Reprinted Courtesy of:
Greencastle Banner
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
With just two weeks until the Putnam County cross country meet and WCC
and sectional following shortly thereafter, teams are really
concentrating on peaking for those big meets.
Based on Monday night, the South Putnam teams are heading in the
right direction, as they completed a sweep of county rival Cloverdale.
The Eagle boys’ took the top five positions in the meet, defeating
Cloverdale 15-48. In the girls’ meet, the Eagles edged the Clovers
26-30 to pick up their first win of the year.
SP boys’ coach Brian Gardner was pleased with his team’s
performance, but would like to see them having to push themselves a
little more.
 Eagle senior Tyler Heavin won the boys’ race in a time of 19:09. [Click to enlarge] |
“Taking the top five spots helps. I thought
the kids ran pretty well,” Gardner said. “The thing about a dual meet,
when our top guys are all in front, is they don’t have another team
pushing them, so our times weren’t necessarily as good as I’d like to
see them.”
In spite of this, Gardner knows his team is pushing and dealing with the tough practices that come this time of year.
“I thought we competed well. I saw our guys not necessarily just
running in a pack, they were trying to actually better their time,”
Gardner said. “We’ve had some pretty hard practices coming up through
this time. County and conference are coming up, and we’re really
pushing toward that time.”
Tyler Heavin led the way in the boys’ race, winning with a time
of 19:09. Fellow senior Andrew Northrup was next in a time of 19:22.
Tanner Barr was third, with Josh Olczak following in fourth. Paul
Rubino rounded out the scoring for the Eagles in fifth.
Also in the top 10 for the Eagles were Andrew Kelly (7th), Jorge Cavell (8th), Jacob Parker (9th) and Tim Toland (10th).
For the Clovers, Kyle Chambers led the way, finishing sixth in a
time of 20:14. Brian Stout was next for the Clovers in 15th, followed
by Chuck Strunk in 17th. James Murphy placed 19th, and Joe Fidler was
21st.
Cloverdale coach Katie McLaughlin had to leave the meet early and was not available for comment afterward.
In the girls’ meet, the Clovers’ Nikki Routh won with a time of
23:53. However, it was the Eagles meet, and coach Elaine Bye was happy
for her squad.
 Cloverdale freshman Nikki Routh won Monday’s girls’ race in a time of 23:53. [Click to enlarge] |
“They did great tonight. We won our first
meet, which is really exciting. We had some more PRs. Girls that are
injured are recovering. I’m optimistic,” Bye said.
Amanda Lund led the Eagle effort with a second-place finish in
24:27. Madison Marsteller was fourth, followed by Brittany Fitzpatrick
and Mikayla Cherry in fifth and sixth. Brittany Cox finished ninth, and
Robbie Urton was 10th.
The Eagles have struggled with various illnesses and injuries
this season, but the coach said things are getting where they need to
be.
One of the runners struggling with these issues has been
Jessica Stewart. Although she is still recovering from illness, Bye has
had her running in races, but not pushing farther than she needs to go.
On Monday, Bye had Stewart run the first mile to get a taste of competition.
With the big meets approaching, both Eagle coaches like what they see.
“We’re moving to where we need to be,” Bye said. “We have some
hard practice days coming up that we don’t have meets, so we can get in
some hard work there. We’re looking forward to it. They’ll be doing a
good job.”
Gardner knows he has a team that should be in the mix for
county and conference, but also knows the times need to continue to go
down.
“I think we’re getting there,” Gardner said. “We’ve got a very
tight conference with Cascade, Greencastle, Monrovia and us. All four
of those schools are in position. And I know North Putnam has three
good runners. We’ve got to compete and our times have to go down.
“We’re in a position where we can hopefully get to that point,” he
added. “I like where the guys’ mindsets are and how hard they’re
working, but we’ve just got two more weeks where we can work and get
after it.”
Both South and Cloverdale have more than a week off before
their next meet. The Eagles host Cascade at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct.
1. The Clovers visit Eminence for a three-way with the hosts and North
Putnam on Thursday, Oct. 2.
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