Sunday, September 21, 2008
MORTONS GAP — Hopkins County Central cross country runner Wesley Ipock broke his own course record Saturday morning in the Thunder and Lightning Invitational to claim first place individually in the boys race.
Ipock finished with a time of 17:40, seven seconds better than his time last year, while the rest of the team followed as the Storm took fourth place, just ahead of Madisonville-North Hopkins in the six-team field.
“About the two-mile mark, Union County started passing me and I decided I was just going to draft off him and push it until the end,” Ipock said.
Ipock led nearly the entire race and coming down the stretch he held an approximate 20-foot advantage against Union’s Aaron Carr.
Ipock said he was aware of the closeness and it propelled him to dig deeper.
“It’s blood-pumping,” he said. “My blood was boiling and it just felt like, ‘senior year, I have to go as fast as I can. I don’t care if he’s a foot behind me or 20 feet behind me, I have to go as fast as I can.’ ”
Lady Maroons runner Taylor Partlow (eighth, 24:28) had the best finish among the two rival schools in the girls’ race. North finished third as a team and Central finished two points behind Hopkinsville for fifth place.
Five seconds behind Partlow, teammate Bonnie Burden (24:33) finished in ninth place for North.
“Another good day, they ran together, pretty much finished close together,” North coach Kris Wallace said. “We run county here so it’s good that they see the course.”
North’s Emily Gallegos (26:44) took 11th place overall before Central’s first female runners crossed the line.
Lady Storm runners Mattie Russell (27:14) and Crystal White (27:19) finished one-two for Central, taking 13th and 14th overall.
“I thought Mattie and Crystal really ran an exceptional race, one of the better ones they’ve ran all year, in a tough competition,” Central girls’ coach Kent Akin said.
Central junior Sara Fleischmann (31:23), a first-year runner, fended off a late charge from a Webster County runner in the final 60 yards to take 28th overall.
“I thought (Sara) really showed a lot of courage there at the end and I was very proud of her finish,” Akin said.
Behind Fleischmann, Kendall Bryant (33rd, 32:52), Eliza Watts (36th, 33:02) and Kaitlin Moore (40th, 42:00) rounded out the Central girls finishers.
On the boys’ side, Ipock watched his teammates after his first-place finish.
Ipock said he was happy to see Corey Eakins set a good pace.
“He took out hard and did what he said he was going to do, he was going to take off hard and finish as hard as he could,” Ipock said.
Eakins broke 20 minutes at 19:45 and finished in 12th place overall.
Central boys’ coach Jerry Womack said he was pleased at Cody Heady’s first run of the season after participating in soccer most of the fall. Heady took 33rd place with a time of 25:10.
Finishing ahead of Heady on the Central side was Nick Ritchey (16th, 20:24) and Connor Moore (30th, 24:06)
After the race, Womack said he was proud of the boys’ effort, but worried about possible injuries.
“This is a hard course and it’s just baked as hard as bricks because we haven’t had any rain so I’m sure they’re going to be having some sore legs and ankles tomorrow,” he said.
As for the North boys, Maroon runner
Micah Adams paced the squad, finishing sixth overall at 19:09. Gary Bozeman followed not far behind at 20:18 in 15th place. Brad Frederick (22nd, 21:47) finished third for the Maroons.
Wallace said she was proud of each of her runners, but particularly middle-schooler Aaron Poe, who stepped up to perform at the varsity level.
“Aaron Poe, I asked him if he would run varsity, he said he would,” she said. “He’s just got endurance, he did well.”
Poe finished the course 27th overall with a time of 23:24.
Coming in just behind Poe, Austen Schuknecht (23:34) finished 28th. Rounding out the North runners was Anthony Phelps (43rd, 29:10).
While neither the Central boys or girls took the title at their host invitational, Womack said he wanted to thank the parents for making the event possible.
“Our parents showed up big for us and they’ve really helped out a lot,” he said. “We couldn’t do this without them.”
Other runners competing for Central and North included the following:
Central boys: Trey McBride (35th, 25:50), Donovan Dillingham (37th, 26:29), Ben Hutz (41st, 28:21), Brandon Holeman (46th, 31:22)
North girls: Mary Young (18th, 27:50), Rachel Dorris (19th, 27:56), Haley Barfield (21st, 28:21), Nikki Johnson (22nd, 29:24), Sasha Ndlovu (23rd, 29:39), Margaret Soder (25th, 29:56), Karah Gill (26th, 30:22), Hilary Fisher (30th, 31:46), Kaylie Shelton (35th, 33:01), Mariah White (39th, 34:10), Justice Staggs (41st, 42:33)
Team standings
BOYS
Webster County, 45
Muhlenberg, 55
Union County, 66
Central, 81
North, 88
Hopkinsville, 130
GIRLS
Union County, 28
Webster County, 52
North, 61
Hopkinsville, 91
Central, 93
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