TERRE HAUTE —
Host Terre Haute North had plenty to be proud of — an individual champion, two other top-10 runners and two third-place team finishes — Saturday morning at the Terre Haute Savings Bank State Preview for high school cross country teams.
But such was the array of talent at LaVern Gibson Championship Course that the Patriots were a long way from being the only story — from a statewide perspective, at least. And if the girls from Carmel are already buying polish for their for a state championship trophy less than two months from now, no one can blame them.
John Mascari of North was the boys winner, leading most of the race by a comfortable margin. Waverly Neer of Culver Academies was the girls champion, with North’s Chanli Mundy taking third place and TaPring Goatee finishing seventh after leading early.
North’s boys, third in the state in one ranking going into their first meet of the season, finished third, with sixth-ranked Hamilton Southeastern winning and fourth-ranked Carmel nipping the Patriots on the sixth-runner tiebreaker. Four other top-25 teams were in the field: 17th-ranked Valparaiso placed fourth, 19th-ranked Westfield fifth, 23rd-ranked Carroll (Allen) sixth and 22nd-ranked Brebeuf 10th.
Carmel’s girls came into the meet ranked first in the state, and won. No surprise there — except for the fact that the Greyhounds won with basically their second team. The top five Carmel runners inspected the course at their leisure during the day, and the two freshmen who placed fourth and eighth for the Greyhounds weren’t in the Carmel varsity lineup a week earlier at the Carmel Invitational.
“[The Greyhounds are] No. 1 in the Midwest,” North girls coach Mike Dason said with a shrug. “They’re strong. They have something like 118 girls [Carmel’s boys have even more extensive participation, a total of more than 260 runners between the two Greyhound teams]. But you want to compete against the best.”
Patriot girls, ranked fourth coming into the meet, finished ahead of third-ranked Brownsburg, but in both races Carroll (Allen) exceeded expectations. The Chargers were 19th in the girls rankings but will be moving up thanks to their runner-up finish Saturday. The girls from Hamilton Southeastern were ranked 12th and finished fifth, while 24th-ranked Center Grove placed seventh.
Among Wabash Valley teams in the field, which included 37 boys teams and 34 girls squads, the West Vigo boys — led by the Kump twins, both of whom placed in the top 66 — and both teams from Greencastle finished ahead of some very respectable programs.
No one finished ahead of Mascari, who at times seemed to be threatening to pass the Gator at the front of the pack.
“It was nice to finally come out and race,” the Patriot senior said afterward. “I was pretty pleased with my time [of 15:19.1] — a personal record by 11 seconds overall and a personal record by 15 seconds on this course. I’ll try to do better and better each week.”
Mascari had to be prodded to discuss his own race, however. He was more concerned with his team’s showing.
“We didn’t win, but we can’t complain,” he said. “A lot of guys stepped it up. Tyeson Mundy [who placed 12th] came up big.”
“The first race is always like a box of chocolates: you find out what you get,” said North boys coach Lon McDonald, “and we had several very pleasant surprises.”
Mascari was not a surprise, of course.
“John Mascari ran the kind of race he’s been training for,” McDonald said. “Tyeson Mundy was superb, Dylan Bertsch had a great day … this was a quality field here today, and the guys ran well — and we will run better, I know that.”
Although her team had run a week earlier, Saturday was Goatee’s first race too, and she may have been a little too anxious to show what she could do. Neer and Hamilton Southeastern’s Brooke Morgan overtook her near the midpoint of the race and she never challenged for the lead again.
Mundy did, however. Had the race been 10 meters longer, in fact, North’s other sophomore star would had finished second.
“I always start out too fast, so I tried not to go out as hard as I could,” Mundy said after the race. “I kept looking ahead and tried to pick off people as the race went on.
“I think our whole team did really good,” she added. “The middle pack always changes, and hopefully we’ll have some surprises this year.”
“I was very pleased with how well the girls ran,” Dason said. “Chanli ran a really, really good race. She was very strong at the end, and the last thousand meters she really kicked it in.
“TaPring probably went out a little too hard,” he continued, “but at least she held on for seventh. The next two were both freshmen — Jessi [Conley] had a great race and Laura Johnson did really well — and Annie [Mullican] is always there where we need her. This is the beginning of the season, so we’ve got some time to build.”
At LaVern Gibson Championship Course
Boys results
Team scores — Hamilton Southeastern 87, Carmel 102, Terre Haute North 102, Valparaiso 135, Westfield 162, Carroll (Allen) 190, Huntington North 281, Center Grove 305, Davies County (Ky.) 306, Brebeuf 332, Franklin 405, Indianapolis Cathedral 414, Brownsburg 426, Evansville Memorial 491, Ben Davis 498, Evansville North 621, Culver Academies 686, Evansville Mater Dei 703, Barr-Reeve 703, Plainfield 704, Castle 710, Greencastle 724, West Vigo 782, Roncalli 788, Clinton Prairie 861, Mt. Vernon (Posey) 902, Park Tudor 911, Danville 976, Clay City 1,107, Vincennes Rivet 1,120, Northview 1,141, North Vermillion 1,228, North Central 1,252, Indianpolis Ritter 1,281, North knox 1,338, Riverton Parke 1,386, Vincennes Lincoln 1,400.
Top 10 — John Mascari (THN) 15:19.1, Chris Walden (Carm) 15:25.6, James Martinez (Carr) 15:42.4, Luke Brahm (BD) 15:46.2, Austin Mudd (CG) 15:47.2, Jason Hoard (Bre) 15:47.8, Brad Hess (Carr) 15:49.6, Connor Martin (Wes) 15:53.8, Ahmad Aljobeh (V) 15:54.6, Troy Reeder (HSE) 15:59.8.
Other North — 12. Tyeson Mundy 16:16.3, 21. Milton Brinza 16:32.9, 29. Brian Depasse 16:44.1, 39. Dylan Bertsch 16:54.9, 45. Justin Clapp 16:58.3, 85. Carson Bishop 17:31.5, 113. Dustin Query 17:50.5, 139. Travis Clapp 18:14.6, 173. Brenden Longfellow 18:45.1, 212. Chase Cresgy 19:14.2, 226. Austin Benson 19:27.4.
Greencastle — 93. Ryan Stevens 17:36.3, 104. Tyler Hudson 17:45.3, 123. Nathan Eubank 17:59.9, 195. Paul Bryan 19:02.4, 209. Erik Norlin 19:13.4, 269. Matthew White 20:13.9, 314. Seth Turner 22:36.1.
West Vigo — 42. Andrew Kump 16:55.7, 66. Nathan Kump 17:20.8, 116. Kaleb Blair 17:54.5, 268. Derek Braun 20:13.1, 290. Landon Ellis 21:05.7, 293. Dylan Grves 21:12.5.
Clay City — 168. Ben Denker 18:37.2, 186. Jake Tiefel 18:54.6, 229. Austin Sinders 19:30.9, 258. Blake Cochran 19:57.7, 266. Jesse Vansickle 20:12.3, 277. Wayne Tharp 20:22.7, 317. Michael Brooks 22:53.9.
Northview — 201. Ryan South 19:08.2, 221. Ian Heffener 19:21.1, 232. Tanner Brown 19:32.8, 243. Travis Beil 19:46.5, 244. Patrick Durcholz 19:47.9.
North Vermillion — 145. Taylor Kilgore 18:19.0, 242. Jon Flanary 19:44.7, 270. Ryan Mendenhall 20:14.3, 285, Tyler Scott 20:52.9, 286. Jacob Treadway 20:54.1, 294, Scott Moody 21:18.4, 301. Rylan Smith 21:46.4, 310. Tom Soboren 22:15.6, 320. Walter Jones 23:58.7.
North Central — 165. D.J. Danner 18:35.1, 218. Dean Danner 19:18.0, 284. Ridge Gaskin 20:45.5, 287. Devin Stutler 20:56.3, 298. Cullen Johnson 21:31.7, 318. Billy Stines 23:12.1.
Riverton Parke — 179. Riley Stohler 18:51.4, 292. Matthew Haltom 21:09.3, 303. Adrian Kropfli 21:53.6, 305. Adam Wilson 21:58.9, 307. Kyle Hutsell 22:08.3, 313. P.J. Tartaglia 22:29.6, 321. Brian Obenchain 24:15.3, 322. Patrick Snellgrose 24:22.5.
Girls
Team scores — Carmel 83, Carroll (Allen) 93, Terre Haute North 114, Brownsburg 150, Hamilton Southeastern 171, Davies County (Ky.) 182, Center Grove 250, Evansville Memorial 280, Franklin 283, Plainfield 298, Indianapolis Cathedral 356, Brebeuf 387, Perry Meridian 396, Warsaw 424, Culver Academies 451, Bedford North Lawrence 500, Greencastle 513, Southport 553, Union Home School 593, Roncalli 665, Evansville North 695, Centennial 749, Danville 792, Ben Davis 820, Evansville Mater Dei 887, Park Tudor 900, Castle 966, Indianapolis Ritter 981, Northview 1,019, Clinton Prairie 1,107, North Vermillion 1,127, West Vigo 1,232, North Central 1,375, Riverton Parke 1,383.
Top 10 — Waverly Neer (CA) 18:43.4, Brooke Morgan (HSE) 18:56.1, Chanli Mundy (THN) 18:56.3, Gina Genco (Carm) 19:12.4, Whitney O’Brien (DC) 19:13.3, Brianna Johnson (Carr) 19:14.7, TaPring Goatee (THN) 19:22.8, Kelcy Welch (Carm) 19:24.6, Sydney Lesko (Brown) 19:29.8, Kieran Casey (PM) 19:34.6.
Other North — 21. Jessi Conley 20:13.5, 40. Laura Johnson 20:40.5, 43. Annie Mullican 20:44.3, 45. Mallory Sanders 20:47.1, 57. Katie Loebker 20:58.8, 82. Brandi Roshel 21:38.7, 114. Erin Buckallew 22:18.3, 149. Kourtney Clark 22:43.0, 206. Mallory Reed 24:07.3.
Greencastle — 51. Colleen Weatherford 20:53.1, 72. Emily Gill 21:23.7, 118. Kayla Cash 22:20.5, 134. Abigail Wilson 22:26.6, 138. Paige Pickens 22:29.8, 221. Megan Haynes 24:47.1, 245. Cheyenne Feavurgue 25:38.6, 263. Jasmine Dwigans 26:33.1, 273. Brooke Plummer 27:09.1, 281. Katie Burns 28:05.7.
Northview — 122. Alyssa Conrad 22:23.1, 188. Nicole Nelson 23:42.0, 210. Donna Martin 24:10.1, 248. Leeanna Knight 25:42.4, 251. Kylie McKee 25:53.6, 272. Meaghan Pilman 27:03.5, 283. Olivia Howald 28:38.3, 286. Eileen Stinnett 28:59.7, 293. Tori Rohrabaugh 30:05.8.
North Vermillion — 161. Bethany Chew 22:59.6, 179. Taylor Turchi 23:31.1, 239. Whitney Wienke 25:28.0, 253. Kara Weir 26:02.8, 295. Aubrey Clark 30:26.7, 313. Paige McConchie 35:21.7.
West Vigo — 195. Sarah Hudson 23:47.5, 235. Acetha Tolerson 25:18.8, 236. Shaelynn White 25:20.5, 277. Taylor Bunch 27:29.6, 289. Mariah Huffman 29:25.4, 291. Abby Williams 29:51.0, 307. Kendra Carlson 32:36.6, 312. Lindsay Stroot 35:05.6.
North Central — 176. Brandi West 23:29.2, 276. Galina Carrio 27:29.5, 302. Jessica Hall 32:03.9, 305. Ashley Hall 32:19.4, 316. Alana Scarbrough 36:38.9.
Riverton Parke — 256. Courteney Austin 26:12.3, 264. Keara Richey 26:34.3, 366. Olivia Higgent 26:43.8, 288. Hannah Carty 29:14.9, 309. Taylor Mansinne 33:32.4, 310. Natasha Leonard 33:37.4, 311. Taylor Guoli 33:37.7, 314. Ashlie Carvin 36:23.5, 315. Kara Laznik 36:32.2.
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