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Greencastle sweeps to keep WCC cross titles; Freeman, Hunter win individual
While both of last year's individual champions had graduated, guaranteeing there would be a new boys' and girls' West Central Conference titleholder, there was no guarantee about the team results.
Greencastle retained both West Central Conference titles at the WCC meet on Tuesday at South Putnam High School, with the boys edging the host Eagles 32-35 and the girls comfortably ahead of the Eagles 26-43.
South Putnam's Berndt Freeman was the boys' individual champion and Monrovia's Kenna Hunter won the girls' race.
Greencastle placed five in the top eight slots, led by Brittany Love's second-place finish. Sammy Haynes followed in third, with the trio of Alex Stoffregen, Megan Haynes and Corrie Romer finishing sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Greencastle head coach Garry Anderson said that the squad got the desired result through a strong team effort.
"Our goal was to get five girls in the top ten and we did it," Anderson said. "I'm pleased with that. The finish could have been a little different but five in the top ten is nothing to sneeze at.
"The girls have done well at different times this year. Sometimes Sammy would be second, sometimes it would be Brittany. Megan would beat Alex at times; today Alex rose to the occasion and helped out. That's a nice little group in the top eight. I'll take that."
South Putnam was led by Madison Egold and Julianna DeLano, who finished in fourth and fifth places. Ariel Higgins and Jessica Jones missed the WCC places by finishing 11th and 12th, while Michaela Scales finished 17th.
Eagles head coach Brandon Welti said that the squad needed to knock some rust off after a two-week break since their last competition.
"I thought the girls ran well," Welti said. "There was a chance they could have been flat. They went out there and competed which was good to see."
Allison Bayless led the charge for North Putnam with a 15th-place finish. Alexandria Land placed 22nd, Kylee Detro finished 27th, Claire Dean followed in 28th and Brooke Smith finished 31st.
North Putnam head coach Kevin Lutes said that the girls carried on well from the race at Greencastle over the weekend.
"We were able to get a whole squad together for the race, which is what we were hoping to do after Saturday," Lutes said. "Allison Bayless was our first finisher for the girls. She'd been sick the last couple of races but ran really well today."
Cloverdale was paced by Laura Worthington's 19th-place finish. Clare Plamondon finished two spots back in 21st, with Izzy Monnett coming in 25th and Chelsea Combs placing 29th.
Taylor Secrest and Elijah Brattain led the Tiger Cubs to their narrow victory over the hosts, finishing second and third. Clayton Wilson placed sixth and Levi Lewis finished 10th to make the all-WCC squad.
Braden Pershing missed out on conference honors but his 11th place finish was enough to see Greencastle over the line as team champions.
Anderson said that the squad got a challenge from South Putnam but powered through in the end.
"With a fewer number of teams today than Saturday and back when we raced South and Northview, you've got to really have your game in place," Anderson said. "South (Putnam) ran a fine race today. We had some mistakes but we recovered well."
Berndt Freeman won the race for the Eagles, with Kieffer Vittetow finishing fifth, Lane Franklin placing eighth and Logan Vandermark taking ninth to bring South Putnam into the team title picture.
Tyler Nield finished 12th behind Lewis and Pershing, providing the three point gap Greencastle needed to win the team title.
Welti said the squad pushed the defending champions harder than most would have expected.
"With the boys' race, I told them afterwards that regardless of the outcome, they raced better than any of us expected," Welti said. "We were looking to close the gap on Greencastle after the race at Northview. Kieffer and Logan raced incredibly well.
"They both had great races. It was also nice to see Berndt get a win on his home course. All of them exceeded expectations and performed well today."
Nick Blundell, Ethan Maners and Bret Brumfield claimed 14th, 15th and 16th respectively to lead the Clovers. Evan Monnett placed 24th and Clayton Byrd came in 30th to finish out Cloverdale's scoring.
North Putnam was led by Austin Trotter's 25th place finish. Michael Roach came in 27th, Chase Salyers placed 29th and Trae Straziscar claimed 31st-place.
Lutes said that the squad available to run Tuesday held together better than in previous races.
"I was proud of all of them," Lutes said. The boys ran in a tighter pack than they had been for a while. It was a good measuring race for the next two races and hopefully more to follow."
With the Putnam County Meet Saturday, the squads have a few days to regroup before reconvening at South Putnam.
Lutes said that with squad having a taste of the course, little things would matter in the county race.
"We're going to work on the rolling-hills aspect this week," Lutes said. "We got away from that but we'll have a little bit of time to work on that. I think everyone can improve quite a bit if they keep focused."
Welti said that the race Saturday would bring additional scrutiny to the boys' squad, who look to defend the county title.
"They're going to have to race the county race a lot like they did today," Welti said. "Greencastle will not make it easy on us. I expect Greencastle to be more prepared Saturday. It will be just as challenging, if not more challenging, on Saturday than it was today.
"The girls know they have a lot of room to improve. Today was good to get the experience of racing back in again. I'd like to think they'll come back Saturday much better than they did today."
Anderson said that the subtraction of Cascade and Monrovia runners would magnify every placement that much more.
"We've got two less teams in there and there will be different races each time, especially in the boys' race," Anderson said. "Cascade won't be in there, so things will be closer. It will be a tough set of races."
In the JV race, Greencastle's Cameron Lewis placed first ahead of South Putnam's Cody Evans, Noah Taylor and Jake Schroer. Cascade won the race with 15 points as the only team with five runners in the event.
At South Putnam
WCC Cross Country Meet
Girls' Results
Greencastle 26, South Putnam 43, Monrovia 61, North Putnam 93, Cascade INC, Cloverdale INC
Individual results
1. Hunter (M) 21:26; 2. Love (G) 21:50; 3. S. Haynes (G) 22:24; 4. Egold (SP) 22:37; 5. DeLano (SP) 22:4; 6. Stoffregen (G) 22:46; 7. M. Haynes (G) 22:59; 8. Romer (G) 23:02; 9. Thornburg (CA) 23:03; 10. H. Whicker (CA) 23:16; 11. Higgins (SP) 23:49; 12. J. Jones (SP) 24:01; 14. King (G) 24:09; 15. Bayless (NP) 24:44; 17. Scales (SP) 25:15; 19. Worthington (CL) 25:57; 21. Plamondon (CL) 26:43; 22. Land (NP) 27:07; 25. Monnett (CL) 28:36; 26. Nield (SP) 29:16; 27. Detro (NP) 30:18; 28. Dean (NP) 3:28; 29. Combs (CL) 31:31; 31. Smith (NP) 34:10; 32. Seeman (G) 34:32
Boys' Results
Greencastle 32, South Putnam 35, Cascade 69, Cloverdale 95, Monrovia INC, North Putnam INC
Individual results
1. Freeman (SP) 17:31; 2. Secrest (G) 18:01; 3. Brattain (G) 18:05; 4. White (CA) 18:10; 5. Vittetow (SP) 18:11; 6. Wilson (G) 18:14; 7. Edmundson (CA) 18:20; 8. Franklin (SP) 18:36; 9. L. Vandermark (SP) 18:56; 10. L. Lewis (G) 19:05; 11. Pershing (G) 19:12; 12. Nield (SP) 19:20; 13. Bunten (SP) 19:21; 14. Blundell (CL) 19:26; 15. E. Maners (CL) 19:36; 16. Brumfield (CL) 19:40; 18. Jones (G) 19:48; 19. Crawley (G) 19:57; 23. T. Vandermark (SP) 20:12; 24. Monnett (CL) 20:55; 25. Trotter (NP) 20:57; 27. Roach (NP) 21:36; 29. Salyers (NP) 22:08; 30. Byrd (CL) 22:24; 31. Straziscar (NP) 22:33; 33. Waycott (CL) 23:33
Boys' JV results
1. C. Lewis (G) 20:06; 2. Evans (SP) 20:55; 3. Taylor (SP) 21:04; 4. Schroer (SP) 21:07; 5. Ho. Fox (CA) 21:24; 6. Hu. Fox (CA) 22:33; 7. Fruits (CA) 22:33; 8. Reynolds (CA) 23:38; 9. Albers (SP) 23:40; 10. Mozawa (G) 26:02; 11. Trauner (CA) 27:48