GMS runners compete at Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON -- The Greencastle Middle School cross country teams competed at Bloomington North Saturday. The girls won with 19 points, while the boys won with a total of 42.

Hannah Brattain led the girls with a time of 9:44, with Libby Brush following in third with a time of 10:15. Katlyn Haynes was fourth in 10:41, with Samantha Haynes coming in seventh in 10:52. Corrie Romer was 10th in a time of 10:57, with Lily Spencer finishing 13th in 11:22 and Bailey Lossee 14th in a time of 11:44.

"The girls have really grasped the concept of team racing and continue to bring our first to fifth girl separation down. On Saturday there was only 1:13 separating our first girl from our fifth girl," head coach Art Dwigans said. "The times we posted weren't normal 3K times as I believe the course was only 2,500 meters. Regardless, the kids all ran the same course, and to have 31 participants and place our top five girls all in the top 10 was an impressive race."

The race also allowed the Tiger Cubs to achieve a goal they've been working to complete the past few races.

"We have been trying for some time now to get all the girls qualified for the state meet on Oct. 2, and with the performances, our seventh and eighth girls, Bailey Lossee and Whitney Weinschenk, reached qualifying times for the state meet. Our complete team of girls is now qualified. I'm proud to have a group of kids that work so hard," Dwigans said.

In the boys' race, Elijah Brattain finished first overall with a time of 8:51. Teammate Taylor Secrest was third in nine minutes flat, with Jacob Lewis finishing seventh with a time of 9:26. Nathan Grzesiek was 12th in 9:59, Levi Lewis was 24th in 10:39 and Jacob Dwigans was 25th in 10:45. Ichiro Mozawa ran a 10:53 for the Tiger Cubs and finished 28th on the day.

"At first thought it looked as though we would be finishing third as a team, but with strong performances from kids that have not been used to racing for team points, Levi Lewis and Jacob Dwigans, we pulled out a narrow win, scoring 42 with second (LCA) scoring 46 and third (Austin) at 48 points," Dwigans said.

Dwigans got a top performance from Brattain, but it was another runner who he felt delivered the win to the Tiger Cubs.

"Elijah Brattain once again paced our boys' team and was the individual champion of the race, but if our score hinged on one runner it was Taylor Secrest's third-place performance that sealed our win for us. We also had two more boys reach state qualifying standards with Mitchell Johnson and Ichiro Mozawa recording times that if you add the extra time for an additional 500 meters, ran 13:22 and 13:05," Dwigans said.

He said he feels when his team begins to understand the racing concept better, the gap from top to bottom will close and the team could compete for a top 5 spot at the state championships.