JACOB GRAF MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, August 25, 2019

BY TRIBUNE STAFF REPORTS

Western steamed to first place in Logansport’s 13-team Jake Graf Invitational, which was run on the Logansport Sectional course. Brayden Curnutt led the Panthers with a second-place finish in 17:21. Joseph Packard was a spot behind in third at 17:23. Taylor Rathbun was 13th (18:25), Pete Bradshaw 16th (18:43) and Zac Cline was 29th (18:58).

“I didn’t know until [Friday] night that Lafayette Jeff was going to be there. In the preseason polls … Jeff is ranked No. 79 in the state and we’re 101, and we beat them by [nine]. It’s great when you have Brayden and Joseph going second and third. That’s huge. That goes a long way in your team totals,” Western coach Gary Jewell said.

“It’s great having Brayden up front. Having the injury he had coming out of track [a stress fracture] he had very little training this summer and he’s almost right back to where he was at. That’s a huge burden that’s been lifted off the shoulders of the entire team when they see him up front. Joseph had a great race. Four of our top five ran personal bests.”

Western’s team total was 59. Lafayette Jeff was second with a score of 68. Cass was fifth (154), Maconaquah sixth (184), Northwestern seventh (198), Peru 10th (248), Eastern 11th (255), and Kokomo 12th (303). Team scores changed twice on the day due to scoring errors.

For Northwestern, Isaiah Kanable was 27th (18:58.1), Caden Lechner was 33rd (19:31.1), Caleb Champion was 36th (19:46), Gunnar LaShure was 56th (20:43), and Mason Correll was 64th (20:56.8).

Cass’ Bailey Scott took first individually in 17:02.2.

“Just an outstanding day for the boys,” NW coach Dave Stevens said. “We had nine guys able to run and seven of the nine set PRs. That’s a very good first 5K. The boys really ran hard, all of them.”

Eastern’s Brayden Richmond finished sixth in a personal-best 17:40 to lead the Comets, followed by Caleb Vogle (31st, 19:06), Porter Brovont (83rd, 21:49), Benjamin Kurfman (102nd, 23:05), and Kamden Johnson (108th, 23:16).

“Pretty happy with the boys race,” Eastern coach Ben Cox said. “Obviously happy for Brayden, sixth place was a nice finish and the 17:40 was a PR for him. To start out the season with a PR bodes pretty well for him. He’s definitely a lot stronger than last year so excited for him and the rest of the guys.&rdquo:

Kokomo sophomore Julynne Spidell won Logansport’s Jake Graf Invitational with a time of 20:46.

“She let the other girls in the race push the pace on the first mile and was in fourth place as they entered the hilly berry patch for the second mile of the race. She exited the berry patch in first place with about a 10-second lead,” Kokomo coach Chad Salinas said. “There will be a huge breakthrough for her over the next two weeks as she has been ill over the last week. The sky is the limit for Julynne and I know that she will continue to do everything to compete at her highest level.”

Salinas also liked what he saw from Jaylee Copeland, who finished 29th with a time of 24:23 in her first cross country meet.

Maconaquah won the 13-team meet by a wide margin, scoring a sharp 57 with Logansport second (104), Western third (109), Cass fourth (114), Northwestern seventh (157), Eastern eighth (189), Tipton ninth (189), and Kokomo 10th (211). The meet was a useful gauge for teams from the Logansport Sectional to see where their times stack up against much of the sectional field.

Zoe Seward (21:52.8) and Karli Miller (21:56.5) went 5-6 to lead Maconaquah.

Lauren Longshore led Northwestern with a second-place finish in 20:47.3, followed by Ella Deck (12th, 23:01.2), Vanessa Muller (38th, 24:50.4), Katelyn Saul (52nd, 25:57.6), and Kaylynne Fernandes (71st, 27:29.5).

“The girls just kicked at the finishes,” NW coach Stevens said. “I was really happy top to bottom. I looked over there and saw many of them passing people and flying to the finish. That showed how determined they were to do their best right out of the gate [of the season]. We were one point out of sixth place and Caston was that team, so the girls are sitting there just a few points away from [being] No. 5 sectional team to move on to regional.”

Ella Kantz led Eastern with an eighth-place finish in 22:23, followed by Emily Slaughter (25th, 24:12, Alivia Salkie (57th, 26:24), Gracie McClain (59th, 26:44) and Erin Matheny (63rd, 26:58. Eastern and Tipton had the same score and the Comets edged the Blue Devils for eighth based on their sixth runners. Eastern’s Claire Hubbard was Eastern’s sixth, taking 64th in 27:01.

“The girls really did a nice job,” Cox said. “Three of them that was their first high school cross country 5K and [I’m] really happy with how they raced. Basically everybody just really had a pretty good day.”