Weekend roundup: XC runners compete at season opening Graf Invitational

Aug. 22—It was a great day for a run at the sixth-annual Jacob Graf Memorial Invitational Saturday at the Berry Patch course.

The Pioneer boys had the top showing among area teams, placing second in the 18-team event.

Sophomore Leighton Dodt paced the Panthers with a fourth-place finish in 17:31. He was followed by Carson Meyer (5th, 17:39), Jackson Baker (22nd, 18:41), Austin Brooke (33rd, 19:14) and Jack Cooper (45th, 19:44).

Northwestern won the team title with 80 points, followed by a top five of Pioneer (108), Lafayette Jeff (112), Maconaquah (114) and Hamilton Heights (171), which edged out sixth-place Cass (171) by sixth score tiebreaker. Logansport placed ninth (240), Caston placed 10th (241) and Winamac placed 11th (245).

Enoch Hines led the Kings with a sixth-place finish in 17:44, followed by Felix Palafox (15th, 18:15), Braxton Armstrong (31st, 19:11), Cole McCloskey (51st, 20:03) and Curtis Henry (71st, 21:16).

Ben Favors led the Berries with a 17th-place finish in 18:27, followed by Carson Dubes (49th, 19:57), Micah Rogers (53rd, 20:06), Payton Herr (63rd, 20:40) and Ashton Shideler (62nd, 20:43).

Austin Dague led the Comets with a ninth-place finish in 17:56, followed by Edison Byrum (35th, 19:23), Caleb Stinson (55th, 20:13), Marshall Finke (65th, 20:50) and Max Sommers (83rd, 22:08).

Kolbey Wegner placed third overall in 17:25 to lead the Warriors. He was followed by Logan Fredel (30th, 19:06), Nathan Pierzchalski (52nd, 20:06), Evan Eaton (75th, 21:31) and Drake Button (93rd, 23:02).

Tipton's Evan Long was the overall winner in 17:02, followed by a top five of Maconaquah's Isaiah Wittenberg (17:15), Winamac's Wegner and Pioneer's Dodt and Meyer.

Caston coach Blair Zimmerman said it was a good day for his runners.

"Without the adrenaline of competition, practice can only show a coach so much," he said. "Combine that with our shared soccer/cross country athletes having three soccer matches already this week and I wasn't entirely sure what today would look like. I'm happy to say that the answer to that question is upperclass leadership and a willingness to dig deep across the board. I'm excited to see how these guys progress this season."

Winamac had the top showing among area teams in the girls race. The Warriors placed third.

Maggie Smith paced the Warriors with a 14th-place finish in 21:50, followed by Kelsey Wegner (23rd, 22:32), Kandace Kroft (24th, 22:44), Kadence Hoover (26th, 23:00) and Avery Wagner (33rd, 23:25).

Maconaquah won the team title with 47 points, followed by a top five of Western (68), Winamac (110), Hamilton Heights (125) and Northwestern (151). Cass placed sixth (176) and Caston placed 12th (285).

Aftin Griffin led the Kings with a fourth-place finish in 20:25, followed by Liberty Scott (22nd, 22:31), Kylie Logan (36th, 23:32), Kennedy Thorpe (58th, 25:29) and AnnaLeigh Hedrick (70th, 26:34).

Stevanna Young led the Comets with a 54th-place finish in 24:51, followed by Alexa Lowe (55th, 25:05), Mackenzi Roudebush (59th, 25:38), Camila Hernandez-Rios (66th, 26:05) and Maddie Sprow (71st, 26:39).

Violet Montgomery placed fifth in 20:38 to lead Pioneer, followed by Cailyn Colford (83rd, 28:49), Grace Alpha (89th, 31:53) and Hannah Zeigler (91st, 32:48).

Claire Bundy placed 74th in 27:05 to pace Logansport, followed by Ashley Murillo (87th, 29:32).

Northwestern's Hannah Moore was the overall winner in 19:23, followed by a top five of Maconaquah's Abby Jordan (19:54), Northwestern's Courtney Adams (20:22), Cass' Griffin and Pioneer's Montgomery.

Zimmerman said his Caston girls team had a good day as well.

"The ladies put aside any aches and pains, went to work and competed well today," he said. "I'm really happy to see our scorers come across with only about a 15 position spread, especially in a meet as large as the Graf is becoming. We'll work to tighten that pack a bit more and move it forward in the crowd, but there's a lot to be proud of here today."

Logansport coach Kailin Bauman said she has a young team this year.

"This year I made the decision to race our young team, made up of entirely freshmen and sophomores, a little differently than we have in years past. Having only three returning racers for this invite and an overall small team, I wanted our team to get some experience," she said.

Bauman decided to race only two in the varsity race, Claire Bundy and Ashley Murillo, two returning sophomores.

"Claire and Ashley have done an incredible job working together this summer, along with sophomore Libby Dexter and with some more experience, they will continue to lower those race times," said Bauman, adding that freshman Audrey Graham, Saylor McClain and Olivia Gibson and sophomore Berenice Salamanca competed in the JV race.

"There is work to be done this season, we know that. With the first meet behind us, we are looking forward to the work and the growth ahead of our strong, determined team," Bauman said.

Cass coach Denise Rush said it was a good start for her team.

"We are very excited about our young team's performance today," she said. "We edged out Lafayette Jeff by one point to earn sixth place out of 18 schools. We can take a lot from today's race and improve next week. Aftin Griffin ran aggressive and tough placing fourth in her first varsity race. She is going to be exciting to watch this season. Liberty ran a respectable race considering she is on a very low mileage plan, running three days a week, as she has a foot issue she is pushing through right now. My co-captain, Liberty Scott, brings her leadership, experience and work ethic to our team. She is awesome as she pushes her teammates to be their best each day be example and encouragement.

"Freshman Kylie Logan proved she will be a competitor this year as she ran very well today as our third runner. Kennedy Thorpe was our fourth runner today nearly running her personal best time. She improved two minutes from last year's first meet. Our pack of Kennedy, Emmy Jones, AnnaLeigh Hedrick and Hannah Zamora stepped up this summer to put in the mileage and weight room workouts. We are excited to see this pack continue to improve.

"We also had many positives from our JV race. Freshmen Alexis Alford and Bianca Panmei ran well and will be pushing for top seven. Jenna Roeske is my co-captain who helps make sure my JV ladies are warmed up and ready at the starting line. She has been running top 12 varsity all four years. We had six freshmen, along with sophomore Jaylynn Elpers and senior Addison Ousley run their first high school 5K today. This is awesome for the future of our program."

LOGAN 5, TWIN LAKES 4

Logansport (1-2) picked up its first win of the season at Twin Lakes.

Humberto Baez scored four goals in the win. Francisco Lopez had a goal. Lopez, Joseph Argueta and Melvin Hidalgo each added an assist.

"It was a very competitive game and much earned win," Logan coach Mike Turner said. "Forwards were combining and finding good space. We let Twin Lakes back in it with two late goals. Defense held strong and got us to the end."

FRANKLIN CENTRAL INVITE

Pioneer placed third overall with a 2-2 showing.

The Panthers (5-2 overall) defeated Martinsville 25-16, 25-20 and Rossville 25-21, 25-19. They lost to Zionsville 16-25, 25-18, 15-11 and Franklin Central 25-22, 18-25, 15-5.

Mandee Weisenburger had 31 kills and 24 digs on the day for the Panthers. Mackenzie Rogers collected 53 assists and 29 digs. Keirsten Nies had 21 assists and 21 digs. Brooklyn Borges floored 20 kills and Liz Rance added 10 kills. Addie Cripe led the defense with 47 digs and Kaitlin Weldy added 18 digs.

"I was very pleased with how the girls performed," Pioneer coach Rod Nies said. "They played hard and they played well the entire day. We had our chances in the gold medal to beat a really good Zionsville team and we had our opportunities to beat Franklin Central as well. But I couldn't be disappointed with the effort. I felt like we made huge strides as far as mentally being tough in some really big matches."

ELWOOD INVITE

Cass went 2-2 on the day to place third out of eight teams.

Cass defeated Southern Wells 25-11, 23-25, 15-5 and Clinton Central 25-17, 25-16 and lost to Elwood 25-20, 25-22 and Danville 25-12, 25-12.

Ava Hubner floored 14 kills for the Kings. Maci Garland had 13 kills, 16 digs and eight aces. Elly Logan had 12 kills and 20 assists. Maryn Zeck dished out 24 assists. Dixie Wagoner led the defense with 21 digs.

"For how the day started I'm proud of how we fought back," Cass coach Katie Easter said. "It's a long day, it's tough to stay 'on' all day and especially when you have to evacuate the gym mid match for a fire alarm.

"Serve receive and set placement was off today but as the day went on our girls got into a better rhythm. We need to get our middles involved more to open up our pins. I saw a lot of great things happen today, but there is still a lot to work on come Monday."

NORTH MIAMI INVITE

Caston went 3-1 and placed fifth.

The Comets (5-2 overall) had wins over North Miami 25-22, 25-16, Oak Hill 25-22, 25-22 and Rochester 22-25, 25-17, 15-5 and a loss to South Adams 25-13, 15-25, 15-9.