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http://www.tmnews.com/stories/2010/08/24/prepsports.674333.tms

http://www.tmnews.com/stories/2010/08/24/prepsports.674581.tms

BEDFORD — All the hard work and the countless miles put in over the course of the summer nearly paid off in perfection for the Bedford North Lawrence boys cross country team in their season opener Monday afternoon.

The Stars grabbed the top three spots, along with places five and six, to finish with 17 points at the BNL Fall Invitational. The defending champion Seymour Owls were a distant second with 68, while Jennings County wound up third with 72.

Eastern Greene took fourth (121), while Mitchell (156), Brownstown Central (178), Orleans (216), Trinity Lutheran (240) and Medora (321) rounded out the field.

“What happened tonight, I totally expected,” said BNL senior Logan Barrett, who was the individual winner. “I didn’t know we’d finish 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, but I knew we were going to do pretty well. We’ve worked really hard this summer and we deserve it. It’s amazing and it feels really good inside.”

BNL coach Scott Hiles was pleased as well.

“We had a team goal to have our top seven under 18 minutes and we missed that by a little bit,” said Hiles. “But we got our top five under 18 and that hasn’t happened in awhile, so I’m extremely pleased. These are wonderful times for this weather and the very first meet.”

Barrett led from start to finish and was on school-record pace for much of the race before falling off slightly over the last half mile.

“I was shooting for a sub 16:30 and I knew I could do it,” said Barrett, who won by over a minute in 16:25. “All that hard work over the summer is paying off.

“I was looking to go between 5:00 and 5:10 (per mile) and I think I went 5:05, 5:06, then I just tried to push it all the way to the end and I’m happy with the way it turned out.”

Barrett’s winning time was the best for a BNL runner in a season opener since record holder Geoffrey Bush went under 17 minutes in his first race back in 2002.

“The year Geoffrey Bush ran 16:00 and set our school record, he ran 16:57 or 16:58 in this race,” said Hiles. “Logan just ran :35 seconds faster than that and I’d say his races are just going to get faster. I really believe that’s going to happen for everybody here.”

While Barrett was leading the way, the rest of the Stars were packed tightly behind him. Junior Clayton Orender grabbed second in 17:28 and sophomore Arthur Cross-Najafi was close behind in third (17:36), while sophomores Aaron Zollman (17:49) and Lane Barrett (17:50) held on for fifth and sixth to round out the scoring for the Stars.

“I can’t say enough about this group,” said Hiles. “They did this for themselves. They’ve been training constantly for the last four months and a lot of them all through the winter.

“I tell the boys it would not be unusual to improve their times by 60 seconds from the start of the season to the end of the season and that’s what I hope we manage to do. And if we get that done, we’re going to have some spectacularly fast times and we’ll just wait to see what happens.”

Senior Tyler Wilson wound up 12th for the Stars (18:21), while Brady Martin came in 16th (18:37), Bryce Williams was 18th (18:47), Evan Yeary took 20th (18:49), Levi Scherschel finished 30th (19:49), Devin King was 35th (20:27) and Kyle Diekhoff wound up 45th (20:51) in the field of more than 100 runners.

The Mitchell Bluejackets saw their first action of the season as well, but with just one runner in the top 25, head coach John Jones wasn’t nearly as happy.

“We didn’t run quite as well as I thought we would,” said Jones. “But it’s our first time out and now we can see what we need to do in practice.”

Junior Cody Burton led the Jackets with a 19th-place finish in 18:48, while Peyton Phelps was 26th (19:31), Brett Mosier came in 32nd (20:19) and Andrew Wise was 36th (20:28). Freshmen Ian Payne (43rd, 20:39) and Blake Daugherty (50th, 21:19) were close behind, as was junior, first-year runner, Luke King, who wound up 51st in 21:21.

“The top four are all experienced runners from the last couple years, so we expected them to be up there,” said Jones. “But Ian and Blake are just freshmen and they both have a lot of potential and they’re going to be challenging some of those guys up there in the top four before the season’s over.

“And our No. 7 runner, Luke King, is a new runner and he did a good job for his first time out. So with a few more meets under our belt and a few more intensified practices I think we’ll get there.”

Braden Speer finished 59th (21:58), Andrew Tomlinson was 64th (22:26) and Josh Vescuso wound up 71st for the Jackets with a time of 23:15.

The Orleans Bulldogs got strong showings from their top three runners as well with Dylan Parks finishing 33rd (20:23), Trey Bradley taking 34th (20:25) and Taylor Tritle finishing 39th with a time of 20:32.

“Our top three were bunched up pretty good and that’s kind of what we expected,” said Orleans coach Jared Gilbert. “We had a couple kids who had to step up tonight, we’ve got a couple others under the weather a little bit. So I thought Jimmie Campbell our fourth and Sawyer Shelton our fifth, really stepped up for us and I was pretty pleased with the effort overall.”

Campbell finished 49th in 21:18, while Shelton wound up 61st (22:05). Chase Silvers came in 77th (24:49), Johnnie Baker was 78th (24:57), Lucas Johnson took 80th (24:59), Lucas Daugherty came in 81st (25:00), Aaron Tolbert was 82nd (25:02), Jarrett Jones ran 89th (27:19), Scott Gowin finished 91st (27:35), Thomas Tolbert was 97th (32:20), Chris Jones was 99th (33:46) and Josh Pearson wound up 101st in 36:39.

The Stars will take part in the St. Xavier Tiger Run in Louisville Saturday, while the Jackets will run in the Salem Invitational.

[CrocODile1]

Scot Hiles of Madison Heights and 4:08.0 mile fame?

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BEDFORD — BNL's Courtney Crane churns up a hill on her way to a fourth-place finish at Monday's BNL Fall Invitational. (Times-Mail / GARET COBB).

BEDFORD — The Bedford North Lawrence girls cross country team turned in another solid effort from top to bottom Monday, grabbing four of the top 10 spots to run away with the BNL Fall Invitational.

The Stars, who are two-for-two in the early going this season, finished with 32 points, while Seymour took second with 68, Trinity Lutheran wound up third with 80 and Eastern Greene was fourth with 107.

Brownstown was fifth (127), Mitchell came in sixth (155), Jennings County was seventh (159) and Orleans was eighth with 349.

“Overall, I’m very pleased,” said BNL coach Kathy Hammel. “A lot of the girls dropped their times from last week and that’s going from a perfectly flat course at Seymour, to one of the most challenging courses they’ll run this season, and because of the hot weather last week, we haven’t even had a tempo run on our course. So they all did a great job tonight.”

Trinity Lutheran’s Taylor Royalty ran away from the field to win in 19:51, while BNL senior Samantha Sheldon was a strong second in 21:12.

“I tried to keep up with her that first lap,” said Sheldon. “I was faster than I should have been, but I felt a lot better here than I did last week, and as a team we did pretty well. All the girls finished pretty close together. So it was a good day I think.”

Hammel agreed.

“That’s two second-place finishes in two races for Sam,” said Hammel. “She’s determined to go for the school record, but it’s way too early in the season. She still did an outstanding job and her times are going to drop. She certainly has the ability to get there. She just has to be patient.”

Courtney Crane finished fourth for the Stars in 22:15, while Hanna Guthrie was close behind in fifth (22:30) and freshman Danielle Page finished strong to grab seventh with a time of 22:53.

“Courtney was within a few seconds of her time at Seymour and she ran a good race,” said Hammel. “I’m excited about how strong she looks and Hanna had another solid performance. She settled in toward the front of the pack and ran her race.

“And Danielle, a freshman, was :28 faster than she was at Seymour, on a much more rugged course. So she did a great job.”

Page was just one of seven Stars making their debut on the BNL course.

Freshmen Bret Roberts (17th, 23:58), Lauren Boshears (37th, 25:47), Alli Guthrie (38th, 25:56) and Morgan Watkins (48th, 26:42), joined sophomore Meredith Moore (54th, 27:11) and junior Adison Watkins (102nd, 33:36) in their first races on the home course as well.

“I’m extremely proud of all their performances,” said Hammel. “They had the added pressure of hitting the course for the first time under race conditions and I’m thrilled with their efforts tonight.”

Senior Whitley Crane rounded out the scoring for the Stars with a 14th-place finish in 23:40, while Elizabeth Sheldon finished 26th (25:11), Mallory Goffinet wound up 44th (26:29) and Kali Payton was 85th in 30:10.

“Elizabeth Sheldon cut 1:10 of her time from Thursday and Adison Watkins, a first-year runner, cut :56 off her time from last week, so they both had great races,” said Hammel. “The times will drop as the temperatures get more bearable and the intensity of the workouts build. They’ve already learned a lot of lessons in these first two races and I’m pleased with all their performances tonight.

“I don’t think any of the girls got passed in the final stretch. They all finished strong, so I’m proud of them for that.”

Kelsey Hardman was the top finisher for Mitchell, turning in a time of 23:37 to grab 12th. Stephanie Marlow was 20th in 24:41, while Brianna Hall wound up 29th (25:32), Alyssa Gardner was 34th (25:43), Rachel Embry came in 60th (27:34), Jo Schrader was 79th (29:13), Kelsey Wampler came in 86th (30:11) and Karen Cormack wound up 101st with a time of 33:18.

“Our top three girls were about what I expected, maybe not as close as I’d hoped for,” said Mitchell coach John Jones. “Overall it wasn’t bad, we’ve just got to concentrate on a few things and go from there.”

Freshman Makinzie Silvers led the Orleans Bulldogs with a 33rd-place finish in 25:40, while sophomore Shelbi Samsil finished 45th in 26:32.

“I couldn’t be any happier with the girls,” said Orleans coach Jared Gilbert. “We’ve got some first year runners and they did well and the ones who ran last year have improved by three or four minutes from this race last year.

“We’ve got a lot of freshmen and sophomores and they’ve still got a couple more years to get stronger and keep improving and I’m looking forward to seeing where they end up this year.”

Natalie Berea finished 87th in 30:35, while Hope Kaiser was 90th (30:58), Alyssa Fowler came in 94th (31:20), Riley Hawkins was 107th (35:58) and Whitley Henderson wound up 108th with a time of 38:27.

West Washington fielded just two runners. Abigail Lengel finished 105th in 35:01, while Miranda Gregory was 109th in 39:08.

[DiscusDon]

Scot Hiles of Madison Heights and 4:08.0 mile fame?

Yep , Thats the Guy !