Logansport Invitational

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, August 23, 2015

BY TRIBUNE STAFF REPORTS

Boys Race

Kokomo scored the top local finish in the 11-team invite, taking second with a score of 59. Winamac was the winner with 39. Western was third (87), Maconaquaah fifth (132), Cass seventh (160), Northwestern eighth (205), Tipton ninth (237) and Peru and Eastern were incomplete.

For Kokomo, Ethan Sharp was fifth in 17:18, Max White was ninth in 18:13, Colten Pearce was 10th in 18:15, Coy Brandon was 14th in 18:35 and Corey Dea was 21st in 19:06.

Western’s Josh Everetts took second overall in 16:51, behind the overall winner, Winamac’s Kyle Collins. Also for Western, Josh Scott was 13th in 18:26, Alex Taylor was 15th in 18:35, Andrew Granfield was 25th in 19:15 and Tyler Lechner was 34th in 19:53.

“Josh Everetts ran a very solid race, a personal best for him not only on that course but individually in his career,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “He was only 20 seconds behind Winamac’s first guy. He split Winamac’s top two which is a big plus at this stage of the season. As a team we ran respectably.

“Kokomo ran really well. They’ve got a couple young guys that really stepped up and we’re equally young. We have four sophomores running on varsity right now. Aside from Everetts, our younger guys are well ahead of where they were a year ago.”

For Northwestern, Spencer Hutchins finished 20th in 19:04, Gavin Smith was 42nd in 20:26, Owen Munson was 44th in 20:28, Craig Closson was 48th in 20:36 and Corey Menning was 56th in 21:46.

“Spencer had a personal best to lead the team and the rest of the guys ran in a pretty good pack,” Stevens said. “We’ve been training really hard with this group. They’re really very inexperienced as far as the racing. To run on the sectional course this early, I was really impressed with how they bunched up and ran together. Now all we have to do is take that group and move them forward.

For Eastern, Josh Reprogle was 53rd in a time of 21:25. Seth Snyder was 64th in 25:26, and Ethan Shook was 68th in 35:55.

“They did a nice job in their first 5K of the year,” Cox said. “Josh is in a good starting spot based on what he did last year. We look for him to get better as the year goes on. Seth and Ethan got one under their belts.”

Girls Race

Maconaquah’s girls raced to victory in the 11-team invite, scoring 29 points to take first, comfortably ahead of second-placed Logan (76). Western was third with 83, Northwestern fourth with 102, Cass sixth with 152, Tipton seventh with 168, Kokomo ninth with 225, and Peru and Eastern were incomplete.

Sophomore Madison Winegardner led Mac to victory, taking first overall in 20:03 while sister Olivia Winegardner was third in 20:24, Kate White was seventh in 21:02, Haley Wimmer was ninth in 21:22 and Bailey Hays was 12th in 22:03.

“This was a great way to start the season for our team,” Braves coach Charlie Hubler said. “I was very pleased with the way our girls stayed close to each other, allowing our first five to all place in the top 12 of this race.”

Carly Jones led Eastern with a fourth-place finish in 20:28. Sydnie Hill was 42nd in 24:13, Molly Hapner was 47th in 24:46, and Kaylee Gebhart was 65th in 31:30.

“A lot of sectional teams there and it’s our sectional course so it’s interesting to start the season off on the sectional course,” Eastern coach Ben Cox said. “The kids really had a good day and it was a great day to run.

“Carly especially is making nice progress. Her times are steadily going down. I know she beat Madison and Olivia on Tuesday [in a 3K event], and they beat her [Saturday], but for now we’ll worry about time and we’ll worry about place later. Everybody got a good 5K to start the season.”

Casey Lechner led Northwestern in 10th in 21:29, Jensen Freeman was 16th in 22:16, Nicole Crocker was 25th in 22:49, Sophia Yager-Motl was 28th in 23:16 and Kate Bilkey was 31st in 23:27.

“Just an outstanding race for Casey in the No. 1 spot,” NW coach Dave Stevens said. “It was her first 5K race, [her time] was very good.”

Stevens noted that Freeman and Crocker approached their personal-best times and the team’s 2 through 7 runners had strong races with the 4-7 runners separated by just 18 seconds.

“They pushed each other til the end,” Stevens said. “It was very uplifting to see that kind of teamwork right out of the gate.”