PREP ROUNDUP: Western runs to 3rd at Hoosier Conference

Sunday, October 4, 2015 12:00 am

By Tribune Sports Staff

A cold and rainy day worked out just fine for Western's boys cross country team in Saturday's Hoosier Conference meet at Lafayette Central Catholic.

The Panthers took a third-place overall finish with 82 points, finishing just three points shy of second place Twin Lakes (79). West Lafayette was the runaway top finisher with a team score of 24 and top individual finish from Dylan Williams in 16:34.

"Team-wise, I knew we would finish either second or third," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "We showed a ton of improvement from our meet two weeks ago. I'm pretty happy with how we performed. Across the board, we did pretty well."

Individually, Josh Everetts ran to a third place finish in 16:36 for the Panthers.

"I thought he could have won," Jewell said. "He was only two seconds off first place."

Josh Scott ran to a 13th-place finish in 17:53 for Western. Also for the Panthers, Alex Taylor was 15th in 18:03, Tyler Lechner was 25th in 18:39, Andrew Granfield 26th (18:41) and Zach Zentz 35th (19:24).

"The guys were pretty hyped," Jewell said. "We had nine guys run personal bests. Our three, four and five runners all had substantial personal bests of 20-plus seconds."

Cass finished fourth overall with a 131. Northwestern was eighth with a 200.6 and Tipton finished ninth with 229.

Spencer Hutchins posted the top individual finish for Northwestern, crossing the line in 18:32 to take 23rd place.

"Spencer ran well," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "A lot of these kids are young and haven't run on the course in these conditions. Now they know what to expect. I wasn't disappointed with the effort from any of the guys.

Also for the Tigers, Craig Closson was 48th (20:18), Owen Munson 50th (20:25), Dylan Stahl 51st (20:32) and Corey Menning 58th (21:25).

"All in all, I was pleased with the performance my boys gave me Saturday," Stevens said.

GIRLS MEET

Western ran to a fourth-place finish with 114 points in the event, while Northwestern posted a sixth-place finish with 145 points.

Casey Lechner led the way for the Tigers, taking 20th place in 21:05. Jensen Freeman was 24th (21:28), Rebecca Sims 29th (21:40), Nicole Crocker 36th (21:59) and Kate Bilkey 38th (22:25).

"I'm definitely not disappointed with our sixth-place finish," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "My seniors Jensen Freeman and Rebecca Sims both ran for personal bests. I think that speaks well for their experience."

West Lafayette was first overall with a score of 53. The top individual finish went to Twin Lakes' Madeline Lilly, who finished in 18:45