TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute North freshman Tapring Goatee is simply not built for second place.
Not her talent level.
Not her mind set.
After the sectional race at LaVern Gibson Championship Course, Goatee credited teammate Chanli Mundy for running well that day and throughout her absence in races for several weeks due to a hip ailment.
Despite the kind words for her teammate, the body language and the look on Goatee’s face told the story of someone who expects greatness — and first place.
“I hated getting second,” Goatee admitted Friday, the day before running away with the Brown County Semistate, finishing in 19 minutes, 25.1 seconds despite the sloppiest course conditions of the season. Considering Goatee missed three weeks due to a hip ailment, she could be ready to get back to times closer to the season-best 18:39 she ran Sept. 5 at the State Preview meet in Terre Haute.
“She looked effortless,” coach Mike Dason said, “like she was just out there for another run.
“She is most gifted athlete I’ve ever had the chance to coach,” Dason added.
As good as Goatee is, Mundy owns the faster time of the two this season; she ran 18:26 to take second at the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference meet. The state-winning time last year was 18:14 by senior Sarah Higgens of Center Grove.
Goatee, with her long and powerful gait, and Mundy, all 5-foot-1 and 75 pounds of her, have both proven to be bona fide contenders to win a state championship in the next four years.
They will have that opportunity Saturday at the Gibson course, and two more freshman are also giving the Patriots a chance for the highest team finish in school history.
“The friendly competition between them has been good for our team,” said fellow freshman Annie Mullican, who has assumed the Patriots’ No. 3 runner role. Mullican said the team is shooting for “top 5, podium,” and maybe nobody wants to see Mundy and Goatee challenge the state’s best more than the cheerful Mullican.
“There’s about five runners that could all take the title,” Mullican said, and “those two could definitely be up there.”
Mundy appears determined to keep improving.
When volunteer assistant coach Tom Dever provided a copy of race tips that appeared in the recent issue of “The Running Times,” Mundy took one of those pieces of advice to heart: pass with authority.
When Mundy went to pass Bloomington South’s Anna Voskuil for second place near the halfway point of the semistate, she flew past convincingly and helped secure North’s second straight 1-2 finish in the postseason.
“Definitely the biggest surprise,” senior Lindy Jones said of Mundy. “All summer long, she just went through the workouts then we had a time trial and she came out of nowhere.
“She has the best attitude, she races hard. She’s tough and she doesn’t want to get beat.”
Things seem to come more naturally for Goatee, Jones said.
“She trains different, and she’s crazy, crazy leaps and bounds ahead of everybody. She does what she has to do to win, and she’s always going to make sure she wins,” Jones said. “She’s a speed runner too. If she doesn’t win state [in track], I’m personally going to be upset.”
Jones, one of North’s top two runners last season, doesn’t mind having some of these freshmen passing her by.
“Now I just know this team’s only going to do as well as I do,” Jones said. “These girls are dependable, they’re like little sisters and I love them to death.”
Mullican and the fourth freshman, Kiowa Burris, have become as steady as can be for North.
“[Mullican’s] probably, out of everybody, the most consistent as far as always being in the same top spot for us,” Dason said.
Burris has improved each meet. Dason did not include Burris with the varsity in a big meet at Culver, but she ran a time of 20:21 in the open race — better than sophomore Emily Cotterman, who was North’s top runner part of last season.
When Cotterman suffered multiple injuries to her knee and leg earlier this month, Burris become a precious part of the team and her confidence rose.
Burris ran a half-marathon as an eighth grader so she had the endurance, but she had to find a higher gear for the 5K.
Burris’ first time of the season was at 22 minutes; she’s cut more than two minutes off that in less than two months.
At the semistate, Burris even showed she could sprint step for step with senior Alexa McFadden, who’s known for her footspeed on the track.
“Kiowa was so impressive,” Dason said. “She was running around 22 minutes [for 5K] in her first meet this season. Now she’s one of our top runners.”
Mullican and Mundy said another important part of the Patriots’ success is having 38 runners on the team that are good friends — 26 of those runners stayed in the same house for a week in Florida before the season as a training/bonding experience.
“I always heard it was like family,” Mullican said, “and thought it was cliche. Now I really think that.”
High School
North running after girls cross country state title
Pats have two who could win personal state championship
- High School
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It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Longtime rivalries figure to determine high school baseball sectional champions throughout the Wabash Valley today, with semifinal and final games scheduled at four sites and a stand-alone championship game at a fifth.
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South tops Oldenburg to win tennis semistate
There was no evidence of rally caps, rally towels and certainly no rally squirrels, but Terre Haute South’s No. 1 singles player Maddie Kesler needed a rally in the worst way.
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New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
For so many years, the road to the IHSAA girls tennis state finals for local teams ran through Vincennes (regional) and Jasper (semistate). In other words, south and more south.
This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
PREP ROUNDUP: Robinson tops Greenville in sectional semifinal
Robinson jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then cruised to a convincing 12-3 victory over Greenville in a IHSA Class 2A Vandalia sectional semifinal game on Thursday.
Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
West Vigo overcame the odds to win 20 high school baseball games this season with a lineup that often included four freshmen and few seniors.
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South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
A late-season surge by South Vermillion wasn’t quite enough to halt a high school softball sectional winning streak by the host team Thursday night, as Edgewood got on top early and held on for a 5-2 win in the championship game of the Class 3A Edgewood Sectional.
The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
South takes second, North third at boys track regional
Terre Haute South finished second and Terre Haute North third on Thursday night at the boys track and field regional at Evansville Central, with 11 individuals and three relay teams qualifying for the state finals June 2.
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PREP ROUNDUP: White River Valley baseball holds off Eminence
Three Eminence errors in the top of the sixth inning finally enabled White River Valley to score in high school baseball Thursday night, and the Wolverines went on to a 5-0 win in Class A Shakamak Sectional action.
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Feeling cursed: South bitten in sectional final again
Terre Haute South softball is not even close to being as cursed as a certain northside baseball team in Chicago, but it might just seem like it.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
Chanli Mundy and Keirra Porter of Terre Haute North were among the individual winners in the IHSAA Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Thornton puts away South Vermillion
Cody Thornton’s three-run blast over the left-field fence was the finishing touch to West Vigo’s 10-3 victory over South Vermillion in the opening game of the Class 3A Greencastle Sectional on Wednesday.
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Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
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North Vermillion avenges losses
North Vermillion avenged two high school softball losses during the regular season to win the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional championship Wednesday with a 3-2 triumph over the host Panthers.
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Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
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South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
Even the best of high school softball pitchers can’t keep all the batters in the middle of Terre Haute South’s lineup down.
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Panthers get 20th win in sectional
Riverton Parke will face North Vermillion in the Class A softball sectional championship at Riverton Parke today, with action commencing at 6 p.m.
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Plainfield Sectional all about parity
Considering Terre Haute South has won five consecutive Class 4A sectional titles in high school baseball, naming the Braves as favorites to capture the 2012 Class 4A Plainfield Sectional would not seem far-fetched.
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
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North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
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Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
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Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
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Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
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Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
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Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
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Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
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Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
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North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
- More High School Headlines
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