Tiger Cubs, Cloverdale's Monnett advance to regional
The Greencastle girls' cross country team place fourth at Tuesday's sectional meet at South Putnam to advance to this weekend's regional contest at Ben Davis. Joining the Tiger Cubs will be Cloverdale senior Claudia Monnett, who placed ninth Tuesday.
Greencastle placed fourth with a score of 92, with South Putnam placing sixth with a 162. Cloverdale was eighth overall with a score of 202, while North Putnam fielded an incomplete team.
The Tiger Cubs were paced by Colleen Weatherford's fourth place finish in a time of 19:15. Kayla Cash place just outside of the top with an 11th place finish in a time of 20:34. Cash's time was a new personal best and GHS head coach Garry Anderson commented on her performance after the meet.
"I was really surprised with that time considering the nature of the course and its condition from last Tuesday and Saturday," Anderson said. "Kayla has lead our pack group throughout this season and did so again tonight."
Alex Stoffregen was 22nd in a time of 21:56, with Corrie Romer placing 27th in a time of 22:06. Sammy Haynes was 28th with a time of 22:08 and Hannah Brattain was 30th in a time of 22:18. Brittany Love rounded out the GHS runners in 28th place with a time of 22:54.
Anderson said he would have like to have seen his pack run a little tighter, but was still happy with their finish. He was also impressed with Romer's finish.
"Once again we got a pleasant surprise from Corrie Romer," Anderson said. "She just gets better and better each meet. I really think she will do well in regional since she has never raced on the Ben Davis course."
He said the team would need to keep its nose to the grindstone if they want to perform well enough to get out of the regional.
"I think we are capable and I know the girls will do their best," Anderson said. "They have to for us to move on to the Semi-State. Only the top five teams will advance to the semi-state. We have missed out the last two years getting out and hopefully the girls will be up to the task Saturday."
South Putnam had four runners finish in the top 35 Tuesday. Mallory Glaze was the top Eagle finisher, placing 21st with a time of 21:56. Madi Egold was 32nd with a time of 22:26, with Julianna Delano placing 34th with a time of 22:31. Ariel Higgins was 35th with a time of 22:39.
Katelyn Lady was 41st with a time of 23:01 and Jessica Jones was 42nd with a time of 23:03. Michaela Scales was 48th with a time of 24:02.
South Putnam's score of 162 placed them just two points out of the advancing fifth place spot. Eagles head coach Brandon Welti said it was a tough fact to accept.
"That is such a tough one to swallow," Welti said. "Three points separating fifth place from seventh place and we're right there in the middle of it. That hurts a lot. The girls raced with their heart, put everything on the line and did everything they could.
"They came so close. If you can get past the fact that we were one place off from moving on and just look at the results, the girls did an excellent job today. They did such a good job. I'm so proud of them."
In addition to Monnett's ninth place finish, Amillia Nally finished 23rd overall with a time of 21:57. Laura Worthington was 57th with a time of 25:45, with Ashlee Nees finishing 26:40. Rylie Vauters finished 64th with a time of 26:45 and Kellee Cross was 67th in a time of 31:07.
North Putnam brought only two runners to Tuesday's sectional meet. Katie Douglas led the Cougar duo with a time of 23:37, good enough for 46th place. Alex Land was 66th overall in a time of 28:26.
"Katie had a really good race. Kind of a tough finish," head coach Kevin Lutes said. "Alex Land is our other one and she's a junior. We had a couple injuries for the girls, so we could field a team, but the two of them raced really hard. I know they wanted to go faster, but they ran their hearts out and I know they left it all out there on the course."
At South Putnam
Cross Country Sectional
1. Avon 33, 2. Plainfield 75, 3. Brownsburg 85, 4. Greencastle 92, 5. Danville 160, 6. South Putnam 162, 7. Decatur Central 163, 8. Cloverdale 202, 9. Tri-West 221, Cascade INC. North Putnam INC, Bethesda Christian INC
Individual Results
1. Abramson (AVN) 18:20, 2. Woodford (PLA) 18:50, 3. Kerr (AVN) 19:04, 4. Weatherford (GHS), 5. Price (AVN) 19:56, 6. Newcomer (DAN) 20:05, 7. Mathersead (AVN) 20:08, 8. Popenfoose (BRO) 20:20, 9. Monnett (CHS) 20:23, 10. Brown (BRO) 20:25, 11. Cash (GHS) 20:34, 12. Hering (BRO) 20:37, 13. Cason (PLA) 20:41, 14. Chappell (TW) 20:47, 15. Carpenter (DEC) 20:51
Greencastle -- 22. Stoffregen 21:56, 27. Romer 22:06, 28. S. Haynes 22:08, 30. Brattain 22:18, 38. Love 22:54
South Putnam -- 21 Glaze 21:56, 32. Egold 22:26, 34. Delano 22:31, 35. Higgins 22:39, 41 Lady 23:01, 42. Jones 23:03, 48. Scales 24:02
Cloverdale -- 23. Nally 21:57, 57. Worthington 25:45, 63. Nees 26:40, 64. Vauters 26:45, 67. Cross 31:07
North Putnam -- 46. Katie Douglas 23:37, 66. Land 28:26