PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers run well at New Prairie

By Tribune Sports Staff

The Western girls cross country team posted the top local finish at the massive New Prairie Invite on Saturday, finishing eighth among 2A schools with a team score of 232. Lowell finished first overall with a score of 120.

"It's a huge race. We were hoping for top five," Western coach Joni McCracken said. "We performed very well but some of the other teams were a little better than we expected."

Natalie Nicholson was Western's top runner, posting a 28th-place finish in 21:17. Erin Knepley finished 45th at 22:02, Reagan Ritchie was 47th at 22:04, Emma Marley 55th at 22:22 and Taylor Walden 57th at 22:24.

"Natalie, Reagan and Emma all ran a PR [Saturday], and Erin had a personal best for this year," McCracken said. "The girls raced very, very well."

Maconaquah finished right behind Western in ninth place with 242 points. Madison Winegardner ran to an 18th-place finish in 20:49 for the Braves while Olivia Winegardner finished right behind her at 20:51 for 19th place.

Northwestern was 12th overall with a score of 298.

Casey Lechner was the top Tiger with a 30th-place finish in 21:26. Jensen Freeman followed in 54th (22:19), Nicole Crocker was 62nd (22:28), Kate Bilkey 71st (22:36) and Rebecca Sims 85th (23:09).

"My top eight finishers all had course bests," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "That's a good indicator of the shape we're in. It was a great experience for the girls."

Twin Lakes' Madeline Lilly had the top individual 2A finish at 18:49.

Eastern finished 19th out of 38 teams in Class A with a score of 480. Manchester won with a score of 91.

Sydnie Hill paced Eastern in 51st (23:27). Molly Hapner was 52nd (23:28). Kaylee Gebhart was 169th (30:47). Miranda Addison was 170th (30:48) and Catie White was 174th (32:32).

"They did a good job," Eastern coach Ben Cox said. "Sydnie and Molly, they had a lot of girls to run with and we've worked really hard on keeping them together because it makes them both better. They did a nice job moving up throughout and later in the race.

"Miranda, it was her first race and it was a tough place to go for your first race. She did a good job. Catie actually PRed by one second, which was impressive for where we were."

Boys Race

Western ran to a 10th-place overall finish among 2A schools with a score of 279.

"Overall, I had us finishing somewhere around 14th or 15th place, so finishing 10th is pretty good," Panther coach Gary Jewell said. "They ended up getting around five inches of rain there and it really softened up the course a lot."

Josh Everetts ran to an 11th-place finish in 17:19 for the Panthers. Josh Scott was 45th (18:29), Alex Taylor 57th (18:53), Nate Nicholson 86th (19:33) and Tyler Lechner 89th (19:40).

Northwestern finished 21st overall among 2A schools with a score of 532. Spencer Hutchins ran to a 56th-place finish in 18:52. Also for the Tigers, Craig Closson was 116th in 20:43, followed by Owen Munson (118th, 20:49), Dylan Stahl (128th, 21:14) and Gavin Smith (131st, 21:19).

"The guys did a good job, very consistent improvement from last week," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "I thought they did well considering the muddy conditions. The whole team was pretty consistent with what I expected from the conditions."

Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran posted the top overall and individual 2A finish. David Ehlers posted a 16:17 finish while the team posted an overall score of 58.

Eastern was incomplete while competing in the 39-team Class A portion of the invite. Morgan Township won the class with a score of 35.

Josh Reprogle led Eastern with an 88th-place finish (20:22). Seth Snyder was 172nd (23:57). Ethan Shook was 198th (30:41).

"Josh had the race of the day because he's returning [to the event] from last year — he's the only boy returning from last year — the conditions were much better last year and he ran faster this year," Eastern coach Ben Cox said. "It's nice to see he's gotten quite a bit stronger. Ethan was 4 seconds from his PR on a course that was far more difficult than what we've run this year."