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Tiger Cubs, Clovers battle at DPU
thing else falls where it does," he said.
In girls' action, it was Greencastle freshman Colleen Weatherford leading the way with a time of 22:50. Again it was three teammates who followed the Tiger Cubs' first place finisher.
Sara Culler logged a time of 23:15 for second place; with Emily Gill placing third in 23:22 and Ivonne Martinez was fourth in a time of 23:52.
In their first meet of the season, Cloverdale was a victim of circumstances. The Clovers were unable to field a complete team, but should be in good shape by the next meet.
"I just glad they got the experience," McLaughlin said. "We have eight girls on the team, but only three ran today. I have a golfer who had a golf meet and I have a couple who didn't have 10 practices in, so running incomplete for the first race was frustrating."
Cloverdale's top finisher was fifth place finisher Amillia Nally in a time of 24:29.
McLaughlin acknowledged that her team struggled with the layout out of the course, which accounted for inflated times, but she bares no feelings of disappointment.
"Amelia did a great job for us. We had a few problems; just with the course as far as they kids didn't know where to go. We had a couple girls take wrong turns and it really showed in their times. To have two freshmen run their first varsity meet, I can't be too disappointed. It takes a lot to come out here and they did it and I'm proud of them," she said.
The GHS girls will be back in action Saturday at the McCutcheon Invite at Wea Ridge at 9 a.m., while the boys will compete in the Hokum Karum at Danville beginning at 9 a.m. Cloverdale will compete at the North Putnam Invitational at 5 p.m. Tuesday
At DePauw Nature Park
Boys' Scores
Greencastle 16, Cloverdale 39
Individual times
1. Gillespie (GHS) 18:49, 2. Stevens (GHS) 19:22, 3. Hudson (GHS) 19:22, 4. Mitchell (GHS) 19:38, 5. Rumley (CHS) 19:42, 6. Eubank (GHS) 19:51, 7. Lewis (GHS) 20:27, 8. Chambers (CHS) 21:05, 9. White (GHS) 22:35, 10. Bryan (GHS) 23:25, 11. Huber (GHS) 23:58, 12. Cupp (CHS) 24:13, 13. Barger (GHS) 24:53, 14. Dozier (GHS) 25:08, 15. Wirthington (CHS) 27:22, 16. Murphy (CHS) 28:30, 17. Andersen (CHS) 28:54, 18. Williams (CHS) 29:54
Girls Scores
Greencastle 16, Cloverdale INC.
1. Weatherford (GHS) 22:50, 2. Culler (GHS) 23:15, 3. Gill (GHS) 23:22, 4. Martinez (GHS) 23:52, 5. Nally (CHS) 24.29, 6. Dwigans (GHS) 24:36, 7. Fear (GHS) 24:43, 8. Cash (GHS) 25:09, 9. Crawley (GHS) 27:52, 10. Dean (CHS) 34:52, Monnett (CHS) 37:41
Next meet -- The GHS girls will be back in action Saturday at the McCutcheon Invite at Wea Ridge at 9 a.m., while the boys will compete in the Hokum Karum at Danville beginning at 9 a.m. Cloverdale will compete at the North Putnam Invitational at 5 p.m. TuesdayGREENCASTLE -- The cross country meet between Greencastle and Cloverdale took a twist before the team ever touched the course. Scheduled to take place at Cloverdale, the meet was moved to DePauw's Nature Park, which happens to be the Tiger Cubs' home course.
With a few small changes, the Nature Park will play host to both Greencastle and Cloverdale for the 2009 season.
Cloverdale head coach Katie McLaughlin said the course would change for their home meets so her team doesn't always feel they are running on the Tiger Cubs' home terrain.
It was Greencastle's knowledge of the course and some low times that helped propel them to wins in both events. GHS won the boys' event 16-39, while the Greencastle girls' also posted a win. The CHS girls' fielded an incomplete team.
Greencastle's Ryan Gillespie paced the boys with a time of 18:49 and was followed by a trio of teammates. Ryan Stevens was second in 19:22, Tyler Hudson was third in 19:22 and Hunter Mitchell was fourth with a time of 19:38. Head coach Mike Schimpf was pleased with the team's first outing of the season and by the performances of his young runners.
"It was good to get the first meet out of the way," Schimpf said. "The girls already got one in, so now we have one in. The guys did great. I was very pleased with how they did. We ran here last week one day to make sure we knew the course and we were considerably faster than we did in practice.
"We did really well," Schimpf emphasized. "I have a lot of young guys. The first place guy was a senior, then I have a sophomore, then a freshman, two more sophomores, a junior and another freshman and that's my top seven. They're young and they did very well."
McLaughlin came away from Thursday's meet a little surprised, but ultimately optimistic.
"I was surprised in a good way," she said. "My sophomore Joe Rumley, he finished first for us and I wasn't expecting that. He ran it in a 19:42 and that far exceeded anything I had thought he would run for this type of course. I'm really excited to see him run at North Putnam on that flat course next week. I'm pumped to see what he could do."
Another positive for both coaches was their team's "pack" mentality. They both noted that it helps to push the runners and help them to improve together.
"We ran really well in packs," Schimpf said. "That's not necessarily something we've focused on in the past, but I have a lot of guys with similar ability levels and it's worked really well for them. You don't get too far out of your comfort zone when you know that guys in only so much slower or faster than you."
"I had a couple boys running in packs, which is great to see because they were pushing each other toward the end," McLaughlin echoed. "Once again, so many freshman -- how can you be disappointed. I have eight total once the team gets back and six of them have never ran cross country.
"I can't be too disappointed. I'm anxious to get the second meet in to get to North Putnam and just be a little more relaxed," she added.
Beyond the times that his team put down, Schimpf was almost more impressed with what happened after his team crossed the finish line.
"I'm really pleased with our sportsmanship to be honest. Our guys applauded everybody. I feel good about sportsmanship, I feel good about effort and every