Prep roundup for Monday, Oct. 25
Oct. 25—A pair of speedy local sophomores and a senior booked trips to the IHSAA Girls Cross Country State Finals with strong runs Saturday in the New Prairie Semistate.
Northwestern sophomore Hannah Moore, Maconaquah sophomore Abby Jordan and Lewis Cass senior Makenna Leicht will run at the state meet this Saturday at Indiana State's LaVern Gibson course in Terre Haute.
Moore booked her second trip to state with a sixth-place finish in 19:18.06. Jordan is also making her second trip to state after taking 13th in 19:31.1. And Leicht is capping her career with her first trip to state by taking the last advancing spot, finishing 19th in 19:47.2.
The top six teams and top 10 individuals who are not on an advancing team qualify for the state meet.
Maconaquah finished 16th in the team competition with a score of 367 and Western was 18th (399). Chesterton won the 20-team race by a wide margin with an impressive score of 50. The margin from first to second place was the biggest margin in the meet. Warsaw was second (134), Valparaiso third (141), LaPorte fourth (157), West Lafayette fifth (200) and Harrison took the sixth and last advancing team spot (205).
Northwestern coach Joshua Perry said Moore ran a great race.
"Hannah is looking very strong rolling into state. I'm excited to see what she brings to the course in a few days. She has grown so much as a leader and a runner this year. I know she wants to be on the podium and she's ready," he said.
Moore was 22nd at state as a freshman and Mac's Jordan was 50th in a field of 205 runners.
Also for Maconaquah Lucy Loshnowski was 96th (21:24), Samantha Jones 111th (21:34), Lauren Driscoll 121st (21:46), and Aubrey McClain rounded out the team score in 157th (23:04). Kaylee Futrell was 173rd (24:27).
"All the girls ran one of their best races of the year, with several of them running their personal-best times," Mac coach Allen Sayger said.
Western wrapped up its season at the meet. Lauren Bradley led Western in 73rd (21:08), Hattie Harlow was 77th (21:09), Madelyn Shoaff was 92nd (21:20), Destiny Herr was 141st (22:25), and Cami Caldwell finished Western's score in 156th (22:59). Also for Western, Joy Marley was 164th (23:19) and Avery Shock 169th (23:52).
Competing as individual, Cass' Liberty Scott finished her season with a 58th-place finish (20:51).
BOYS RACE
Northwestern finished 20th with a score of 556. Caleb Champion led the Purple Tigers by taking 110th in 18:00. Isaiah Kanable was 150th (18:37), Matthan McGriff 156th (18:47), Colin Feazel 158th (18:50) and Gunnar LaShure rounded out the Tiger scoring five, taking 16t0th (18:52). Also for Northwestern, Caden Lechner was 167th (19:06) and Matthew Mitchell 169th (19:19).
"The boys capped off an incredible season," NW's Perry said. "I hope they look back at this season and realize how much they accomplished. We have a lot of returning runners next year and I know they are going to want another sectional title.
"I can't thank our two seniors, Isaiah Kanable and Caden Lechner, enough for helping our program turn a corner. We have been building the past two seasons and the runners expect to be a good team moving forward. This year will be hard to beat but I know we have the firepower to do even better next season."
Valparaiso won the boys meet with a score of 90. Chesterton (121), LaPorte (128), Morgan Township (149), Warsaw (165) and Crown Point (176) took the rest of the advancing team spots.
Six locals running as individuals wrapped up their seasons at the semistate. Western's Pete Bradshaw was 24th (16:49), Maconaquah's Isaiah Wittenberg was 31st (16:54) and teammate Daylen Schrock was 72nd (17:39), Cass' Enoch Hines was 79th (17:42), Kokomo's Collin Keesling was 80th (17:44), and Cass' Dominic Gilbert was 114th (18:02).
The 10th and last advancing individual spot on the boys side went to the 20th overall runner. Bradshaw was the 12th-fastest individual who was not on an advancing team.
"Pete missed the last individual qualifying spot by about five-and-a-half seconds," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "He was in the top 30 the entire race and was still passing runners over the last 400 meters.
"While we're disappointed by just missing the state cutoff, we have to be pleased by the effort. It's what you expect at that level."
—Running at the Shelbyville Semistate, Tipton's Evan Long wrapped up his season with a 58th-place finish (16:40).
VOLLEYBALL
NORTHWOOD 3, NW 1
NorthWood beat Northwestern in four sets in the opening round of the Class 3A Norwell Regional. NorthWood won the first set, the Tigers won the second, then Northwood won the last two for a 25-22, 16-25, 25-15, 25-23 victory.
"It's always difficult to see a season like this come to an end, but these girls battled in probably the toughest regional in the state," NW coach Kathie Layden said. "NorthWood was ranked in the top five all season long and we were a couple plays short of moving on to the next round.
"These girls played for each other and always had the team's best interest first, which is why they only had two losses this year. They are great girls with amazing families and I feel fortunate to be their coach. Saying the seniors will be missed would be an understatement for sure."
McKenna Layden led Northwestern's charge with 21 kills to go with 10 digs, six blocks and five service points. Ella Byram had 11 service points and 33 assists. Tori Closson had 10 points and 26 digs, Morgan Walker had 13 points and 11 digs, Leah Carter had 10 digs and four blocks, and Emily Goltz had 10 points, five kills and five digs.
The Tigers end the season 25-2. Bellmont swept Northwood 3-0 for the regional title and next faces West Lafayette in the semistate.
"This will certainly go down as one of the best, if not the best, team in Northwestern volleyball history," Kathie Layden said.
GIRLS SOCCER
ANDREAN 1, TIPTON 0
No. 6-ranked Andrean edged No. 7 Tipton in a tense Class A north semistate at South Bend St. Joseph. Bridget Sherman got through Tipton's defense and scored on a shot low to the far post in the 49th minute to put the 59ers in next Saturday's state championship game.
Tipton ends its season 14-5.
