New Prairie's Lilly Zelasko on fire in sectional victory
NEW CARLISLE – The rock group Iron Maiden wrote a song called, “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.”
Lilly Zelasko may have had that ditty playing in her head as she cruised through Saturday’s cross country sectional at New Prairie.
Running on her home 5,000-meter course, Zelasko was alone — like, all alone — almost from the start.
Putting a hundred meter gap on a loaded field in her first mile, Zelasko continued to pull away till the finish, which she reached in a sectional record 17:55.9.
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It was the second-fastest time of her life and her fastest ever on New Prairie’s famed course.
“I just want to go out there and run what I can run and keep pushing myself every week,” said Zelasko, a senior who plans to run for Western Michigan University next year.
“To run under 18 minutes last weekend (at the Northern Indiana Conference meet) was crazy,” said Zelasko. “So to do it two weekends in a row, I’m like, ‘Whoa!’
Zelasko won by almost a minute. And this was no slouch field. The second-place finisher, Cheyanne Stock from Valparaiso, is the No. 1 runner on Indiana’s No.9-ranked girls team.
She clocked 18:49.3.
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Third-place Lila Gillisse of La Porte, a state medal-winner in track who is recovering from a stress fracture, clocked 19:25.8. Seven different girls cracked the 20-minute mark.
Again, no slouch field.
“I look around to see who my competition is, but you know, I just want to go out every week and prove myself, prove what I can run,” said Zelasko. “And this is my home course, I’m going to defend my course.
“I just go out and run my race and see what happens,” she said. “See how far it will take me.”
Valparaiso won both boys and girls team titles – no surprise there – and Valpo’s James Dillabaugh won the boys race in 15:51.7.
The boys and girls teams from La Porte and New Prairie all advanced to next weekend’s regional at Sunset Hill Park in Chesterton. The top five teams in each meet advance.
LaPorte’s girls got Gillisse back, but then lost team leader Brenna Sobecki to a knee injury. Unknown when she will return. The Slicers were third in both boys and girls races.
New Prairie’s teams each finished fifth.
Janan Pillai, who makes a point of running well in the post-season, finished fourth in the boys race, clocking 16:02.5. Brayden Sobecki worked his way up to eighth in a generally strong LaPorte effort.
Slicer coach Corbin Slater waxed philosophical about his team’s performances.
“Today was just … put yourself in a position to do something,” said Slater. “We’ve been saying all season, if we want to talk the talk of being a tough team, we need to back it up. I think today we put our nose in there and asserted ourselves. Today was a race of the heart.”
IHSAA CROSS COUNTRY SECTIONAL
At New Carlisle
BOYS
TEAM SCORES: Valparaiso 40, Chesterton 49, La Porte 58, Portage 74, New Prairie 155, South Central (Union Mills) 170, Westville 220, Wheeler 226. These teams incomplete: Michigan City Marquette, Washington Twp., Michigan City, Lake Station Edison.
TOP 20 FINISHERS: 1, James Dillabaugh (Valparaiso) 15:51.7. 2, Mason Nobles (Valparaiso) 15:58.8. 3, Shane Conroy (Portage) 16:02.5. 4, Janan Pillai (La Porte) 16:02.5. 5, Jackson Tuck (Chesterton) 16:10.0. 6, Evan O’Connor (Chesterton) 16:19.3. 7, Josh Tuck (Chesterton) 16:25.2. 8, Brayden Sobecki (La Porte) 16:30.4. 9, Bobby Berger (Chesterton) 16:36.5. 10, Noah Bosstel (Portage) 16:40.4. 11, Nathan Nova (Valparaiso) 16:42.8. 12, Riley Clark (Valparaiso) 16:48.5. 13, Preston Peterson (La Porte) 16:56.0. 14, Brady Cavanaugh (Valparaiso) 16:56.8. 15, Zackery Kimmel (So Central) 16:59.2. 16, Stephen Klimczak (La Porte) 17:00.8. 17, Hunter Quadlin (La Porte) 17:06.3. 18, Chase Reyes (Portage) 17:06.7. 19, Ethan Miller (Portage) 17:08.9. 20, Ezekiel Bloom (Valparaiso) 17:09.3.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES: Valparaiso 33, Portage 66, La Porte 84, Chesterton 85, New Prairie 109, Wheeler 178, Westville 211, Michigan City Marquette 220. These teams incomplete: Michigan City, Washington Twp., South Central (Union Mills).
TOP 20 FINISHERS: 1, Lillian Zelasko (New Prairie) 17:55.9. 2, Cheyanne Stock (Valparaiso) 18:49.3. 3, Lila Gillisse (La Porte) 19:25.8. 4, Madisyn Mikels (Portage) 19:33.4. 5, Elizabeth Ehrhardt (Valparaiso) 19:33.8. 6, Alyssa Dunlap (Chesterton) 19:56.9. 7, Liv Hatch (Valparaiso) 19:57.5. 8, Grace Thomas (Valparaiso) 20:01.5. 9, Faith Spain (La Porte) 20:09.0. 10, Briana Krapf (Portage) 20:27.2. 11, Meredith Isley (Valparaiso) 20:35.7. 12, Hannah Walsh (Portage) 20:36.6. 13, Ena Gilliana (Valparaiso) 20:38.9. 14, Rebecca Cavanaugh (Valparaiso) 20:39.8. 15, Tatum Bumgardner (La Porte) 20:44.9. 16, Elise Byers (Wheeler) 20:47.0. 17, Madison Trumbo (Chesterton) 20:47.2. 18, Alannah Sweeney (Portage) 20:50.7. 19, Grace Carpenter (Chesterton) 20:52.3. 20, Allison Van Kley (Chesterton) 20:54.6.
IHSAA official: Mike Alspaugh
NOTE: Top five teams and top 10 individual finishers who are not members of a qualifying team advance to Chesterton regional at Sunset Hill Park on Saturday, Oct. 15.
At Oxbow Park
Northridge claimed both boys and girls team titles in the Elkhart sectional at OxBow Park. And Northridge runners did the same in the races for individual honors.
Raider senior Jaxon Miller clocked 15:51 to finish first among boys, opening a 10-second gap on second-place Tommy Claxton from Goshen. Raider runners claimed three of the top five finish spots.
Northridge scored 33 points for the boys title, with Goshen second at 54.
In the girls race, Tame Baylis led a Northridge 1-2-3 sweep at the finish line.
Baylis clocked 18:50. Her teammates, Haylee Hile and Dakotah Moore, finished second and third in 19:16 each.
The Northridge girls scored 47 points, while NorthWood was second at 69.
The boys from NorthWood, Elkhart and Concord also advanced to next week’s regional meet, which is also at OxBow.
The other girls teams to advance were Elkhart Christian Academy, Concord and Goshen.
IHSAA CROSS COUNTRY SECTIONAL
At OxBow Park, Goshen
BOYS
TEAM SCORES: Northridge 33, Goshen 54, NorthWood 78, Elkhart 86, Concord 134, Elkhart Christian Academy 188, Bethany Christian 196, Wawasee 223, Fairfield 267, Jimtown 273.
TOP 20 FINISHERS: 1, Jaxon Miller (Northridge) 15:51. 2, Tommy Claxton (Goshen) 16:01. 3, Max Malloy (Elkhart) 16:06. 4, David Gingerich (Northridge) 16:13. 5, Will Knox (Northridge) 16:23. 6, Aaron Richter (Elkhart) 16:24. 7, Dorian Diaz (Goshen) 16:29. 8, Jordan Burden (NorthWood) 16:32. 9, Luis Loera-Arambula (Goshen) 16:37. 10, Owen Allen (NorthWood) 16:38. 11, Jonathan Spicher (Northridge) 16:46. 12, Xavier Miller (Northridge) 16:50. 13, Marc Hernandez (Northridge) 16:53. 14, Alexander Lopez (Goshen) 16:58. 15, Bereket Bennett (NorthWood) 16:59. 16, Joseph Keyser (Northridge) 17:03. 17, Reid Sollars (Concord) 17:09. 18, Colyn Chris (Concord) 17:12. 19, Jesse Bontrager (Bethany Christian) 17:13. 20, Francisco Rosales (Elkhart) 17:14.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES: Northridge 47, NorthWood 69, Elkhart Christian Academy 102, Concord 107, Goshen 110, Elkhart 125, Fairfield 165, Wawasee 190. This team incomplete: Jimtown.
TOP 20 FINISHERS: 1, Tame Baylis (Northridge) 18:50. 2, Haylee Hile (Northridge) 19:16. 3, Dakotah Moore (Northridge) 19:16. 4, Mia Hodgson (Wawasee) 20:07. 5, Leah Huber (Elkhart Christian) 20:09. 6, Hanna Clyde (NorthWood) 20:16. 7, Zoe Roberts (Concord) 20:26. 8, Hannah Schramm (Elkhart Christian) 20:32. 9, Sheridan Maxwell (Elkhart Christian) 20:38. 10, Edith Loera-Arambula (Goshen) 20:42. 11, Ashlyn Anderson (Elkhart) 21:03. 12, Kaitlyn Kuhn (Fairfield) 21:07. 13, Sydney Prenkert (NorthWood) 21:13. 14, Margaret Weldy (Concord) 21:15. 15, Savannah Slone (NorthWood) 21:20. 16, Faith Towler (NorthWood) 21:28. 17, Valeria Cruz-Portillo (Elkhart) 21:32. 18, Kylie McMann (Northridge) 21:29. 19, Marli Hartman (NorthWood) 21:41. 20, Caitlin Yoder-Rupp (Goshen) 21:43.
NOTE: Top five teams and top 10 individual finishers who are not members of a qualifying team advance to Elkhart regional at OxBow Park on Saturday, Oct. 15.
At Manchester
There wasn’t much room to spare, but Plymouth advanced both its boys and girls cross country teams out of the Manchester sectional.
The top five teams in each race advance to next weekend’s regional at Culver Academies. Plymouth’s boys finished fifth, edging Caston by 11 points for the final qualifying spot.
Plymouth’s girls finished fourth after losing a sixth-runner tie-breaker to third place Culver Academies.
Sophie Wray led Plymouth’s girls with a good fourth place individual finish, clocking 19:14.8. Trey Hall was the top Pilgrim in the boys race, clocking 17:11.9 for sixth.
Warsaw easily claimed both the boys and girls team titles.
IHSAA CROSS COUNTRY SECTIONAL
At Manchester
BOYS
TEAM SCORES: Warsaw 34, Culver Academies 57, Rochester 78, Manchester 90, Plymouth 123, Caston 134, Triton 215, Tippecanoe Valley 226. These teams incomplete: Culver Community, North Miami.
TOP 20 FINISHERS: 1, Hunter Miller (Culver Academies) 16:38.8. 2, Ryun Hoffert (Warsaw) 16:42.3. 3, William Ruszkowski (Culver Academies) 16:51.1. 4, Garrett Hall (Warsaw) 16:54.0. 5, Tyler Swartz (Warsaw) 16:55.6. 6, Trey Hall (Plymouth) 17:11.9. 7, Samuel Rohr (Rochester) 17:13.9. 8, Kyler Dale (Manchester) 17:17.3. 9, Dionte Obertein (Culver Academies) 17:20.3. 10, Raven King (Manchester) 17:21.6. 11, Clark Meridew (Warsaw) 17:23.2. 12, Andrew Potter (Warsaw) 17:27.7. 13, Wesley Steininger (Rochester) 17:28.1. 14, Grant Bailey (Rochester) 17:28.7. 15, Rick Orr (Warsaw) 17:29.3. 16, Austin Dague (Caston) 17:35.2. 17, Alex Schrock (Warsaw) 17:45.4. 18, Edison Byrum (Caston) 17:51.2. 19, Lane Stetzel (Manchester) 17:59.0. 20, Yiqiao Wang (Culver Academies) 18:09.2.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES: Warsaw 31, Manchester 79, Culver Academies 82, Plymouth 82 (6th-runner tie-breaker), Triton 131, Tippecanoe Valley 131 (6th-runner tie-breaker), Caston 179, Culver Community 217. These teams incomplete: Argos, Rochester, North Miami.
TOP 20 FINISHERS: 1, Josefina Rastrelli (Warsaw) 18:24.7. 2, Celeste Gram (Culver Academies) 19:02.2. 3, Zoe Seward (Rochester) 19:05.6. 4, Sophie Wray (Plymouth) 19:14.8. 5, Ayla Cashdollar (Manchester) 19:31.9. 6, Kadence Fox (Manchester) 19:45.4. 7, Elizabeth Vander Bie (Warsaw) 19:49.8. 8, Samantha Rastrelli (Warsaw) 19:56.8. 9, Marissa Howett (Warsaw) 20:08.8. 10, Mikayla Mimnaugh (Warsaw) 20:25.4. 11, Chesnee Miller (Tippecanoe Valley) 20:32.7. 12, Jocelynn Faulkner (Triton) 20:38.6. 13, Elliana Transparenti (Warsaw) 20:43.5. 14, Eden Metz (Warsaw) 20:59.1. 15, Lexi Gibson (Argos) 21:36.8. 16, Ava Egolf (Manchester) 21:51.0. 17, Bailey Edmison (Plymouth) 21:52.2. 18, Allyson Calloway (Rochester) 22:00.8. 19, Lauren Gurtner (Plymouth) 22:04.9. 20, Faith Martinez (Culver Academies) 22:20.4.
NOTE: Top five teams and top 10 individual finishers who are not members of a qualifying team advance to Culver Academies regional on Saturday, Oct. 15.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA cross country results from New Carlisle, Goshen, Manchester
