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The magic number was 10, as in top 10. It's what the Chesterton boys cross country team was aiming for in Saturday afternoon's state finals at the Lavern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute. In the end, it was that same number, 10, that was the difference in the Trojans missing their goal. Chesterton finished in 11th place with 298 points. Floyd Central was 10th with 289. "We knew going in how close the state meet competition is," Trojans assistant coach Tom Moeller said. "We were 13 (points) out of ninth. Seconds matter in a way that they don't in other races. Could we have done better? Yes. At the finish line, I felt disappointed, as I think most of the team felt. But as you back away from it, you look at the times we ran the first half of the race, we were able to survive a really torrid pace, so overall I'm pretty satisfied." The Trojans were in good position with just an 18-second gap among their top five over the first 2,500 meters, but it wound up being 1:18 between David Osborn (20th in 16:00) and Ryan Cutter (127th in 17:18). "Ryan was (almost) a minute faster than he was at semistate," Moeller said. "He really came through." Osborn had his sights on the awards stand (top 15), only to come up about three seconds short. "It was an all right race," Osborn said. "I was really hoping I'd do better but it didn't turn out that way. I kept in contact with the (lead) group up until like halfway through going up that hill to the end of the 3K, and they kind of pulled away. I was starting to hurt a little bit then, but once we got through the two-mile and to the downhill, I recovered a little bit. But that front pack was a little too far ahead to get too much closer. It was still probably the fastest I've closed a race, like the last 500 meters." Osborn repeated as an all-stater. He was 19th last year. "I know David's disappointed with his race but I thought he ran well," Moeller said. "He recovered after running up with the leaders." Among other Chesterton runners, Thomas Halpin was 77th (16:45), Shane Kenney 82nd (16:49), Jon Rogers 87th (16:51), Manny Orlich 153rd (17:38) and Ian Smith 160th (17:45). "Ian was still sick," Moeller said. "He just didn't have it at all. I know it was fast, but they'd gotten accustomed to going out fast. They know you have to be up front. If you leave yourself too far behind, there's too much ground to make up. (The pace and the heat) didn't affect us any more than anybody else. It was the same for everyone." The Trojans ran without head coach Tim Ray, who was not with the team due to family matters. "It's too bad because you spend all season with them and then you don't get to see your creation at the end," Moeller said. "I think we each bring something different to the team. Tim's more vocal. I missed him because we really bounce ideas and thoughts back and forth. I thought the kids were pretty tense. Maybe he could've cut the tension. They expected to do more than they had in the past. These were expectations they put on themselves back in August. It's a very determined, intense group. They put a lot of pressure on themselves and I think it showed a little bit." The good news is everybody's due back for 2009. "We make a habit of reminding them that it's only because they have those expectations that they ended up disappointed," Moeller said. "We don't take for granted being in this position. I know a lot of teams that would love to trade places with us. They're already talking about next year. I don't think we're to the point where we can make it to the top group yet, but I'd do anything to have a group like this."
IHSAA Boys State Finals AT TERRE HAUTE Team Results 1. Carmel, 100; 2. FW Carroll, 110; 3. McCutcheon, 153; 4. Indpls. North Central, 155; 5. Fishers, 158; 6. Franklin Central, 180; 7. Terre Haute North, 222; 8. Northridge, 155; 9. Noblesville, 286; 10. Floyd Central, 289; 11. Chesterton, 298; 12. Huntington North, 326; 13. LaPorte, 330; 14. Valparaiso, 379; 15. Bloomington South, 388; 16. Columbus North, 393; 17. FW Northrop, 417; 18. West Lafayette, 426; 19. North Harrison, 436; 20. Perry Central, 453; 21. Concord, 496; 22. New Albany, 499; 23. Frankfort, 506; 24. FW Northside, 512. Individual Results 1. Drew Shields (Fishers), 15:20.3; 2. Futsum Zeinasellassie (Indpls. North Central), 15:25.4; 3. James Martin (FW Carroll), 15:33.9; 4. Dylan Sorensen (Zionsville), 15:39.9; 5. Blake Dircksen (Noblesville), 15:41.6; 6. Scott Lasiter (Franklin Central), 15:43.7; 7. Alex Shields (Fishers), 15:44.5; 8. Matthew Miller (LaPorte), 15:46.5; 9. Tyler Byrne (North Harrison), 15:49.7; 10. Robby Stewart (McCutcheon), 15:50.1; 11. Cameron Balser (Oak Hill), 15:51.7; 12. Kyle Smiley (New Prairie), 15:52.0; 13. Nathan Hendershot (Pendleton Heights), 15:56.4; 14. Robert Kleber (FW Carroll), 15:57.2; 15. J.D. Smith (Carmel), 15:57.4; 16. John Mascari (TH North), 15:57.4; 17. Michael Jordan (Indpls. Pike), 15:58.7; 18. Al Escalera (McCutcheon), 15:59.0; 19. Jason Crist (Franklin Central), 15:59.8; 20. David Osborn (Chesterton), 16:00.9. Other Chesterton finishers: 56. Thomas Halpin, 16:45; 61. Shane Kenney, 16:49; 65. Jon Rogers, 16:51; 101. Ryan Cutter, 17:18; 126. Manny Orlich, 17:38; 133. Ian Smith, 17:45.
IHSAA Girls State Finals AT TERRE HAUTE Team Results 1. Carmel, 55; 2. Lake Central, 160; 3. Franklin Central, 167; 4. Valparaiso, 172; 5. Westfield, 177; 6. Columbus North, 182; 7. Northridge, 190; 8. Noblesville, 201; 9. FW Carroll, 202; 10. Huntington North, 299; 11. Indpls. North Central, 327; 12. Portage, 327; 13. FW Northrop, 332; 14. West Lafayette, 386; 15. Crown Point, 423; 16. Dekalb, 432; 17. Heritage Hills, 443; 18. West Noble, 446; 19. Bloomington South, 453; 20. Madison Consolidated, 472; 21. Bloomington North, 473; 22. Terre Haute North, 507; 23. Kankakee Valley, 553; 24. Edgewood, 670. Individual Results 1. Sarah Higgins (Center Grove), 18:14.0; 2. Emily Mossier (Indpls. North Central), 18:24.3; 3. Kelly McCurdy (Carmel), 18:25.5; 4. Dana Payonk (Lake Central), 18:31.1; 5. Renee Wellman (Carmel), 18:34.5; 6. Christina Blair (18:35.4); 7. Kelsey Lewark (West Lafayette), 18:39.8; 8. Jordan Chesterton (Boone Grove), 18:43.3; 9. Katy Achtien (Indpls. Cathedral), 18:44.7; 10. Brianna Johnson (FW Carroll), 18:45.7; 11. Siri Retrum (Columbus North), 18:46.3; 12. Kayla McCurdy (Carmel), 18:47.7; 13. Kaisa Goodman (West Lafayette), 18:49.8; 14. Waverly Neer (Culver Academy), 18:51.3; 15. Sydney Mansfield (FW Northrop), 18:52.0; 16. Ali Hochstetler (Bethany Christian), 18:54.1; 17. Jasmine Al-Anzi (Franklin Central), 18:54.9; 18. Erica Ridderman (Warsaw), 18:57.4; 19. Kate DeSimone (FW Canterbury), 18:57.9; 20. Molly Winters (Indpls. Brebeuf), 18:59.3.
Posted 11/3/2008
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