Cascade Cadets win North Putnam Invite

Thursday, September 2, 2010

ROACHDALE -- North Putnam hosted the North Putnam Invite Tuesday, with Cascade running away with the team win as well as the top boy and girl finisher.

South Putnam led the Putnam County charge with a second place finish, followed by North Putnam in fifth and Cloverdale in seventh.

For the South Putnam boys' team, Shea Arnold led the way with a fourth place finish in 19:36. He was followed closely by teammates Jorge Cavell in fifth (19:37) and Hunter Barr (19:47).

Andrew Kelly finished in 20th place in a time of 21:43 and Larry Hunt was 26th in 23:20. Matt Lund was 30th (23:39), Trent Workman was 34th (24:34) and Tyler Nield was 35th (24:35)

South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner was pleased with what he saw in their first 5K of the season.

"It was the first time we actually ran," he said. "Our first meet was the Hokum, which is just a mile loop, so it's different. I thought we competed and that was the No. 1 thing I went into today. I wasn't worried necessarily about times, I wanted to see our guys compete and see where they ended up and I thought every one of our guys competed.

"I know if you go ask them if they thought their time was great or not, they're going to say not. But again, it's the first time they ran a 5K race and it's not going to be their best time. I was pleased with where we were at for today and when you start looking toward the end of the season, we've put ourselves where guys are competing now and that will pay off down the road," he said.

For the girls, the Eagles were led by Mallory Glaze's sixth place finish in 23:55. Allison Guthrie was 12th overall with a time of 24:47 and Lyndsie Beasley was 17th in a time of 25:57.

Mirah Cherry placed 21st overall in 27:18, Mattie Varvel was 22nd in a time of 27:43 and Mikayla Cherry was 25th in a time of 29:09.

Head coach Elaine Bye was electric with enthusiasm following the meet.

"I feel like my team performed so well," Bye said. "We had a talk about competitiveness because at Danville I felt like they were just out there for the fun of it and they weren't really competing. So we had a talk about sitting back and actually going out there and racing -- and they raced today.

"We had three that were really close finishes and it was a fight to the finish and it was so close. They just put in a ton of effort and we're starting to see the work we've put in and those aching legs are starting to pay off. Times were decent and we have a great stringboard to go off of that. I'm so pumped," Bye added.

The Cloverdale boys' team was led by Joe Rumley and his eighth-place finish (19:56). Aaron Whitlock finished 22nd for the Clovers in a time of 22:21 and Nick Cupp was 27th in a time of 23:20.

Devon Nees finished 28th for Cloverdale in a time of 23:31, while Chris Worthington was 36th in a time of 25:17 and Will Anderson was 38th in 26:38

Claudia Monnett led the girls with a time of 24:41, followed by Nikki Routh in 11th (24:46). Amillia Nally was 15th in a time of 25:40 and Cheryl Dean was 27th with a time of 30:15.

Cloverdale head coach Katie Mosley wasn't pleased with the drop in times her team experienced from its Saturday meet.

"The heat made it tough; I know the heat made it tough," Mosley said. "They say they're tired so we're going to have to change some things up a little bit. Their times were higher than they were Saturday, so that was a little disappointing to see. I think they just have to learn how to fight through adversity and then it will get to be better."

The North Putnam boys were led by Trenton Osborn in 12th place (20:50) and Dalton Spears was 13th (21:00). Jared James was 33rd in a time of 24:07.

Paxton Stephenson led the girls with a second place finish in a time of 22:54. Katie Douglas was seventh overall in a time of 24-flat and Whitney High placed 23rd in a time of 27:44.

Cascade's Levi Musson and Kailani Musson won the boys' and girls' individual titles.

At North Putnam

1. Cascade No. 1 20, 2. South Putnam No. 1 33, 3. Monrovia No. 1 39, 4. Ritter No. 52, 5. North Putnam 57, 6. Cascade No. 2 82, 7. Cloverdale No. 1 83, 8. Eminence No. 1 94, 9. South Putnam No. 2 115, 10. Eminence No. 135, 11. Cloverdale No. 2 139, 12. South Putnam No. 3 147, 13. Ritter No. 2 163