Western boys take 2nd in Hoosier XC

Kokomo Tribune, October 02, 2016

Led by individual champion Josh Everetts, Western's boys cross country team ran to a runner-up finish in the Hoosier Conference meet on Saturday at Tipton.

No. 12-ranked West Lafayette posted an impressive score of 25 to run away with the boys title. Western (93), Twin Lakes (101), Cass (129) and Hamilton Heights (135) rounded out the top five in the 10-team field. Tipton (172) was seventh and Northwestern (229) was 10th.

Everetts won the 5,000-meter race in a time of 16:47.6. Cass' Cail Brown was second in 16:48.4 — and from there, West Lafayette's runners took the next seven spots.

"Even though the times don't necessarily reflect it, this was probably one of Josh's better races," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "He sat behind the leaders, two guys from West Lafayette and Cail Brown, for most of the race and then around 700 meters to go, he surged, opened up a small gap and was able to hold off Brown over the last 150. It was an exciting finish."

Jewell said Everetts is the first Western boy to win a conference title since Matt Grider, now a Purdue runner, won the Mid-Indiana Conference title as a sophomore in 2011.

After Everetts, Western's next four runners were: Tyler Lechner (15th place, 18:28); Andrew Granfield (16th, 18:33); Alex Taylor (22nd, 18:44); and Zach Zentz (39th, 19:31).

"I hate to say we were happy about getting second, but I guess you could say we were," Jewell said, noting Western met a goal of beating Twin Lakes. "The big key was our Nos. 2-4 runners, Lechner, Granfield and Taylor, did a great job moving through the pack on the second half of the race.

"Lechner's wrestling experience paid off. The nature center [portion of the course] has a lot of twisting turns and switchbacks. There were a lot of kids losing their balance, but Lechner has such great balance, he was just moving right on by them."

Everetts and Lechner earned spots on the all-conference team by finishing in the top 15.

After runner-up Brown, Cass' other runners were: Bailey Scott (14th, 18:27); Nolan Sharpless (34th, 19:22); Hayden Vest (35th, 19:24); and Carl Jay (44th, 19:39). Brown and Scott earned all-conference.

Tipton's top five runners were: Austin Mula (10th, 18:00); Jacob Teuscher (20th, 18:39); Dalton Money (26th, 18:52); Nate Mahaney (54th, 20:51); and Greg Miller (62nd, 21:47). Mula was all-conference.

Northwestern's top five were: Spencer Hutchins (29th, 19:01); Jacob Myers (38th, 19:29); Gavin Smith (51st, 20:25); Mitchell Harrell (53rd, 20:40); and Corey Menning (58th, 21:24).

"Another rainy day, and my varsity guys gave it their best," NW coach Dave Stevens said. "We had some personal bests and some season bests."

GIRLS MEET
No. 13-ranked West Lafayette (50) bettered Benton Central (63) for the team title in the Hoosier Conference meet at Tipton. Western was fifth with a score of 127, Cass sixth with 145, Northwestern seventh with 161 and Tipton 10th with 259.

Cass teammates Miah Martin (18:55) and Alexis Jackson (18:56) finished 1-2 and earned all-conference recognition. Also scoring for the Kings were Emily Tigler (32nd, 21:47), Hannah Young (54th, 23:45) and Marisol Karmel (56th, 23:53).

"Natalie and the two Lushins all had PRs and a couple of our veterans had season bests so I think we ran well, but obviously a fifth-place finish is not ideal or acceptable," Western coach Joni McCracken said. "This week, we're going to go back to refining our race plans and sharpening our running. We'll make some tweaks and changes and come back at sectional on Saturday and see what we can do."

Western's top five were: Natalie Nicholson (10th, 20:02, all-HC); Olivia Lushin (26th, 21:21); Emma Marley (27th, 21:23); Hannah Lushin (31st, 21:42); and Allison McMinn (33rd, 21:53).

Northwestern's scorers were: Casey Lechner (21st, 20:52); Kate Bilkey (28th, 21:27); Nicole Crocker (29th, 21:30); Madison McGriff (41st, 22:15); and Adri Freeman (42nd, 22:16).

"This is quite an amazing conference to run in for the girls," NW's Stevens said. "... There could be potentially five sectional champions next week on the girls' side of our conference. We were a little shorthanded but the girls that ran gave me everything they had. We had some really good improvement from some girls who filled in for us.

"To finish seventh in this conference is not a bad thing. It's pretty tough competition."

Tipton's scorers were: Audrey Benefiel (39th, 22:09); Shaylee Ison (44th, 22:47); Gracie Phillips (47th, 22:58); A.J. Muncie (64th, 28:20); and Lauren Allison (65th, 33:53).