Next man up: Graduation losses won’t slow down county teams

0
378
Pictured: The boys cross-country county championship on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)

HANCOCK COUNTY — To repeat accomplishments of 2018, the New Palestine Dragons boys’ cross-country team will have its work cut out.

The loss of the top three runners and four total to graduation will make it a difficult task to win titles accumulated last year in the Hancock County, Hoosier Heritage Conference, New Palestine Sectional and Rushville Regional races, but coach Chuck Myers believes it can happen.

“I think we can,” Myers said. “We’re going to have to step it up a bit. I think we can compete even though we lost a lot of guys.”

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Drew Austin, Kyler Harrison, Josh Collins and Caleb Stirm have all graduated. Austin was the county champ and runner-up in both the sectional and regional. Austin, Harrison and Collins finished 1-2-3 in the county meet. Collins added a fifth-place finish in the regional.

The Dragons have solid returnees, too. Senior Devon Whitaker has been a strong runner throughout his Dragons career. He placed sixth at county, 12th at conference and 13th at the sectional.

Colin Darley is only a sophomore, but he should be one of the area’s top runners, too, along with a couple veterans that had great success in track, seniors Owen Kleine and Josh Ackerman.

“We did lose a lot of guys, four guys that have been there for four years, but I think we’ll be stronger than a lot of people think,” Myers said.

The coach added that it was too early to tell, but he expects some freshmen newcomers to contend for varsity spots.

Greenfield-Central

The Cougars are another county program coming off a quality season.

Greenfield-Central was runner-up to New Palestine in the county and conference races. The Cougars qualified for the regional with a fourth-place finish at the sectional and were fifth at the regional.

Senior Conner Kinnaman is the county’s top returning runner. He had top 10 finishes in county (third), conference (seventh), sectional (third) and regional (sixth) meets.

“Kinnaman is going to be a solid No. 1 for us all year,” coach Aaron Smith said. “Our goal for him is to be competitive at the end of the season and qualify for the state meet.”

Smith will miss the graduated Parker Niemeier, a fourth-place finisher in last year’s regional, and will also be without junior Luke Muckerheide, a top 10 finisher at county, who had open heart surgery over the summer.

“He is well ahead of the normal recovery time,” Smith said, and added Muckerheide is hoping to return to competition during the track and field season in the spring.

Still, Smith has some strong returnees and is expecting some battles for the final varsity spots. Austin Nigh, Matt Wickham, Jonah Fletcher and Gage Guenin are considered a “solid pack” behind Kinnaman, while Tyler Osborn, Micah Smith, Lucas Tutrow, Jacob Presser and Adam Bright are veterans searching to fill the lineup on race day.

Eastern Hancock

“We definitely have the depth to challenge for a (Mid-Eastern) Conference championship this season,” coach Rex Putt said.

The Royals’ lineup has grown to 11 runners and Putt has a goal to have his top seven runners under the 20-minute mark.

One runner definitely under that mark is junior Daniel Campbell, who ran the 10th fastest time in school history last year, 17:24 for 5,000 meters. He returns with senior standout Nick Edwards, who Putt said has been the most impressive in practice. The pair should help make up for the loss of graduated Skyler Schrope, who has the program’s No. 3 time at 17:09.

Putt said senior Skyler Sexton, a standout hurdler on the track and field team, looks to have a solid grasp on the No. 3 spot. Seniors Garrett Henderson and Westin Bishop, junior Aaron Surberg and sophomore Luke McCartney currently have the upper hand for the remaining varsity spots.

The coach believes Edwards and Campbell have the work ethic and ability to make it to semistate. Both were part of the record-breaking 4×800-Meter Relay team during track season.

The Royals placed seventh at last year’s sectional.

Mt. Vernon

Coach Bruce Kendall has a nice problem to have.

“On a given day, anyone can be No. 1,” Kendall said of his top seven runners.

The veteran coach is in his 45th year at Mt. Vernon and his 39th with one or both of the cross country programs.

Seniors Jacob Benz and Michael Damer, juniors Colin Brown, Carson Collinsworth, Evan Rappe and Tyler Strantz, and sophomore Reyce Morgan make up the Marauders top seven.

Kendall said he likes the potential of Rappe and Morgan to possibly grab that No. 1 runner position.

“(Morgan) came out of nowhere in track (last spring),” Kendall added.

Brown was 18th at last year’s sectional race. Benz, Strantz and Rappe were all part of last year’s post season lineup.

Mt. Vernon graduated Ryan Strantz, the No. 1 runner in multiple races including county last season, Rielly Glassing.

The Marauders were third in what was a 1-2-3 Hancock County finish at conference, finishing behind champion New Palestine and Greenfield-Central. Mt. Vernon placed sixth at the sectional meet, one spot from advancing to the regional.

This year’s county meet is scheduled for Sept. 24, while the HHC and Mid-Eastern Conference races are both slated for Oct. 5. The postseason begins with sectional races on Oct. 12.