HOOSIER CONFERENCE MEET

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, October 01, 2017

BY TRIBUNE STAFF REPORTS
GIRLS MEET

Western took sixth in the Hoosier Conference meet at Benton Central, posting a score of 145. Cass was seventh (169), Northwestern eighth (177) and Tipton 10th (284). West Lafayette was the meet champ with a score of 58.

Olivia Lushin led Western in 18th (19:51), followed by Hannah Lushin (20:44), Natalie Nicholson (20:55), Alivia Ford (21:34) and Megan Hampshire (21:36).

"We had three PRs and Natalie and Emma [Marley], who were the two that were out at the beginning of the season, they had season bests," Western coach Joni Neer said. "With the PRs and the season bests, I thought they ran really well. We keep running a little faster at each meet."

Northwestern was eighth as a team. Lauren Longshore ran the third fastest time in school history and Casey Lechner logged the fifth fastest time.

Longshore was 14th overall in 19:41, and Lechner finished 19th at 20:03. Also for the Tigers were Sophia Yager-Motl (41st, 21:43), Adri Freeman (44th, 21:52), and Sarah Heaver (59th, 23:59).

"All of my girls ran hard. I couldn't be prouder of them," NW coach Dave Stevens said. "The seven teams in front of us, I think possibly five of them are going to win their sectionals. That's how tough this conference is on the girls side. Nothing to hang their heads about."

BOYS HC MEET

Western had the top area showing in the meet, finishing second with an 85 behind first-place West Lafayette, which had a perfect score of 15.

"We finally had great weather," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "It was 54 degrees when we ran [Saturday]. We had a bunch of healthy guys and that was another good thing. Hopefully it stays that way."

Andrew Granfield finished 10th at 17:27 for the Panthers. Tyler Lechner was 12th in 17:39, Brayden Curnutt 13th in 17:46, Alex Taylor 17th (17:55) and Chandler Ciscell 33rd (18:52). Granfield, Lechner and Curnutt were named All-Conference for their top-15 finishes.

"What we really wanted to do was run as a pack the first half of the race," Jewell said. "At Benton Central you essentially repeat the same loop twice. Then we wanted to push. Andrew had a personal best by 21 seconds. It was really nice to get four guys under 18 minutes. The last time we had that was in 2014."

Benton Central finished third, Cass was fourth, Twin Lakes fifth, Rennselaer sixth and Northwestern seventh.

Jacob Myers had the Tigers' top time, crossing in 30th at 18:49. Mason Correll followed right behind in 32nd at 18:51, Mitchell Harrell was 41st in 19:25, Jace Cournoyer 45th in 19:30 and Gus Bourff 46th in 19:35.

"Just an outstanding race," Northwestern coach Dave Stevens said. "It was a 40 degree difference in temperature from last Saturday to this Saturday. Significant personal bests and I'm proud of every one of them. It was a good tuneup getting ready to go into sectionals."