TITLE IX AT 50: West Noble girls XC was one of state's best in late 1990s

Aug. 12—LIGONIER — On June 23, 1972, the Education Amendments of 1972 were signed into law. The most notable part of the legislation were the 37 words of Title IX of the act, which read, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

While sports weren't directly mentioned in the law, Title IX paved the way for what female sports is today. In Indiana, high school girls volleyball and gymnastics were immediately added as IHSAA sports in the 1972-73 season, while girls track, golf, swimming and diving, basketball, tennis, cross country, softball and soccer all eventually followed suit over the next 25 years.

Now, with it being the 50th anniversary of Title IX, The Goshen News is proud to celebrate some of the best female sports achievements from its coverage area.

This story focuses on the West Noble girls cross country team's success of the mid-late 1990s, which featured Maria (Harriman) Brown being named the Mental Attitude Award winner in 1997 and three, top-six finishes as a team at the state meet from 1997-1999.

HARRIMAN SETS THE TONE

Maria Harriman admits that she wasn't the most coordinated person in the world.

The one sport she was good at was running, though. Fortunately for her, she discovered that at a young age.

"They had a running program in recess when I was in fourth or fifth grade, and we would run and they would log how much we were running," Harriman recalled. "They would then host a mile-run for us, and it would end with running a 5K through Ligonier. My mom says she remembers coming into the school one day to be a substitute teacher and she saw my name at the top of the list ... I do remember It was kind of the only sport I could do."

Because of her talent, Harriman joined the West Noble junior high cross country team. She then continued the sport into high school, running for then-head coach Michelle Blank.

"When I came into high school, the team was pretty small my freshman and sophomore years," Harriman said. "We were a tiny team, and we were not very good. So, I think our expectations were pretty low, honestly."

Despite being low in numbers, Harriman shined. Her big breakthrough would come her sophomore year, as she would finish in 10th place individually in the 1995 state finals. She was the first West Noble girls cross country runner to ever reach that spot before at the state meet.

"I think when any runner finishes, especially at the state meet, you know the work you've put in throughout the season," Harriman said. "When you can cap it off with something you feel good about? That's just a gift. I think I was just really grateful and relieved, probably."

As Harriman started finding success, so did the rest of the Chargers' program. In 1996, not only did Harriman advance to the state meet, but the whole team did as well. Harriman finished eighth that year individually, while West Noble as a team placed 14th out of 20 teams. Others that scored points for the Chargers at state that year were senior Jenny Furkis, sophomore Jessica Cripe and freshmen Gretchen Custer and Esperanza Flores.

Cindy Furkis, who was an assistant coach for West Noble and the mother of Jenny, credits both Harriman and Block for turning the program around.

"She was the building block of it," said Cindy Furkis of Harriman. "Although we had several girls that had ran before, a lot of them joined the team without ever having ran forever, so she was the one a lot of them looked up to. She was like the balance of the whole team.

"We had a great coach those first years, Michelle Blank. She was a teacher at West Noble and didn't know a lot about running, but she had a good heart for it. She made the team, too. She was very close with the girls, and in turn, they became very close with each other."

ASCENDING THE RANKS

In 1997, a new head coach took over in Chuck Schlemmer. With already a solid base of runners, the Chargers shot up the state rankings and became one of the best not only in northern Indiana, but the state as a whole.

In what was her senior season, Harriman ended up finishing second individually at the state meet. She was runner-up to another Northeast Corner Conference runner in junior Nicole Williams from Westview.

Williams won the 4,000-meter race with a time of 14:23.1, while Harriman clocked in at 14:28.

"We faced off lots of weekends, so of course there was a sense of rivalry," said Harriman of Williams. "But I was a nervous wreck every weekend, so my biggest competition was my own head. I don't know, during that season, if I ever thought I could truly beat her because she had pretty consistently beat me. I think the closest I came was at the state meet, and she still was a few seconds ahead of me. She was just a really, really good runner."

While Williams had the last laugh individually, the entire West Noble team placed eight spots higher than they did the year prior, finishing in sixth place. Three freshmen — Maria's younger sister, Emily, Lacy Rex and Lucy Wysong — joined Maria and Custer as placers for the Chargers that weekend.

On top of it all, Maria Harriman received the IHSAA Mental Attitude Award for the sport, cementing her place as one of the top runners in the state during that era.

"That's so meaningful," Maria Harriman said. "It's one thing to say I won a race; I think it's another to have someone say, 'We recognize your character.'"

While no West Noble individual would reach the heights Maria Harriman did, the team kept on improving at the state meet the next two seasons.

Despite not having any runners place in the top 25 individually in either 1998 or 1999, West Noble found a way to place fourth and third, respectively, as a team at the state meet those years.

Emily Harriman was the top individual both seasons for the Chargers, finishing in 28th place in 1998 and 30th in 1999. All five runners that would count toward the team scoring would finish in the top 107 both years, with 1999 seeing all five competitors placed in the top 74.

Other runners that competed at the state meet for West Noble during those two years were Susan Estep, Brenda Johnson, Jessica Cripe, Melissa Wysong and Dorothy Wysong.

"They were great kids to begin with; they all were," Cindy Furkis said. "We had wonderful girls. They were hard workers and they were determined to go to state, and they wanted to place up higher than third. It doesn't always work that way, but it was amazing what they did.

"Some of them that came to the team, they were cheerleaders or in the band beforehand. They just wanted to be part of the team, so we were close."

For Maria Harriman, while they are positive memories to look back on, she also can't help but think about her coach her senior year in Schlemmer. The longtime West Noble coach tragically died in August 2019 when a drunk driver struck him while Schlemmer was riding his bike. He was just 58 years old.

"He was really dear to me," Maria Harriman said. "Now when I think about (winning the Mental Attitude Award), I think about him being there and I think about how much he poured into the team and me, and not just in running. He saw things in me that he felt like he wanted to foster. I think he saw things in me that he really wanted me to grow in and push me in, and so when I think about getting that award, I think about him as well."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.