LOGANSPORT - Western swept the team championships at the Logansport Cross Country Sectional on Saturday.

After several close calls in recent years, Western left no doubt.

The Panthers won with 45 points, followed by Winamac (81), Logansport (123), Eastern (133) and Cass (136).

Brayden Curnett led Western with a second-place finish overall in 17:04. He was followed by Joseph Packard (4th, 17:28), Pete Bradshaw (5th, 17:35), Taylor Rathbun (14th, 18:25) and Charles Conkle (20th, 18:50).

Western's top five finishers all received top 20 ribbons and all seven runners finished in the top 22. None of them are seniors.

Logansport had won the last three titles. Western won its first title since 2013.

"Honestly I think we could have won three out of the last five," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "[In] 2014 we put four guys in the top ten and lost because Winamac went 1-2. Two years ago we had a good enough team and we came up six points short. Last year was 78 degrees and right now it's 42, so we just missed there. Finally, I think we pretty much decided we were tired of finishing second and it's time for us to step and do what it took to put this together.

"We're happy to get here but honestly our biggest goal on the season is to get back to semistate. We haven't been there in a long time. That's what we really want to accomplish. Big goal [Saturday] was we wanted to get under 50 points as a team. We got 45 points. That's great. The stretch goal was 40; could we have gotten that, I don't know. But we'll take what we got. We're happy to win and we're happy to be moving on."

Brayden Richmond led Eastern with a third-place finish in 17:12. He was followed by Caleb Vogl (12th, 18:20), Owen Taylor (26th, 19:06), Porter Brovont (38th, 19:53) and James Webster (55th, 20:44).

Two-time defending champion Bailey Scott placed seventh in 17:47 to lead Cass. He was followed by Enoch Hines (29th, 19:16), Hunter Mundy (31st, 19:23), Erik Mayorga (32nd, 19:26) and Sam Miller (37th, 19:46).

Logansport senior Christian Dawson won with a time of 16:55.

Scott said it just wasn't his day.

"I knew it wasn't going to be the same as the last two years and I was going to have to push harder. I went out real well and felt good through the Berry Patch. After the Berry Patch I just, I don't know what happened, I don't know to be honest with you," he said.

Scott was hobbled by an ankle injury during the race and was noticeably limping afterwards.

"I'm not blaming it on that at all," he said. "Because that's been something that's been nagging all year and I've gotten past it, so that really isn't anything to do with it. I'm just going to take care of myself and get that better.

"I'm going to make it to state. [Saturday] I just didn't have my strongest meet and it's OK. I'll get past it and I'll just get ready for the next three weeks."

Individuals advancing to the regional included Carroll's Alec Smith (8th, 17:49), Mason Ray (11th, 18:19) and Jake Skinner (17th, 18:36), Maconaquah's Sam Bourne (10th, 18:13) and Kolson Silcox (24th, 19:05), Peru's Alex Legg (15th, 18:26) and Jacob Black (18th, 18:39) and Northwestern's Isaiah Kanable (21st, 18:54), Caden Lechner (27th, 19:07) and Caleb Champion (30th, 19:19).

GIRLS RACE

The Western girls utilized depth to repeat their title. The Western boys ended a six-year drought with a dominating performance.

The Western girls did not have a top five individual finisher but were still able to claim their second straight title and fourth in the last five years.

Olivia Lushin led the Panthers with a sixth-place finish in 20:45, followed by Hannah Lushin (10th, 21:36), Sarah Manuel (11th, 21:45), Kourtney Lechner (17th, 22:28) and Alivia Ford (22nd, 22:49).

Western won with 66 points. Maconaquah (81), Lewis Cass (103), Carroll (121) and Logansport (122) also advanced to next Saturday's Culver Academies Regional as a team.

The Panthers' top three finishers were seniors.

"We had to have our top three girls have a great day and they responded. All the credit goes to them," Western coach Ray Tetrault said.

"They went to the line focused and ready to run. They've been working hard the last month. I knew we'd get a good day like this, I'm just glad it came [Saturday]."

Kokomo sophomore Julynne Spidell was the overall champion with a time of 20:17.

"I'm really excited," Spidell said. "I've been kind of struggling the last couple weeks to keep my miles up and everything. I'm just really excited."

Spidell continued an impressive start to her running career. She was the Eastern Sectional champion in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs in track as a freshman last spring.

She said she was a bit surprised how smooth the run was in the Berry Patch woods portion of the race. She was also happy with her time.

"I was expecting it to be more muddy. It wasn't bad," she said. "It's not a season best but for it being so cold and kind of hilly, I'm pretty happy with it."

Defending champion Karli Miller led Maconaquah with a fourth-place finish in 20:26. She was followed on the Braves by Zoe Seward (8th, 20:56), Haley Salinas (12th, 21:52), Rachel Eby (25th, 23:03) and Abby Heath (33rd, 24:02).

Makenna Leicht led Cass with a seventh-place finish in 20:49, followed by Odessa Vest (15th, 22:18), Emily Tigler (23rd, 22:52), Baylie Bryan (28th, 23:33) and Liberty Scott (30th, 23:36).

Chloe Goodrich led Carroll with a third-place finish in 20:23, followed by Isabelle Altic (13th, 21:54), Anna Goodrich (19th, 22:34), Megan Wagner (36th, 24:19) and Carly Watkins (56th, 25:56).

Individuals advancing to the regional included Kokomo's Spidell and Jaylee Copeland (29th, 23:35), Northwestern's Lauren Longshore (5th, 20:43) and Ella Deck (21st, 22:43), Eastern's Ella Kantz (14th, 22:03) and Victoria Leeder (18th, 22:32) and Peru's Chloe Holler (31st, 23:49) and Sadie Carter (35th, 24:17).