Northwestern Combo
RACING: Western’s Pete Bradshaw, second from left, and Joseph Packard, third, race in the boys 1-2 race at the Northwestern Combination on Wednesday. Packard took second and Bradshaw third. Kelly Lafferty Gerber | Kokomo Tribune

Kokomo Tribune August 22, 2019

By BRYAN GASKINS and PEDRO VELAZCO

Western’s boys and girls teams came out on top Wednesday in the Northwestern Combination cross country meet. The meet consists of three races – one for the 1-2 runners, one for the 3-4 runners, and a third for the 5-6-7 and JV runners. The top five times are added for a team score.

In the boys meet, Western won in 54:48, followed by Maconaquah (58:35), Carroll (58:59), Northwestern (60:12), and Eastern (60:59). Taylor and Tipton were incomplete.

Eastern’s Braden Richmond won the 1-2 race in 10:26, followed by Western’s Joseph Packard (10:31) and Western’s Pete Bradshaw (10:38).

Western’s Brayden Curnutt won the 3-4 race in 10:50, followed by teammate Taylor Rathbun (11:09). Maconaquah’s Logan Farnell won the 5-6-7 race in 11:35, followed by Western’s Zac Cline (11:40) and Charlie Conkle (11:53).

“It’s good to finally have a competition. It’s good to have a meet where we can go out and knock heads,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “It was nice to see our guys up front.

“I think the best part of the night was in the 3-4 race to see Brayden Curnutt back racing. He had a stress fracture coming out of track [that limited summer training]. It’s good to have him back, he’s not quite at full strength yet. He completely dominated the 3-4 race, and Taylor Rathbun as a sophomore looked great.”

  

Jewell also noted strong runs from the Panthers in the 1-2 race and the 5-6-7 race.

“On the boys side I’m happy we got a race in for the guys because they’ve been running against each other for quite a while now and they get to see where they stack up in an actual race,” NW coach Dave Stevens said. “I think getting this race in is going to help them all.”

Western won the girls competition in a time of 68:15, followed by Maconaquah (69:49), Carroll (72:50), Eastern (73:39), Tipton (74:34), Kokomo (77:50) and Northwestern (79:01). Taylor was incomplete.

Kokomo’s Julynne Spidell won the girls 1-2 race in 12:21, followed by Northwestern’s Lauren Longshore (12:25), Carroll’s Chloe Goodrich (12:37) and Eastern’s Ella Kantz (13:06). Olivia Lushin was Western’s top finisher in that race in sixth at 13:19 and teammate Hannah Lushin was eighth (13:31).

Western’s Sarah Manuel won the 3-4 race in 13:28 followed by Maconaquah’s Haley Salinas (13:57) and Western’s Alivia Ford (14:09). Western’s Kortney Lechner (13:56) and Destiny Herr (14:01) went 1-2 in the 5-6-7 race.

“Lauren ran a really gutsy race – she’s been ill the last couple days,” Stevens said. Northwestern was without two of its top five runners on the day. “The [remaining] girls stepped up and ran hard.”