South's Egold and GHS boys advance to regional

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Twelve teams converged on the South Putnam cross country course for sectional Tuesday evening. At the end, only a handful of county runners survive to run in regional.

Greencastle's Jordan Lewis had the second-best Putnam County boys finish, coming home in 24th.

In the boys' race, Greencastle finished fifth to advance. Ben Wilson led the way for the Tiger Cubs with a sixth-place finish. On the girls' side, South Putnam's Shannon Egold finished eighth to become Putnam County's only female regional qualifier.

"I'm very pleased with the performance," GHS boys' coach Mike Schimpf said. "I was hoping to maybe be fourth. It was interesting to see how close Cascade and then South Putnam were there right behind us just like conference."

Wilson's 17:06 placed him solidly in the top 15, so he could have advanced individually. Thanks to good performances from teammates, all the Tiger Cubs will be running on.

Jordan Lewis was next for the Tiger Cubs in 24th. Ryan Gillespie and Austin Woodall finished together in 33rd and 34th. Nick Stevens was the last GHS runner to score, finishing 41st.

"All in all, I'm happy with the guys' times," Schimpf said. "Some of us are still waiting on that big improvement you get right at the end of the year. A lot of the guys are running near personal bests, some have already broken personal bests. It just would be nice to put those to bed and do away with those old personal bests. It's that time of year."

Eagle girls' coach Andy Wise was thrilled with Egold's continued progress.

South Putnam senior Shannon Egold moves out wide to pass Brownsburg's Kristen Rush in the homestretch.

"She ran outstanding. 20:44 is an amazing time. She's been dropping times these last three races," Wise said.

As a team, the Eagles finished eighth. The coach knew it would be challenging to get his runners ready with most of them knowing it was the end of the line.

"It went pretty much how we thought it would," Wise said. "The pinnacle to our season was WCC, so basically you have to say to the girls, 'Let's try to get up one more time.' Mentally, most of them are thinking in the back of their heads that they're done. So we just see if we can get some personal records."

Amanda Lund finished 37th for the Eagles. She was one of only three Eagles to break the 24-minute mark this season.

Meghan Canary finished 46th by running her second-best time of the year. Lauren Haynes was 51st, and Megan Barnes closed out the scoring in 54th.

"We had some very good performances today. I'm very pleased with how we did," Wise said. "Overall, it's been a good season for us. It's been a fun one."

The heartbreaks of the night may have come for the Greencastle girls. The team finished with 165 points, just three away from advancing. Additionally, Laura Weatherford finished 16th with a 21:24, four seconds away from advancing as an individual.

Coach Garry Anderson was philosophical about it all.

"We came close, but no cigar," Anderson said with a smile.

Sara Culler was next for the Cubs in 26th. Kaitlyn Murtagh finished 34th. Ivonne Martinez came in 41st and Katie Trigg was 48th.

The South Putnam boys also finished sixth. However, they were 31 points out of fifth. Gardner was disappointed but still pleased with his runners' efforts.

"I think the guys ran a competitive race," Gardner said. "I'm proud of the kids. I thought they competed, but I'm disappointed that we aren't going to get out. That's disappointing because every year we come to this and our goal is to get out."

Tyler Shoffner was the top Eagle finisher in 30th. The rest of the Eagles with scoring times were together in four straight places. The finishes of Brad Eickhoff (36), Dylan Hayes (37), Tyler Heavin (38) and Andrew Northrup (39) were also within four seconds of each other.

"We ran together in a pack, but we were too far back," Gardner said. "When you're too far back, you can't make up that ground of other teams having one and two in front of you. You have to have somebody up there."

For North Putnam, sectional marked the end of a season without the numbers to really compete. The coaches and runners, though, had kept the focus on improvement. They improved right to the end.

"It went as expected. We didn't expect to qualify anybody," Coach Jason Chew said. "We were really pleased with the effort of some of our kids.

"Taylor Alles came out and ran hard for the girls. Whitney High is running well as a freshman. We really look for good things from her in the next three years," Chew continued.

Alles and High led the Cougars, finishing 39th and 42nd, respectively. Hillary Salyers was next in 61st. Dakota Parent was 64th and Miranda Preecs was 66th.

On the boys' side, Kenny Quisenberry turned in another solid race for North, finishing 31st.

"Kenny Quisenberry came out and ran the best time of his life at 18:47. So as a senior next year, we look forward to good things out of him," Chew said.

Kenny Benge finished 61st for the Cougars. Jared Preecs was 70th and Korey Cooper was 77th.

Egold and the GHS boys will move on to the Ben Davis Regional. A flat course, Ben Davis offers a different challenge the South Putnam, and a good possibility for fast times, which excites Schimpf.

"It will be interesting to get to go to Ben Davis this year," Schimpf said. "We've always been at Brebeuf, so that's a new regional for us, and it's a flat course, so it should be a fast course. We'll see what happens. We're fortunate to get to go."

At South Putnam

Cross Country Sectional

Girls' Results

Plainfield 53, Brownsburg 66, Southmont 67, Avon 71, Danville 162, Greencastle 165, Cascade 178, South Putnam 196, Western Boone 232, North Putnam 262, Tri-West Inc., Rockville Inc.

Individual Results

Top 15 -- Lorna Whaley (Av) 19:24, Christina Romer (Bb) 19:59, Laura Iles (Pl) 20:09, Briana Deckard (Dv) 20:28, Creasy Clauser (Sm) 20:28, Kelsey Erlenbaugh (Pl) 20:35, Leiona Noah (Av) 20:40, Shannon Egold (SP) 20:44, Kristen Rush (Bb) 20:45, Holly Hatch (Sm) 20:50, Kylie Lippencott (Sm) 20:57, Krista Beal (Pl) 21:06, Megan McGary (Pl) 21:09, Madelyn Webster (Bb) 21:13, Kailani Musson (Ca) 21:20

Greencastle -- 16. Laura Weatherford 21:24; 26. Sara Culler 22:34, 34. Kaitlyn Murtagh 23:13; 41. Ivonne Martinez 24:27; 48. Katie Trigg 26:07; -- Hannah Serlin DNF

North Putnam -- 39. Taylor Alles 24:17; 42. Whitney High 24:28; 61. Hillary Salyers 30:00; 64. Dakota Parent 31:34; 66. Miranda Preecs 36:14

South Putnam -- 8. Shannon Egold 20:44; 37. Amanda Lund 23:59; 46. Meghan Canary 25:54; 51. Lauren Haynes 26:39; 54. Megan Barnes 27:33; 57. Emily Baker 28:18; 62. Brittany Cox 30:25

Boys' Results

Plainfield 47, Brownsburg 59, Avon 72, Greencastle 131, Cascade 140, South Putnam 171, Danville 174, Southmont 183, Tri-West 236, Western Boone 288, North Putnam Inc., Rockville Inc.

Individual Results

Top 15 -- David Eichenberger (Pl) 16:03, Scott Vicenzi (Bb) 16:27, Andrew Wilhelm (Pl) 16:45, Lucas Holt (Ca) 16:57, Christopher Surfus (Av) 17:00, Ben Wilson (GHS) 17:06, Joseph Schmitt (Av) 17:07, Daniel Bennett (Sm) 17:07, Justin Cosby (Bb) 17:08, Patrick Patterson (Pl) 17:13, Bobby Clidinst (Bb) 17:21, Daniel Hoover (TW) 17:33, Ryan Griesenauer (Av) 17:35, Nick Phipps (Dv) 17:43, Clayton Hacker (Ca) 17:46

Greencastle -- 6. Ben Wilson 17:06; 24. Jordan Lewis 18:19; 33. Ryan Gillespie 18:55; 34. Austin Woodall 18:56; 41. Nick Stevens 19:11; 55. Bo Walker 20:27; 62. Luke Smith 21:24

North Putnam -- 31. Kenny Quisenberry 18:47; 61. Kenny Benge 21:20; 70. Jared Preecs 22:56; 77. Korey Cooper 26:33

South Putnam -- 30. Tyler Shofner 18:37; 36. Brad Eickhoff 19:04; 37. Dylan Hayes 19:06; 38. Tyler Heavin 19:07; 39. Andrew Northrup 19:08; 43. Tanner Barr 19:24; 56. Jacob Parker 20:29

Next meet -- The Greencastle boys' team as well as South Putnam's Shannon Egold advance to the Ben Davis Regional at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Clovers conclude year at Brown County

NASHVILLE -- While the rest of the county teams were just up the road at South Putnam, the Cloverdale cross country teams had to make the long trip to Brown County for their sectional.

The Clovers found the competition pretty tough, as the girls finished ninth and the boys finished 11th.

Jenna Lewis ran a 21:51, to finish 28th for the girls. Brynlea Mattocks was next in 24:44. Alyssa Williams finished 57th and Ashley McCallie was 60th. Samantha Monnett was the last Clover across the line in 75th.

For the boys, James Fidler's 20:13 placed him 59th. Kyle Chambers was next in 63rd. Ryan Dean was 65th and Chrstopher Arnold finished 70th. Nick Monds closed out the scoring for the Clovers in 77th. Brian Stout was 78th.

At Brown County

Cross Country Sectional

Girls Results

Bloomington South 26, Bloomington North 49, Edgewood 81, Mooresville 155, Martinsville 157, Eastern (Greene) 162, Monrovia 182, Owen Valley 200, Cloverdale 247, Bloomfield 252

Individual Results

Cloverdale -- 29. Jenna Lewis 21:51; 50. Brynlea Mattocks 24:44; 57. Alyssa Williams 25:14; 60. Ashley McCallie 26:31; 75. Samantha Monnett 32:36

Boys Results

Bloomington North 33, Bloomington South 46, Martinsville 79, Edgewood 87, Mooresville 117, Eastern (Greene) 196, Bloomfield 239, Brown County 245, Monrovia 247, Eminence 292, Cloverdale 326, Owen Valley 345

Individual Results

Cloverdale -- 59. James Fidler 6:30; 63. Kyle Chambers 20:29; 65. Ryan Dean 20:46; 70. Chris Arnold 21:21; 77. Nick Monds 22:43, 78. Brian Stout 23:15

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