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Pioneer's Dodt runs to win at Culver XC regional

pharos-tribune, logansport, ind.
·4 min read

Oct. 17—Pioneer sophomore Leighton Dodt was the champion of the Culver Academies boys cross country regional on Saturday.

Dodt won with a time of 16:51. He was followed by a top five of Maconaquah's Isaiah Wittenberg (16:57), Rochester's Samuel Rohr (16:59), Warsaw's Tyler Mimnaugh (17:02) and Warsaw's Tyler Swartz (17:06).

Warsaw was the team champion with 33 points. Culver Academies (91), Rochester (125), Maconaquah (126) and Lewis Cass (130) also advanced to the New Prairie Semistate as a team.

Other teams competing at the regional were Northwestern (144), Manchester (154), Pioneer (166), Plymouth (224) and Logansport (235).

Cass advanced to the semistate as a team for the first time since 1982. Enoch Hines placed 16th in 17:24 to lead the Kings, followed by Felix Palafox (26th, 17:48), Kale Skiles (35th, 18:25), Gavin Griffin (36th, 18:25), Braxton Armstrong (42nd, 18:42), Cole McCloskey (54th, 19:03) and Kaiden Hughes (55th, 19:04).

The top five teams and top 10 individuals on non-advancing teams advanced to the semistate. The semistate cut time for individuals was 17:47.

Caston senior Austin Dague grabbed the final spot in the semistate with a 25th-place finish in 17:47. He edged out junior teammate Edison Byrum by seven seconds for the final spot. Also competing for the Comets were Marshall Finke (69th, 19:44), Connor Sommers (73rd, 20:02) and AJ Reyburn (78th, 20:35).

Pioneer junior Carson Meyer placed 18th in 17:26 to join Dodt as a semistate qualifier for the Panthers. Also competing for the Panthers were Jack Cooper (43rd, 18:44), Austin Brooke (66th, 19:35) and Elliott Cooper (79th, 20:36).

Winamac senior Kolbey Wegner placed seventh in 17:08 to advance. Freshman Logan Fredel placed 50th in 18:55.

Ben Favors placed 32nd in 18:09 to lead Logansport. He was followed by Payton Herr (58th, 19:17), Anthony Gallardo (65th, 19:34), Micah Rogers (68th, 19:39), Carson Dubes (72nd, 19:59), Arain Castro-Martinez (80th, 20:41) and Ronaldihno Sevilla (81st, 20:42).

Warsaw won the team title on the girls side with 51 points. Maconaquah (80), Western (96), Winamac (124) and Manchester (146) also advanced as a team.

Other teams competing were Northwestern (147), Culver Academies (156), Plymouth (164), Carroll (209) and Triton (250).

Maggie Smith placed 26th in 21:09 to lead Winamac, followed by Kadence Hoover (27th, 21:13), Kandace Kroft (28th, 21:15), Kelsey Wegner (31st, 21:32), Avery Wegner (32nd, 21:33), Ariana Gualajara (42nd, 22:10) and Claire Goodman (73rd, 24:11).

The semistate cut time for individuals was 21:47.

Cass freshman Aftin Griffin placed seventh in 19:45 to advance. Freshman Kylie Logan placed 41st in 22:03 and freshman AnnaLeigh Hedrick placed 71st in 24:08.

"I am very excited with how my three freshmen ran in their first regional race," Cass coach Denise Rush said. "Aftin ran an awesome race going out in the top eight at the mile and had a great kick in the last 100 meters to finish seventh. I love how coachable Aftin has been as she hits her goal times in practice and listens to race strategy. I believe Aftin has more in her and it will show at semistate next week, which is exciting. Kylie Logan ran her personal-best time, improved a minute from her sectional race and was 20 seconds from qualifying. I loved how she went for it and gave it her best. She has big goals for next year. AnnaLeigh Hedrick has improved so much the last three meets and was only two seconds from her best time. She had a great experience and I believe will improve even more next season."

Pioneer junior Violet Montgomery placed 14th in 20:12 to advance to the semistate. Sophomore Paula Collado Fernandez placed 48th in 22:24.

Carroll senior Anna Goodrich placed 36th in 21:47 to grab the final spot in the semistate.

Caston freshman Alexa Lowe placed 62nd in 23:32 and senior Mackenzi Roudebush placed 75th in 24:18.

Logansport sophomore Claire Bundy placed 70th in 24:03.

Warsaw junior Josefina Rastrelli was the overall winner in 18:16, followed by a top five of Northwestern's Hannah Moore (18:46) and Courtney Adams (19:08), Rochester's Zoe Seward (19:12) and Culver Academies' Celeste Gram (19:35).

The New Prairie Semistate gets underway at 11:30 a.m. EST Saturday. The top six teams and top 10 individuals on non-advancing teams will qualify for the IHSAA State Finals.