GHS wins team, SP's Freeman individual at Putnam County meet

Wednesday, October 9, 2013
The 2013 Putnam County champion Greencastle boys' cross country team poses after their race. Members include Justin Painter, Clayton Wilson, Levi Lewis, Peyton Jones, Braden Pershing, Elijah Brattain and Taylor Secrest. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

The rain that splintered the Putnam County Meet Saturday was nowhere to be seen Tuesday afternoon as the four county schools reconvened to replay the boys' race and see the middle school races in action.

A week after Greencastle had won the West Central Conference, the Tiger Cubs reclaimed the title of Putnam County champions after besting the defending champion Eagles 25-31.

South Putnam's Berndt Freeman competes in the Putnam County meet on Tuesday. Freeman won but his Eagles finished second to Greencastle. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

South Putnam junior Berndt Freeman won the individual race , beating Greencastle's Elijah Brattain by seven seconds and coming in at 17:38.

The middle school races were also won by Greencastle, with the girls winning over second place Cloverdale 32-47 and the boys defeating the hosts 17-45.

Brattain, Clayton Wilson and Taylor Secrest set the pace for the county champions, finishing second, third and fourth respectively. Braden Pershing finished seventh to become an all-Putnam County runner while Cameron Lewis beat Levi Lewis to ninth place and the last team score place.

Greencastle head coach Gary Anderson said the squad did well to come back and win the last race before sectionals.

"We were doing a good job Saturday and unfortunately the rain came," Anderson said. "It's difficult to reload twice but we did well.

"With a young team like this next week, we can do a lot of things wrong and a lot of things right. We should advance runners next week but I don't know where they'll be yet. We'll see when they race."

Freeman won the boys' race for the second straight week, with Kieffer Vittetow finishing fifth and Lane Franklin coming in sixth for South Putnam. Tyler Nield finished eighth and Colton Bunten finished 11th to round out the team scoring for the Eagles.

South Putnam head coach Brandon Welti said the squad couldn't match Saturday's mentality, leaving questions for the sectional next week.

"The race didn't go as well as we'd hoped," Welti said. "We were a little disappointed. Mentally, the team wasn't as focused or prepared as they were Saturday and that was evident in the race.

"We've got to get refocused for next week. Having the sectional during fall break adds a completely new element to the preparation so I'll be interested to see how things turn out."

Cloverdale was paced by Ethan Maners' finish in 14th-place with teammate Nick Blundell finishing two spots back. Evan Monnett and Bret Brumfield came in 18th and 19th, while Jake Waycott came in 25th-place.

Cloverdale head coach Andrew Tyler said the squad shaved time from the WCC race and was looking forward to seeing more come off by the time the sectional rolled around next week.

"We ran pretty well and had a few guys (get personal records)," Tyler said. "Ethan Manners ran a really good race. We've been working more and more on hills and the more work we've done, the better we've been doing, especially on a course like this one.

"I like what we did today. We want to improve on those times again next week and set PRs. That's our goal and we'll see where we end up."

North Putnam was a runner short of acquiring a team score, with Michael Roach the high finisher in the 23rd spot. Avery Gambill came across 26th with Chase Salyers placing 28th and Trae Straziscar finishing 29th.

North Putnam head coach Kevin Lutes said that with runners missing for next week's sectional, the meet would be a last chance race for the remaining runners.

"Today went well, though we were short one runner from the Saturday race," Lutes said. "They ran hard today. A couple of runners wrapped up their season tonight because of fall break next week. Everybody has improved from the beginning of this season.

"With the runners that we have next week, we're hoping to get one more good race in. We want everyone to get PRs to close out the season."

In the middle school girls' race, Emma Wilson continued to cruise past the competition in leading the Tiger Cubs to a team title. Seelye Stoffregen finished second, followed by Sydney Lewis in third, Mika Mozawa in eighth and Keeghan McLain in 18th place.

Cloverdale finished second behind fifth and sixth place finishes from Payton Lyons and Macie Couch. Hailey Thomas finished ninth, Tiffany Wainscott placed 11th and Melina Murry finished 16th.

North Putnam was led by Abby Spencer's seventh place finish, followed by Alanna Nunez in 10th. Gabby Carney finished 12th while Brittany Beavers and Krisara Dill placed 14th and 15th for the Cougars.

The hosts were led by Maddie McHugh's fourth-place finish. Rachel Jones finished 13th, Alex Fanning placed 17th, Whitney Boswell came in 23rd and Naomie Martinez placed 27th for the Eagles.

Ben Gellman led the Greencastle boys to victory with a first-place finish and was followed in order by Preston Headley, Jackson Kendall and Tylan Jones. Justin Berish's seventh-place finish saw the Tiger Cubs place their top five runners within the all-Putnam County team.

South Putnam was paced By Blake Clearwaters' fifth-place and Karl Egold's sixth-place finishes. Dru Bottorff finished ninth with Jared Seidler two spots back and Eric Hinkle placing 14th to round out the Eagle scorers.

Cloverdale's Elliot Williamson missed out county honors by one spot in eighth place and was followed by Evan Williamson in 13th place. Andrew Monnett and Adair Bock finished 17th and 18th, followed by Eddie Mannan in 20th place.

North Putnam was led by Zach Culberson's 10th-place finish, followed by Kaiden Kimble in 12th-place, Zach Timm in 19th-position, Aidan Baker in 26th-place and Tyler Vansickle in the 34th spot.



High School Results
Boys' Race
Greencastle 25, South Putnam 31, Cloverdale 84, North Putnam N/A

1. Freeman (SP) 17:38; 2. Brattain (G) 17:45; 3. Wilson (G) 18:01; 4. Secrest (G) 18:12; 5. Vittetow (SP) 18:26; 6. Franklin (SP) 18:35; 7. Pershing (G) 18:46; 8. Nield (SP) 18:50; 9. C. Lewis (G) 18:52; 10. L. Lewis (G) 18:57; 11. Bunten (SP) 18:59; 12. L. Vandermark (SP) 19:12; 13. Jones (G) 19:18; 14. Maners (CL) 19:28; 15. T. Vandermark (SP) 19:32; 16. Blundell (CL) 19:36; 17. Crawley (G) 19:42; 18. Monnett (CL) 19:51; 19. Brumfield (CL) 19:59; 20. Painter (G) 20:15; 21. Schroer (SP) 20:26; 22. Taylor (SP) 20:30; 23. Roach (NP) 20:38; 24. Evans (SP) 21:01; 25. Waycott (CL) 21:39; 26. Gambill (NP) 21:49; 27. Byrd (CL) 21:51; 28. Salyers (NP) 21:57; 29. Straziscar (NP) 23:17; 30. Albers (SP) 23:21; 31. Nelson (CL) 24:59; 32. Mozawa (G) 25:02

Members of the 2013 Girls' Putnam County middle school cross country meet include (front, from left) Michirui Mozawa, Mika Mozawa, Chirstlynn Jones, (back) Keeghan McLain, Emma Wilson, Seelye Stoffregen and Sydney Lewis. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

Middle School Results
Girls' Race
Greencastle 32, Cloverdale 47, North Putnam 58, South Putnam 79

1. Wilson (G) 11:36; 2. Stoffregen (G) 13:00; 3. Lewis (G) 13:28; 4. McHugh (SP) 13:57; 5. Lyons (CL) 14:05; 6. Couch (CL) 1429; 7. Spencer (NP) 14:30; 8. Mika Mozawa (G) 14:42; 9. Thomas (CL) 14:55; 10. Nunez (NP) 15:13; 11. Wainscott (CL) 15:19; 12. Carney (NP) 15:20; 13. Ra. Jones (SP) 15:21; 14. Beavers (NP) 15:23; 15. Dill (NP) 15:30; 16. Murry (CL) 15:37; 17. Fanning (SP) 16:01; 18. McLain (G) 16:03; 19. Nees (CL) 16:07; 20. Mann (CL) 16:19; 21. Johnson (CL) 16:29; 22. Rambis (CL) 16:32; 23. Boswell (SP) 16:36; 24. Monnett (CL) 17:29; 25. Murry (CL) 17:30; 26. Fox (CL) 17:31; 27. Martinez (SP) 17:33; 28. Hensley (NP) 17:40; 29. Mic. Mozawa (G) 17:45; 30. Capps (SP) 18:12; 31. Blaydes (SP) 18:15; 32. Jones (G) 18:19; 33. Alexander (CL) 18:39; 34. E. J. Manion (CL) 18:48; 35. K. Monnett (CL) 19:03; 36. Boyd (CL) 19:19; 37. Staples (NP) 19:41; 38. E. Manion (CL) 19:59; 39. Ri. Jones (SP) 20:33; 40. McDonald (CL) 20:43; 41. Mummert (CL) 21:03; 42. Metzler (SP) 22:06; 43. VanRennsalaer (SP) 22:46; 44. Pierce (SP) 25:09; 45. Dugan (SP) 25:22; 46. Honey (SP) NT

Members of the 2013 Putnam County middle school cross country champion Greencastle boys' team include (front, from left) Tyler Hopper, Donovan Asbell, Justin Berish, Rylan Piatt, (back) Henry Carter, Jackson Kendall, Tylan Jones, Ben Gellman and Preston Headley. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

Boys' Race
Greencastle 17, South Putnam 45, Cloverdale 76, North Putnam 92

1. Gellman (G) 11:51; 2. Headley (G) 12:06; 3. Kendall (G) 13:06; 4. Jones (G) 13:07; 5. Clearwaters (SP) 13:23; 6. Egold (SP) 13:29; 7. Berish (G) 13:33; 8. El. Williamson (CL) 13:36; 9. Bottorff (SP) 13:38; 10. Culberson (NP) 13:45; 11. Seidler (SP) 13:46; 12. Kimble (NP) 13:53; 13. Ev. Williamson (CL) 13:58; 14. Hinkle (SP) 14:03; 15. Arnold (SP) 14:05; 16. Pitts (SP) 14:09; 17. A. Monnett (CL) 14:13; 18. Bock (CL) 14:24; 19. Timm (NP) 14:40; 20. Mannan (CL) 14:43; 21. Rutenberg (CL) 14:45; 22. Bates (CL) 15:12; 23. Asbell (G) 15:16; 24. Stewart (SP) 15:21; 25. Piatt (G) 15:46; 26. Baker (NP) 15:53; 27. Ellis (SP) 16:14; 28. Phillips (SP) 16:15; 29. Tubbs (SP) 16:16; 30. Maners (CL) 16:20; 31. N. Monnett (CL) 16:21; 32. Johnson (SP) 16:33; 33. Carter (G) 16:37; 34. Vansickle (NP) 17:07; 35. O'Brien (G) 17:15; 36. Edwards (NP) 17:48; 37. Hopper (G) 19:31; 38. Nees (CL) 20:05

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