CROSS COUNTRY: Mac girls end Western's sectional reign

Kokomo Tribune Oct. 08, 2017

LOGANSPORT — It wasn't the kindest Berry Patch, but Maconaquah's girls cross country squad made the most of a windy day on a wet course to place three runners in the top seven and finish first as a team in Saturday's Logansport Sectional.

Maconaquah won its first sectional since 2014 and ended Western's two-year sectional reign. The Panthers finished second and Northwestern claimed third place. In the boys race, it was the host Berries taking the top spot, with Western following in second and Cass taking third.

"I'm really proud of our team," Braves senior Madison Winegardner said. "We worked really hard all season and just kept encouraging each other."

Winegardner finished second individually in a time of 19:24, between a pair of Cass runners with Miah Martin taking first in 19:10 and Alexis Jackson finishing third at 20:13.

"I was relieved when I finished," Winegardner said. "It was a tough race. You had to be mentally tough the whole time, especially in the woods. You don’t hear any cheering. You’re by yourself and you know you can’t slow down. But it was a good race."

Mac finished with a team score of 46 in winning its 12th sectional all-time. Haley Wimmer was fifth overall in 21:02, Karli Miller seventh (21:09), Bailey Hays 14th (22:14) and Haley Salinas 18th (22:52) as the Braves knocked off the Panthers in another close sectional battle between the teams.

"Coming in, we were the front-runner based upon what we’ve seen all year long," Mac coach Allen Sayger said. "At the beginning of the year, back in August, if you looked on paper, Western was probably five to 10 points ahead of us but they had some injuries, they had some bad illness. They are just starting to get healthy now and I have a feeling you’re going to see them at regional really pick up."

Western finished with a score of 58. Olivia Lushin was the top Panther in sixth place at 21:05. Following her were Natalie Nicholson (ninth, 21:27), Hannah Lushin (11th, 21:50), Alivia Ford (15th, 22:21) and Megan Hampshire (17th, 22:25).

"Maconaquah was the faster team [Saturday]," Western coach Joni Neer said. "Our girls did not lose because they didn’t run well. They got second because Maconaquah was faster. We don’t want it to always be that way. But we accept they were the faster team and we congratulate them for that.

"We knew it would be a battle between us and Maconaquah," Neer added. "The girls ran well, Maconaquah just ran better. It’s OK to get beat by a team that’s better than you."

Northwestern was third at 86. Lauren Longshore logged the top Tiger finish, taking fourth place in 20:47. Casey Lechner followed in eighth at 21:15. Rounding out Northwestern's scoring were Sophia Yager-Motl (12th, 12:55), Adri Freeman (26th, 23:48) and Ally Bunch (36th, 24:51).

The top five teams advanced to next Saturday's Culver Regional, with Cass (100) and Logansport (127) rounding out the squads moving on.

Additionally, the top 10 individuals not on advancing teams moved on to Culver, opening the door for Peru's Jaelin Richardson (22:12), Mya Lancaster (23:16) and Sadie Carter (23:21), Eastern's Katrina Witt (19th, 23:02), Victoria Leeder (20th, 23:09) and Ella Kantz (21st, 23:25), and Kokomo's Taylor Walden (24th, 23:39).

BOYS RACE
Cass' Bailey Scott took the top spot individually in 17:24. Carroll's Alec Smith followed in second at 17:45, and Peru's Adam Garner was third in 17:52.

Western's Tyler Lechner (fourth, 17:55) and Brayden Curnutt (fifth, 17:57) paced the Panthers with strong finishes, with Andrew Granfield close behind in eighth at 18:11.

"Tyler and Brayden and Andrew had knockout races," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "Brayden was the top freshman here [Saturday]."

Alex Taylor (22nd, 18:51) and Chandler Ciscell (29th, 19:16) rounded out the Panthers' score of 68 behind Logan's finish of 62.

"We moved up really well, I think, at the end of the race," Jewell said. "We just had dug ourselves a little hole midway through the race. So we’re not satisfied. We wish we would have won. But I told my guys, Logansport came ready to race last year, they came ready to race [Saturday], and you’ve got to be able to take that punch and come back and counter. But we just dust ourselves off and move on and we get to run next week at Culver."

Cass (119), Winamac (131) and Kokomo (135) rounded out the top five teams.

"We’re not happy," Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said. "We had three out of six who ran well. One kid was just right on it. But we lived another day. Hopefully we find out what happened, we improve, and we run better next week."

Julian Wallace logged the top Kokomo finish, crossing in ninth at 18:11. Also scoring for the Kats were Corey Dea (17th, 18:32), Justin Taflinger (19th, 18:39), Alexander Ward (41st, 19:45) and Rafael Lopez (49th, 20:15).

"The wind was just a killer," Stucker added. "The temperature was nice, we had a little cloud cover, but the wind was bad and it was a little wet and muddy. We’re glad we made it but we’re going to try to do better next week."

Aside from Smith and Garner, other area individuals advancing were Peru's Braxton Jimenez (seventh, 18:08), Mac's Caleb Winegardner (14th, 18:23) and Sam Bourne (20th, 18:45), Eastern's Caleb Vogl (18th, 18:32) and Brayden Richmond (26th, 19:12) and Northwestern's Mason Correll (30th, 19:20).