Western, Mac finish 3-4 in girls XC regional

Western boys advance to semi state

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, October 19, 2014

CULVER —Western's girls cross country team took third and Maconaquah's took fourth Saturday morning at the Culver Academies Regional. Both secured passage to next Saturday's New Prairie Semistate as the top five squads, and top 10 individuals on non-advancing squads reach the next round.

Fifth-ranked Warsaw won the regional with a dominant score of 24, well ahead of Culver Academies in second (95). Western was third with 118, tying Maconaquah's total. Northwestern was 10th with a score of 272.

Nicole Hampshire led the Western girls and posted the top local finish. She was ninth in 20:34.5, followed by Taylor Walden in 25th (21:36). The Panther 3-4-5 pack came in as a group in consecutive spots. Allison McMinn was 33rd (22:05), Cora Johnson was 34th (22:07) and Logan Buck was 35th (22:07).

"The girls ran their hearts out," Western coach Joni McCracken said. "We were very surprised to slide into that third-place position. We thought we were fighting for fifth. The girls gave it everything they could. I couldn't be happier."

Olivia Winegardner led Maconaquah with an 11th-place finish in 20:46.4, followed by Madison Winegardner in 20th (21:18), Kate White in 21st (21:20), Haley Wimmer in 28th (21:42) and Vanessa Frazier in 52nd (22:47).

"I'm very proud of our girls who fought hard in less-than-ideal conditions," Braves coach Charlie Hubler said. "We're excited to qualify for the semistate and we expect to compete well at that meet."

Northwestern was led by Kate Bilkey in 46th (22:36), followed by Nicole Crocker in 70th (24:00), Jensen Freeman in 72nd (24:05), Rachel Johns in 77th (24:23) and Elizabeth Bolyard in 79th (24:36).

On the individual side, Warsaw’s Allison Miller was the top finisher, covering the course in 19:23.0, more than 27 seconds faster than Caston’s Adrianna Drague in second. Tribune-area locals advancing as individuals were Cass’ Haley Johnson (22nd in 21:22.5) and Peru’s Jessica Zvers (29th, 21:45.4).

Among other individuals who wrapped up their seasons at the regional, Eastern’s Avery Ewing was 30th (21:49), Carroll’s Shari Bowers was 42nd (22:20) and Samantha Dreadfulwater 50th (22:44), Peru's Anna Boyer in 47th (22:40) and Jaelin Richardson in 56th (22:55), and Taylor’s Cami Hansen was 54th (22:53).

BOYS RACE

Western's boys took the last advancing team spot at the Culver Academies Regional, finishing fifth with a point total of 125 to live on to next week's New Prairie Semistate.

Warsaw was the top team with 58, followed by Culver with 85, Winamac with 90 and Rochester in fourth with 96. Kokomo just missed an advancing spot, taking sixth place with a point total of 149, and Peru was 10th with 232.

PANTHER: Taylor Walden helped Western's girls cross country team take third place in the Culver Academies Regional on Saturday. Shown in the MIC meet earlier this month, Walden ran to a 25th-place finish in the regional.

Caston senior Seth Cousins was the top runner, pacing the field in 16:33.2, nearly seven seconds ahead of Winamac’s Kyle Collins. Kokomo’s Ethan Sharp was the fastest local. He took sixth in 17:10.5 to snag an individual spot in the semistate. The top 10 runners whose teams don’t make the regional advance as individuals.

Other local individuals who advanced were Cass’ Cail Brown in 15th (17:43.2) and Kokomo’s Colten Pearce in 22nd (18:02.2).

For Western, Josh Everetts was 14th in 17:37, Caleb Maddox 20th in 17:49, Auston Davenport 28th in 18:09, Riley Carter 36th in 18:14 and Alex Taylor 51st in 18:50

"I thought as a team, we didn't run nearly as well as we could have," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "I think we allowed the conditions to negatively affect our race. The conditions were sloppy in some areas. It was muddy and wet, it was raining and windy and I think that played into the minds of some of our guys. At this point of the season, you have to be mentally strong and approach every race with a sense of urgency. I think [Saturday] in some respects, we didn't do that."

For the Kats, after Sharp and Pearce, Hanif Burnett was 46th in 18:28, Logan Hawk was 50th in 18:44 and Austin Brandon was 60th in 19:06.

"Kokomo had three of seven run well on a wet course that ran about 25 seconds slower than the sectional course at Logan," Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said.