fourth man. If we get that, we're looking pretty good."

For Kokomo to break into the top five spots, the Kats need to shave time all over.

"We're looking to have everybody run 12 seconds faster than their season best and see where it gets us," Stucker said "We are not 100 percent My No. 2 guy [Justin Taflinger, who will not race] had surgery [Friday] and had his appendix removed. And we've got a couple other kids that are not 100 percent, but we still ought to run a little better than we did in the sectional. We're hoping to have a season-best and see where that gets us."

Ethan Sharp leads the Kai charge. He battled illness in the sectional and still placed fourth. Both Jewell and Stucker named Carton's Seth Cousins as the class of the field, with several other contenders for top spots including Culver Academies' Lan- drum Neer, Sharp, and the top two Western runners.

Among local individuals looking to advance, Cass' Cail Brown was seventh in the sectional. Northwestern's Josh Perry was 15th.

"I think [Perry] is one of those that has an opportunity to get one of those 10 individual spots," NW boys and girls coach Dave Stevens said. "he's been setting PR's at each meet and I think ll he do the same [today].

PANTHER: Western boys cross country runner Auston Davenport runs during the MIC Meet. This morning, Davenport and both the Panthers boys and girls teams compete in the Culver Academies Regional.

GIRLS REGIONAL

The girls side of the regional features Logan Sectional champion Maconaquah, runner-up Western and fifth-place squad Northwestern. Racing as individuals are Eastern's Avery Ewing, Peru's Jesse Zvers, Anna Boyer and Jaelin Richardson, Cass' haley Johnson, Carroll's Shari Bowers and Samantha Dreadfulwater, and Taylor's Cami Hansen.

"Basically, when you at the teams that advanced to the regionals, we have a couple of teams that are obviously shoe-ins," Western coach Joni McCracken said, naming Warsaw, Culver Academies and Maconaquah as virtual locks to advance. "We believe there are about two. spots [up for grabs] that there are about four teams vying for."

McCracken said the Panthers are clashing with Rochester, Winamac and Plymouth for one of those last two advancing spots.

"Basically what we're looking at is the kids have to remember they're racing individuals, they're racing for placings," McCracken said. "When you get to this point, the times don't matter, they have to fight for every post tion they possibly can — what jerseys they're looking for, who they have to be hunting down.

"We've had probably the best practices we've had all season this week. The girls are very focused. They know what they have to do."

Nicole Hampshire leads the Panthers after taking first individually in last Saturday's sectional.

"If [Hampshire] is running against those Warsaw girls _ her goal is to have a great race and be in that top five for sure," McCracken said.

Maconaquah's top runners are Olivia Winegardner and Madison Winegardner, who finished 4-5 in the sectional.
Kate Bilkey led Northwestern with a 26th-place finish in the sectional.

"We're happy to be there," Stevens said. "There's going to be a lot of competition at the top for teams to advance. If my girls run their best, I think we could be at the edge of the qualifying range. Fm not sure if we're strong enough to get into that top five'

If the Purple Tigers can't advance as a team, Stevens hopes to get some individuals through.

"Kate Bilkey and the girl running No. 2 for us, Nicole Crocker and our third girl, Jensen Freeman, those three know what they need to do up there at the top," Stevens said. "With real fast competition, if they get out there and run with them, they have a shot at it."

Ewing, Zvers and Johnson are the top local candidates to get an individual spot after posting top-10 finishes at the sectional.