MANCHESTER INVITE

Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, September 15, 2018

Penn hogged the top finishes and took first place with a miserly score of 26, followed by East Noble (139), Morgan Township (149), Culver Academies (170) and Western in fifth (172). Maconaquah was 18th (469) and Peru 22nd (531) out of 26 complete teams.

Joseph Packard led Western, taking 13th in 17:24, followed by Brayden Curnutt (15th, 17:25), Pete Bradshaw (32nd, 18;04), Taylor Rathbun (50th, 18:32), and Zac Cline (73rd, 19:17). The Panthers dealt with four different injuries during the week but came away close to a potential regional rival in Culver Academies.

"We were hoping to be in the top three, we're not quite there yet," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "Only two points behind Culver Academy, that kind of gives us an idea of where they stand now.

"Joseph keeps running some very consistent races. His first mile was 5:29 and he averaged 5:37 on the day. I think at the mile he was 17 seconds behind Brayden and caught him in the last 200 meters of the race. He ran a very consistent race. We need everybody else to be able to do that. In order to accomplish the goals we've set out we need to race a little better."

Alex Legg led the Bengal Tigers with a 62nd-place finish in 18:49. Jacob Black was next with a 79th-place finish (19:26), followed by Brody Wright (144th, 21:07), Cole Sailors (156th, 21:46), and Brayden Thomas (166th, 22:33).