Girls and boys ran at Logansport sectional Oct. 18

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The runners couldn’t complain about the weather, and their amazing finishing times told the tale. The IHSAA Cross Country Sectional in Logansport held a exciting 5K races that saw Lewis Cass prevail in the girls’ event and Western take top honors in the boys’ race.

Most of the schools in the area sent runners to the event, which is a stepping stone to the state competition. In the girls’ meet, five of the top six team finishes were logged by schools in the Lantern coverage area. In the boys’ competition, local schools captured the top three spots.

Team rankings are determined by race finish, and the lower the score, the better the rank. The Lady Kings of Lewis Cass registered a 51 to win the team competition, and the entire race was won by Cass’ Aftin Griffin who crossed the finish line at 19:17.8.

Chloe Jordan (20:24.1) of Maconaquah finished second, and Annabelle Brewster (20:39.4) of Northwestern came in fourth. Other top finishers from the area included Lucy Schave (5th) of Western, Hope Rush (6th) and AnnaLeigh Hedrick (7th) of Cass, Mary Claire DiPaola (9th) of Western, and Alaina Thompson (10th) of Kokomo.

In the boys’ competition, Western brought the best sets of distance legs. The Panthers took the top spot with a score of 25, led by the speedy duo of Camden Raab (16:05.5) and Miles Rudy (16:13.4).

Third place went to Kokomo’s Cooper Cage with a time of 16:33.2, and Western’s Beck Bennett crossed the line fourth with a 16.43.5 mark.

Other local standouts in the boys’ meet included Maddox Carver (6th) of Western, Mason Broeker (7th) and Bryan Burkhalter (8th) of Northwestern, and Preston Arreola (9th) of Kokomo.

Lewis Cass’ top finisher in the sectional meet was Kaiden Hughes (16th). Maconaquah’s Christian Collins finished 24th. Braden Wunderlich (49th) posted the top finish for Taylor. And Jakob Bertollini finished 51st for Eastern.

The top 15 individuals from non-advancing teams and the first five qualifying teams advance to the regional in Brownsburg. This means the girls’ teams from Lewis Cass, Maconquah, Western, and Northwestern will run in the regionals today, Oct. 25, along with Kokomo’s Thompson.

At the boys’ regional, Western, Northwestern, and Kokomo will run as a team and will be joined by Hughes, Ben Jay, and Colton Copeland from Lewis Cass, as well as Collins, Joel Loshnowsky, Abel Robison, and Mitchell Schmidt from Maconaquah.

See additional photos from this meet on the Lantern’s Facebook page or group.