Changes abound as girls XC season gets moving

Kokomo Tribune August 30, 2024

The Howard County girls cross country scene has a different look this year.

The biggest change? Hannah Moore, the Northwestern standout, has matriculated to Butler University after a brilliant high school career. She was a four-time Logansport Sectional champion, a four-time state qualifier and a three-time all-state runner. She capped her Tiger XC career in style as she finished 14th in a school-record time of 18:07.9 at the 2023 state meet.

While Moore is gone, the county still has teams and individuals to watch.

That starts with Western, which is the defending sectional champion. The Panthers edged perennial rival Maconaquah by seven points for their sixth sectional title in the last 10 years and 12th all-time.

The Panthers return their lead runner, junior Kendall DePoy, along with three other runners from their sectional lineup.

And Northwestern returns senior Courtney Adams, who joined Moore in reaching the state meet last year.

“She has been so dependable throughout her career and we are looking to cap it off with another successful season,” Northwestern coach Josh Perry said.

The following are the looks at the four Howard County teams. Taylor did not have any runners at the start of the season.

WESTERN

The Panthers have a strong 1-2 tandem in DePoy and senior Hattie Harlow. In the sectional last year, DePoy led the Panthers with a sixth-place finish and Harlow was second on the team and eighth overall.

“Kendall DePoy will lead the way and right on her heels are Hattie Harlow and Mary Claire DiPaola,” Western coach Ray Tetrault said.

DiPaola is a sophomore who has made a big leap after running on the JV team last year. In Logansport’s Jacob Graf Memorial Invitational on Saturday, she was second for the Panthers and 12th overall in 21:30.7.

“She has worked very hard to be good,” Tetrault said. “I know at Logansport, she shocked a lot of people because she improved last year to this year by 3:20. I’m very pleased with her effort. She’s a great kid.”

Senior Maddy Shoaff is the No. 4 runner with sophomore Samantha Williams, freshman Lucy Schave and senior Joy Marley taking the remaining three spots in the lineup. Shoaff and Williams ran in the sectional last year.

The Panthers also have seniors Kacey Bogue and Emma Conaway, juniors Natalie Schnurpel and Kelsey Weber, sophomores Dylan Barger and Lainey Smith and freshmen Lily Fields, Kaylie Musgrave and Maggie Weber.

“It’s tough for our freshmen because our top runners are really good. It takes a little while to catch up from junior high to high school with the length of the race and the speed difference. But they’re doing well, they’re progressing pretty good,” Tetrault said.

Tetrault said the Panthers, if they’re able to stay healthy, have good potential.

“We’ve been in the top 50 [in the state rankings] for so many years now. I’m not sure if this team can do it, but I’m hoping they can, I’d like to be in the top 40 this year, which would be the best Western has ever done in history,” he said. “I’d like to see a few girls get under 20:00. A girl that runs [sub 20:00] or faster, that’s a milestone. I have three girls who are in the low 20s right now. I’d like to see them in the 19:30s or 19:40s. That would be fantastic.”

To that end, Tetrault is happy to have a challenging schedule. The Panthers ran in Pendleton Heights’ invitational on Wednesday.

“Pendleton Heights had two girls who were down in the 17:00s. I want our girls to see that,” he said.

NORTHWESTERN

Adams is the Tigers’ new No. 1 runner following Moore’s graduation. At the state meet last year, Adams finished 86th in a field of 249 runners, finishing in 19:13.4.

“Courtney has always been a hard worker. It hurts to lose such a valuable training partner, but she is doing well this season,” Perry said. “She is looking to make another run to the state finals this fall.”

In the season’s opening week, Adams won the Tigers’ Combination 3K meet, and she took seventh place in Logansport’s Jacob Graf Memorial Invitational.

The Tigers have only four other runners — senior Ashlyn Kelly and juniors Meredith Kelly and Bella Winrotte are back from last year and sophomore Megan Broeker is new to the team.

“It’s tough only having five runners. We have no wiggle room and no room for injuries,” Perry said. “We also lost three of our top five from last season. We have a tough road ahead of us, but the girls have been very positive and focused.”

While Adams gives the Tigers a clear lead runner, Perry is looking for the Kellys and Winrotte to form a possible pack.

“They have trained together all summer and keep pushing each other,” he said. “I encourage runners to race together when they can and having a pack of three should help them all push through to some faster times throughout the season.”

Perry is hoping the Tigers can finish near the top in the Three Rivers Conference in their debut TRC season, although he said he does not know much about the other teams in the conference. From there, he is hoping the Tigers can possibly challenge for a top-five spot in the sectional. The top five teams advance to the regional.

“It will be tough with a small roster, but I think we have a realistic path to the regional,” he said.

KOKOMO

The Wildkats have 13 runners, which coach Jordan Ousley said is the most he’s had in his three years with the team. Six of the 13 are returning runners and all six are juniors.

Gretchen Riggle leads the returning group. She qualified as an individual for the regional last season.

“Gretchen has had a good summer of training and is looking forward to going back to the regional and improving on her time and placing,” Ousley said.

The Kats also return Morgan Rakestraw, Claire Callane, Christina Durham, Maddie Armstrong and Grace Lake.

Ousley said Rakestraw, Callane and Durham will hold down spots in the lineup. He said all three are ahead of where they were last season.

“The three of them will team up with Riggle to be the catalyst of our team,” he said. “They work well together and push each other at practice and in meets to make each other better. Rakestraw and Callane do a great job of leading our younger runners and combining them with Durham and Riggle are setting the standard for what we want with Kokomo cross country.”

Freshman Alaina Thompson is the top newcomer and is the Kats’ No. 5 runner. The other new runners are senior Taylor Belzer, juniors Emilie Leger and Teagan Dalton, sophomore Bethany Burns and freshmen Allaina Helmberger and Addie Taylor.

Ousley said the top five spots in the lineup are fairly set with Riggle and Rakestraw at Nos. 1 and 2 in some order and Callane, Durham and Thompson in the next three spots. He said the Nos. 6 and 7 spots are undecided.

“In terms of potential, I think our squad has a good shot to be top three at conference if we are all healthy and have improved like I think we will. We only have six teams [in the North Central Conference] so being in that top half is the goal we are setting for ourselves,” Ousley said.

“For the sectional last year we were 11th, with pretty much a new team, so the girls are wanting to improve on that position and maybe make a push for a top-five spot [top five advance to the regional],” he added.

EASTERN

Marly Coan is the lone senior on an otherwise young Comets team.

In addition to Coan, Eastern also returns junior Alivia Kinney and sophomores Rhayelin Scott and Malia Shellnut.

“Marly is definitely our leader, may be our No. 1, but Malia is also much stronger than last year and was only 2 seconds behind Marly [in the Northwestern Combination meet to open the season],” Eastern coach Ben Cox said. “Alivia was a bit farther behind, but last year, she was starting to separate herself from our pack so she’s a possibility, as well.”

Sophomores Zoey Sexton, Anna Groves and Jillian Johnson are new to the team.

“With three of the seven girls being new runners, we still have quite a bit to find out about ourselves, and we’ll certainly be looking to see which girls are in a position to be a pack,” Cox said.

Cox said his goal is for the Comets to compete at their best in each race and to have their best races at the end of the season.

“‘Best’ is a word that requires definition, though, and we define that together each week,” he said.