GHS places third at Fountain Central

VEEDERSBURG --The Greencastle girls' cross country team opened its season with a third place finish at the Fountain Central Grand Prix.

The race was good test of the conditioning and mental toughness of the teams. The course is a very challenging old time cross country course with creeks to cross, steep ravines, steeper than normal hills, flat grassy areas and gravel. Not a course designed for good times. Still the 39th ranked Greencastle squad managed a third place finish out of 17 teams.

Coach Garry Anderson was hoping the girls would do a little better than the final results show.

"I think the team needs to challenge themselves more and become a bit more aggressive on the course," Anderson said. "We have some very talented girls and they need to use their talents to their advantage. I told them that we can't just let the our two front girls do all the work.

"Our team needs to help those two," he continued. "They have to decrease the time from our No. 1 girl to our No. 5 girl. We will need to really improve on that this next meet at McCutcheon. McCutcheon was on our tails throughout the meet today. It will be a good battle with them on their home course next Saturday.

" I was really pleased with Colleen and Emily the way they stayed with the Angola and Perry Meridian girls," Anderson continued. "Those were two tough teams. I think we will see our girls working to do better for next Saturday."

Junior tri-team captain Colleen Weatherford lead the way for the Tiger Cubs by placing second with a time of 20:15. Her time was good enough to break a very old course record only to have Rinehart of Angola to finish ahead of her with a time of 19:43, also breaking and setting a new course record. Emily Gill, senior and tri-captain, supported Weatherford with a strong seventh place finish and placing in the middle of the Angola and Perry Meridian packs with her time at 22:32.

"Angola was a surprise entry to the meet and proved to be a much overlooked team when the top fifty team rankings came out. They should be included," Anderson said.

Following Gill in 12th place was junior Kayla Cash with a time of 23.00, senior tri-captain Paige Pickens in 19th in a time of 23:44 and sophomore Megan Haynes placing 22nd with a time of 23:50.

Finishing 31st overall was senior Cheyenne Fauvergue with a time of 25:06, and placing 36th for GHS was sophomore Alex Stoffregen with a time of 25:48.

At Fountain Central Grand Prix

Team Scores:

1. Angola 27

2. Perry Meridian 43

3. Greencastle 62

4. McCutcheon 86

5. Western 164

6. Seeger 176

7. North Montgomery 184

8. Western Boone 216

9. Attica 249

10. South Vermillion Inc

11. North Vermillion Inc

12. Rockville Inc

13. Riverton Parke Inc

14. Fountain Central Inc

15. Covington Inc

16. First Baptist Inc

17. Crawfordsville Inc