Young cross country squad placed well at state

Thursday, October 7, 2010

CARMEL -- The Tzouanakis cross country team competed at the state championship Saturday, with seven girls and four boys running.

Leading the way for the girls was Seeley Stoughregen in fourth place with a time of 13:35. Emma Wilson ran a 13:46.2 to finish fifth, while Sydney Lewis was 43rd in a time of 15:42.6. Mika Mozawa was 66th in 16:40.4 and Brook Sieg was 74th in a time of 17:04.5.

Kaylin Hankins ran a 17:26.4 and Kristi Huang ran an 18:37.

"Our girls finished third as a team, which is a very strong showing at this level of racing," head coach Art Dwigans said. "I can't wait to see how they do next year with a full fall of training."

Leo Weeks was the first finisher for the boys, placing 41st in a time of 14:04.6. Jack Romer followed in 50th place with a time of 14:25.5. Justin Berish was 56th in 14:44. Tyler Hopper ran a personal best time of 17:19.3 for the Tiger Cubs.

Dwigans commended his runner for the effort each of them put in with training and during the difficult conditions during Saturday's race.

"These kids had the coldest and wettest race of the day by far," he said. "I was so proud of them, there was no complaining, no excuse -- nothing but pure enthusiasm for racing. It was really exciting to watch the future of Greencastle cross country perform so well.

"The boys and girls raced together at this age group, which made it tougher to know where the kids stood in their gender groups, but it made for really fast times no matter what their gender or age. These kids were all third, fourth and fifth graders. I hope to see them all and more when they get to the middle school, but I will enjoy coaching them along side of the middle schoolers in the years to come," Dwigans added.