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Cougars claim three titles, Eagles win one at Putnam County Cross Country Meet
Saturday’s Putnam County Cross Country Meet was, for the most part, a two-horse race in the team standings.
North Putnam and South Putnam were the only schools to field teams in all four races, leaving the duo to duke it out for team tile glory, a race won primarily by the Cougars, who won three of the four events, taking home the high school girls and both middle school county crowns while the Eagle boys won the high school race.
Greencastle had a little bit to celebrate as Charlie Menzel (17:11.0) added his name to the list of four-time Putnam County champions, beating out teammate Landon Miller (17:11.2) by .2 seconds, while Colleen Bossnack (21:37) won the girls’ individual title.
“It was a great race by all of my runners,” Greencastle head coach Brian Hammett said. “Charlie came out with an outstanding effort to win for the fourth time in a row.
“Colleen had a great improvement from running (at South Putnam) earlier in the season and earned victory in back-to-back weekends. I am proud of Landon and Meredith Ball getting All-County in their respective races.”
Both high school team races were decided on a knife’s edge as North Putnam beat South Putnam 27-28 in the girls’ race while the Eagles won by the same margin in the boys’ race over the Cougars 38-39 with the Tiger Cubs third on 47 points.
Keaton Chew (17:35) and Gabe Feltner (17:49) led South Putnam, finishing fourth and fifth respectively, while Evan Hinkle (18:37) finished seventh, Landon Chew (18:50) finished eighth and Noach Couch (20:55) placed 14th to round out the scoring pack. Gunner Roach finished (21:19) 16th, Isaac Boyce (21:45) finished 20th and Emilio Gallegos (22:33) finished 24th for the Eagles.
“We knew it was going to be a close one for each race,” South Putnam head coach Brandon Welti said. “The plan was to simply be in a position to try and catch one person that is normally close ahead for the guys and we knew that if at least one person did that, we’d have a chance.
“Thankfully, the guys were able to run what they were expected or better, and they pulled it off.”
Jeremiah Miles (17:22) paced North Putnam, finishing third, with Elijah Harless (18:25) sixth and the trio of Thomas Nelson (19:26), Corbin Conner (19:35) and Edrien Sobrino (19-37) finishing ninth, 10th and 11th. Kaleb Walton (21:12) finished 15th, Owen O’Hair (21:43) finished 19th, Zane Eakle (22:30) finished 22nd, Jayden Mayo (22:31) finished 23rd, Atticus South (22:49) finished 25th, Adam Grajewski (23:45) finished 27th and William Smith (27:47) finished 29th for the Cougars.
“On the boys side, I feel like we just got outraced overall,” North Putnam head coach Kevin Lutes said. “That’s not to say that we didn’t race that poorly.
“All of our returning runners had course improvements from last year and a couple (Jayden and Thomasn) had season PRs, but I think that the South boys just wanted it more, and that showed. Hopefully this is an eye-opener and stirs our guys to be more competitive and to encourage one another through the end of the season, but losing by such a slim margin is frustrating.”
Josh Rumple (20:06) finished 12th and Caleb Edwards (20:28) finished 13th for the Tiger Cubs with Issac Hertenstein (23:14) crossing in 26th to round out the Greencastle racers.
Cloverdale had four runners in the race, led by Evan Barnett (21:23) in 17th place and Mason Paauwe (21:36) in 18th place, followed by Spencer Nees (22:11) in 21st place and Joseph Patton (25:22) in 28th place.
“The boys were competitive and kept improving on their times this season, despite the tough course,” Cloverdale head coach Aleksey Green said. “We’ve got some things to work on as the last few races come up, but the kids are excited about the season so far and what’s to come.”
Menzel, Miller, Keaton Chew, Feltner, Hinkle, Miles and Harless earned All-County honors for the race.
Jacy Huffman (23:37) and Maddie Trent (24:03) led the charge for the Cougars in the girls’ high school race, finishing third and fourth, with Brooke Hensley (26:09) in sixth place, Hayden Fowler (30:28) and Erica Zatorski (30:53) finishing 10th and 11th to get North Putnam over the line.
“I’m very proud of our girls’ team,” Lutes said. “They all managed to execute how they needed and then go a little bit beyond.
“Hayden and Erica really had to push themselves knowing it would come down to the last few runners.”
Elise Kendall (22:54) finished as runner up with Stevie Keenan (24:13) finishing fifth, followed by Caroline Hodge (28:39) and Joslyn Bumgardner (29:37) in eighth and ninth with Molly Trammell (31:23) finishing 12th to round out the Eagle runners.
“The girls gave it their best efforts and came really close,” Welti said. “They came up just a little short, but they did a great job of competing and pushing themselves.
“We can’t ask for much more than that.”
Ball (27:24) finished seventh running for Greencastle while Cloverdale’s Olivia Hemmerling was unable to finish the race.
“Olivia rolled her ankle back in the woods,” Green noted. “We didn’t want to risk a further injury with WIC and sectionals coming up, so we decided to step off during the race.”
Bossnack, Ball, Huffman, Trent, Hensley, Kendall and Keenan earned All-County honors for the race.
In the middle school races, North Putnam doubled up in both events as Chanlie Busch won the girls’ race over Greencastle’s Lydia Miller while Gavin Oakley cleared an all-county top four as South Putnam’s Bryan Bye finished second, Greencastle’s Wilson Hecko finished third and Cloverdale’s Bradyn Schabel finished fourth, each earning All-County honors.
Busch led out a Cougar unit that scored 18 points to the Eagles’ 45 as Brookelynn Sutherlin (12:58) finished third, Chloe French (14:00) finished fifth, Kali Torres (14:14.2) finished sixth and Lilly Poynter (14:14.9) finished seventh to round out the scoring, all five earning All-County honors.
Natalia Grajewski (14:19) finished eighth, Natalynn Franklin (14:39) finished ninth and Bailey Hamilton (15:03) rounded out the top-10 places with Shaylee Harbrueger (22:05) and Jailynn Harbrueger (23:31) finishing 21st and 22nd.
Becca Patterson (13:48) landed an All-County spot by finishing fourth while the rest of the South Putnam pack took spots 11-15 through Zoe Burdge (16:08), Callie Sorrell (16:28), Charlotte Tomamichel (16:38), Ava Webster (16:42) and Lilly Jones (16:49).
Cloverdale’s pack followed in spots 16-19 in Adryana Oberkrom (18:17), Ava Patton (19:40), Alexis Harris (10:48) and Addison Mustaine (20:12) while Greencastle’s Sarah Fitzsimmons (21:00) finished 20th.
The boys’ team race was a topsy-turvy event as both sides traded off finishers in the scoring places,
Oakley was joined in the All-County places by Conner Cutcher (12:38) in fifth and Carson Chew (13:04) in seventh, with Isaac Garriott (13:14) finishing eighth and Marshall Wireman (13:29) finishing 11th to round out the scoring runners. Eli Hreno (13:42) finished 12th and Lucas Tuttle (14:01) finished 14th for the Cougars.
Bye was joined by Paxton Church (12:49), who finished sixth in the All-County places, followed by Dominic Pierce (13:21) in ninth, Peyton Carr (13:27) in 10th and Caleb Mahlan (13:50) in 13th to round out the scoring places. The rest of the Eagle pack came in places 16-19 in Ezekiel Gallegos (14:44), Levi Couch (15:37), Lincoln O’Rourke (17:11.1) and Peyton Webster (17:11.3).
Greencastle Braylon Batta (14:05) finished in 15th place.