Greencastle runners top Tuttle, qualify for state meet

Thursday, September 2, 2010

GREENCASTLE -- The Greencastle Middle School cross country teams hosted its first match of the year Wednesday. The boys' team defeated Tuttle 20-35, while the girls' team won, as Tuttle was unable to field a complete team.

The boys took the top three positions, as well as fifth and ninth place. Elijah Brattain led GMS with a time of 11:55, followed by Taylor Secrest at 12:13 and Secrick Weinschenk at 12:48.

Jacob Lewis finished fifth in a time of 13:22 and Nathan Grzsick was ninth in a time of 14:07.

The top four GMS runners qualified for the state championship by running below the standard 13:30.

For the girls', Hannah Brattain was top with a time of 14:30 in the 3,000 meters. Her time was good enough to qualify her for the state championship as well.

Head coach Art Dwigans also got some nice performances from Sammy Haynes, Corrie Romer, Lily Spencer, Katie Haynes and Whitney Weinschenk

"I am really proud of these kids for working through these hot summer days to qualify for state at their first meet," Dwigans said. "Our boys team is pretty strong top to bottom, with having 14 boys and our 14th running just over 20 minutes, as a 6th grader, I see nothing but an up side to our team.

"I really feel confident that we are going to be able to field a complete boys' team at state championships. This Saturday at the state preview meet will give us true measure of where both our boys' and girls' programs are and how much we still have to do," he added.

Dwigans was also excited about the performance of his girls' squad.

"The qualifying time for the girls is 14:30, so we had one girl qualify, but with less than 2 minutes between our first runner and our sixth runner I really am excited about the possibility of qualifying more runners in the near future," he said.

At Greencastle

Boys Results

1. E. Brattain 11:55, GC, 2. T. Secrest 12:13,GC, 3. S. Weinschenk 12:48,GC, 4. Lucas 12:53T, 5. J. Lewis, 13:22,GC, 6. Busenbark, 13:34,T, 7. Riters 13:37,T, 8. Manual 13:57 T, 9. Grzsick, 14:07,GC, 10. Paige 14:30, T, 11. Edwards 15:12 T, 12. C. Lewis, 15:21 GC, 13. M. Johnson 15:23 GC, 14. Hutison, 15:31 T, 15. Daniels 15:32 T, 16. P. Jones 15:34 GC, 17. C. Wilson 15:35 GC, 18. I. Mozawa 16:14 GC, 19. J. Dwigans 19:16 GC, 20. E. Lewis 20:12, 21. Leigh 25:22 T.

Girls Results

1. Hannah Brattain 14:30 GC, 2. S. Haynes 15:55 GC, 3. C. Romer 16:01, 4. L. Spencer 16:12 GC, 5. K. Haynes 16:14 GC, 6. W. Weinschenk 16:44