Greencastle nudges out Cascade for WCC title

GREENCASTLE -- Greencastle's boys cross country team proved Saturday that it doesn't just take one runner to win a meet -- it takes five.

The Tiger Cubs had all five of their scoring runners finish in the top 10, making the 2009 West Central Conference team, and winning the meet with 32 points.

Ryan Stevens led the charge with a third place finish with a time of 17:33, 22 second behind Speedway's Jake Fisher, who won the meet, while Ryan Gillespie came in fifth with a time of 17:56. Hunter Mitchell, Tyler Hudson and Brad Haussin finished seventh, eighth, and ninth, clinching the conference title for the Tiger Cubs.

"I'm so happy with the way the guys performed today," Schimpf said. "Like I said on Tuesday that it has been while since we had a meet and in short span of time the guys got ready and performed well.

"Ryan Stevens came in third and we ran in a pack and finished well and I am just proud of these guys. We had a lot of PRs," Schimpf added.

Greencastle wasn't the only team experiencing some good times, so did South Putnam.

The Eagles finished in fourth with 84 points with Paul Rubino leading the way with a 11th place finish with a time of 18:29, just missing the All-County team selection.

"Our guys came out and competed today (Saturday). And one of Paul's goal this year was to make the All-Conference team, but he ran his best time of the year and maybe his career and that is all you can ask of them," SPHS coach Brain Gardner said. "And I know Shea Arnold ran his best time of is career and he got really close to his personal goal times.

"Greencastle and Cascade were just better than us," Gardner added.

Arnold finished 16th with a time of 19:13.

The Cougars of North Putnam were another team that was celebrating as they finished the meet as a team, placing fifth with 148 points.

"I was proud of how we finished today," Lutes said. "Three of my runners have never run this course before and I'm proud of them for coming out and finishing the race.

"I will take finishing as a team over an incomplete any day," Lutes added.

The one team that wasn't in such high spirits after the race was Cloverdale as they failed to finish as a team due to an injury.

Kyle Chambers injured his ankle halfway through the course and was unable to finish the race, forcing the Clovers to field an incomplete team.

"Coming down the hill, Kyle rolled his ankle," CHS coach Katie McLaughlin said. "This is the fifth race on this course today and it has rained the last two days, so I'm not surprised that someone got injured. It just sucks that it was one of mine, but at least it wasn't in the sectional."

Once again, it was Joe Rumley who led the Clovers with a 13th place finish with a time of 18:45. He was the only one from Cloverdale to finish in the top 25 Saturday.

"The boys competed well," McLaughlin said. "A couple of them ran their best times today, and I don't know. It is what it is and right now --metal toughness. That will show how they will bounce back and from this for the sectional.

"Kyle was running a good race and had a great start and things just happened," McLaughlin added.

Greencastle, North Putnam and South Putnam take part in the South Putnam Sectional today at 5 p.m. today, while Cloverdale travels to Brown County for its sectional, also slated for 5 p.m.

At South Putnam

Team Scores -- 1. Greencastle 32, 2. Cascade 40, Speedway 65, 4. South Putnam 84, 5. North Putnam 148. Cloverdale Inc., Monrovia Inc.

All-Conference Team -- 1. Fisher (SPW) 17:11, 2.. Musson (CAS) 17:28, 3. Stevens GC) 17:33, 4. Shpeard (CA) 17:44, 5. Gillespie (GC) 17:56, 6. Earhart (CA) 18:02, 7. Mitchell (GC) 18:06, 8. Hudson (GC) 18:07, 9. Haussin (GC) 18:13, 10. Charboneau (SPW) 18:18

Other County Finishers -- 11. Rubino (SP) 18:29, 13 Rumely (CL) 18:45, 15. Law (GC) 19:05, 16. Arnold (SP) 19:13, 20. Cavell (SP) 19:40, 24. Barr (SP) 20:10, 25. Kelly (SP) 20:14, 27. Hayes (SP) 20:37:14, 29. Eubank (GC) 21:04, 30. Spear (NP) 21:09, 31. Mindiola (NP) 21:12, 33. Rudolph (SP) 21:54, 34. Preecs (NP) 21:54, 35. Worthington (CL) 22:48.07, 36. Anderson (CL) 22:50, 39. Murphy (CL) 24:44.32, 40. Ban (NP) 24:44.32, 41. Herrmann (NP) 24:44.59

Next Meet -- Greencastle, North Putnam and South Putnam take part in the South Putnam Sectional today at 5 p.m. today, while Cloverdale travels to Brown County for its sectional, also slated for 5 p.m.