CROSS COUNTRY: Sectional is Saturday at Logan

Kokomo Tribune Oct. 06, 2017

Two years ago, Western’s girls cross country team won the Logansport Sectional title in a nail-biter. Western beat runner-up Maconaquah by one point with Northwestern another six points back.

Last year, the Panthers repeated as sectional champions, once again edging Maconaquah. The Panthers posted a score of 54 and the Braves followed with 60.

The Panthers will go for a three-peat on Saturday and coach Joni Neer is expecting more of the same.

“It’s going to be a fun meet,” she said. “I think that the competition level is the same as it has been in the past two years and I think the race could go multiple ways. If our team is going to be able to pull this off a third time, the girls are going to have to run very, very well because the competition is definitely there.”

The top five teams in the Logan Sectional advance to the Culver Academies Regional on Oct. 14. The top 10 individuals from non-advancing teams also will move on.

Western is coming off a sixth-place finish in the Hoosier Conference meet. Olivia Lushin led the Panthers with an 18th-place finish in 19:51. Hannah Lushin was 26th in 20:44, Natalie Nicholson was 28th in 20:55, Alivia Ford was 36th in 21:34 and Megan Hampshire was 37th in 21:36.

Neer is happy to see her team at least close to full strength after dealing with illnesses and injuries.

“We’ve talked a lot about how that happens. You have big goals and there are going to be obstacles along the way,” she said. “The girls are starting to come together and I guess I could say they look like the old team again. I have a couple of my top girls who didn’t get quite the training in this fall that they normally do, but they’re ready to go and ready to see what they can do.

“It’s good to see them all out there running again.”

Cass and Northwestern were seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Hoosier meet. The Kings were led by their 1-2 duo of Miah Martin and Lexi Jackson — Martin broke her own school record with a time of 18:42 to place sixth and Jackson was ninth in 18:50. The Tigers were led by Lauren Longshore (14th, 19:41) and Casey Lechner (19th, 20:03).

Maconaquah looks ready to challenge Western for the title again. The Braves finished second in the Three Rivers Conference meet. Madison Winegardner led the Braves with a second-place finish in 19:34. Karli Nance (20:17) and Haley Wimmer (20:24) finished seventh and ninth, respectively.

Eastern was second in the Hoosier Heartland Conference meet. Ella Kantz finished fifth in 22:23 to lead a solid pack. Kokomo was eighth in the North Central Conference meet with Taylor Walden leading the Kats with a 20th-place finish in 22:32.

BOYS RACE

Ricke Stucker sees a clear favorite in the the boys race.

“I don’t think anyone is going to touch Western,” the longtime Kokomo coach said.

For his part, Western coach Gary Jewell sees Logansport and Kokomo as strong contenders.

“This is kind of a repeat of the Logansport Invitational that we ran during the season. It’s the same players,” Jewell said.

Western won Logan’s invite, which was held on Aug. 19, with a score of 59. Logan was second with 76, Maconaquah was third with 100 and Kokomo was fourth with 110.

The Panthers are looking for their first sectional title since 2013. They looked like contenders last year, but had to settle for second behind Logansport.

“Logansport came to race last year in sectional and they took it to us,” Jewell said. “So this year, I’m telling the guys, ‘You’re going to get their best race in the sectional.’ We have to be prepared and they know that.”

The Panthers are coming off a second-place finish in the Hoosier Conference meet. Andrew Granfield led Western with a 10th-place finish in 17:27, Tyler Lechner was 12th in 17:39, Brayden Curnutt was 13th in 17:46, Alex Taylor was 17th in 17:55 and Chandler Ciscell was 33rd in 18:52.

Jewell likes how his top runners have formed a solid pack. He points to Ciscell’s showing as a key in the sectional.

“We’re hoping we can get him in the top 25. If we do that, we’re looking pretty good,” Jewell said.

Kokomo was fourth in the NCC meet. The Kats’ top five runners were Corey Dea (16th, 17:24), Julian Wallace (20th, 17:36), Alex Ward (29th, 18:10), Justin Taflinger (30th, 18:11) and Rafe Lopez (50th, 19:22).

“We’ve been improving quite a bit, but we have such a huge gap between our 4 and 5 and that kills us,” Stucker said. “We have four pretty good guys, but if you have over 2:00 between 4 and 5, you’re not going to beat very many people so we’re working on our 5 and 6 guys and hope that they run the race of their lives.”

Wallace has emerged as a nice surprise for the Kats.

“Julian Wallace has been coming on like gangbusters,” Stucker said. “He’s a sprinter, really, and we got him to run the 800 in track. We twisted his arm and got him to run cross country. He just gets better every week.”

Cass looks like a contender for a top-five spot again after finishing third last year. The Kings took fourth in the Hoosier meet. Bailey Scott was eighth in 16:53.

Northwestern was seventh in the Hoosier meet. Jacob Myers was 30th in 18:49 and Mason Correll was 32nd in 18:51) to lead the Tigers.

Eastern was runner-up in the HHC meet with Josh Reprogle (seventh, 18:40) and Caleb Vogl (eighth, 18:45) leading the squad.