Central boys' team claims title

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

MORTONS GAP — Each of Hopkins County’s three high schools took home some hardware Tuesday evening after the conclusion of the annual All Hopkins County cross country meet, but the Hopkins County Central boys’ team had the most productive day.

Wesley Ipock defended his individual title to help lead the Storm to back-to-back team championships.

After finishing fourth as a team on Sept. 20 in Central’s Thunder and Lightning Invitational, Storm coach Jerry Womack said the team has been working feverishly to improve.

“This last week, 10 days since the invitational I’ve run them pretty hard,” he said. “We’re going to keep that up for a while, and I think it paid some benefits today. We felt like we had some business, to go out here and take care of them, and we did.”

Ipock comfortably led by more than 20 seconds after the first lap and finished at 17:52, more than a minute better than his closest competitor.

For Ipock, it was his third career victory on his home course and second in 10 days, yet Tuesday’s mark was 12 seconds slower than his previous time.

“I was working at my record, but I didn’t really get it,” Ipock said. “It’s kind of hard to run with when you don’t have someone sitting there right behind you, pushing you on your tail.”

As for the girls, the Lady Panthers of Dawson Springs claimed first place. Dawson’s best five girls finishers all placed in the top 10, but Madisonville North Hopkins’ Taylor Partlow (23:38) and Bonnie Burden (23:39) finished one-two to lead the race.

Both girls finished one-two during the Thunder and Lightning run and shaved almost a minute from those times to set new personal records.

“We run together at practice, and I guess you could say we use each other during the races to sort of pull each other through,” Partlow said. “If I fall back like an inch then she’s like, ‘Don’t stop Taylor, come on, keep up beside me.’ I fall back by like just a millimeter and she’s going, ‘Don’t fall back.’”

Although the girls run side-by-side during most races, it has been Partlow, a freshman, who edges ahead near the end.

Burden, an eighth-grader, said she’s proud to be one of the team’s youngest and best contributors, but Partlow gets her toward the finish.

“Taylor always has that little pop at the end that gets her going and mine’s usually out by then,” Burden said.

Behind the North pair, Dawson freshman Amber Genseal (24:43), last year’s female individual winner, and eighth-graders Lauren Menser (24:45) and Tayler Mills (24:46) finished in order.

“This is the first time in a long time that we’ve had a group of girls three, four, five,” Lady Panther coach Leslie Mills said. “We’re working on that pack thing, we just have to move them closer to the front. That’s something we’ve been working on all year.”

Also finishing in the top 10 for Dawson Springs was Elizabeth Black (ninth, 25:41) and Sarah Huddleston (10th, 25:48).

After the race, Mills said she knew her girls had a good shot at the title, but admitted she did not know what North would bring to the table. With her youngest runner being a sophomore, Mills said, “We’re going to keep doing this hopefully for a while.”

The Lady Storm boasted two top-10 finishes in Mattie Russell and Kaylee Smith. Both endured a rough final 100 yards, edging out the opposition by mere seconds.

Russell (sixth, 25:26) held off North’s Emily Gallegos (seventh, 25:28), while Smith (eighth, 25:40) beat out Dawson’s Black.

“I was very pleased with their races,” Lady Storm coach Kent Akin said. “That was their best times of the year. This is the third time Mattie has made the All-County team. This was her best finish in the All-County in finishing sixth.”

I thought Kaylee showed a lot of courage out there. I know she had little things that were bothering her. She ran the race and gutted it out there through the second-quarter of the mile and then she finished real strong. I was real pleased with those two today.”

On the boys’ side, in addition to Ipock, Central’s Corey Eakins (third, 19:16), Nick Richey (fifth, 19:39) and Connor Moore (seventh, 20:07) finished in the top 10.

Eakins chopped off 29 seconds from his previous race to set a new personal record and Womack said it was his performance that stood out above the rest.

“Corey is my captain for a reason,” Womack said. “He is a leader. He’s not the fastest guy like Wesley is, but Wesley is playing soccer. Corey is with them every day at practice and he’s like an assistant coach for me.”

For him to go out there and...just lay it all out there, that’s big and I think it rubbed off on Connor and it rubbed off on Nick Richey, and I think it kind of also rubbed off on some of these freshman.”

Landon Griffith (22:12) also finished just outside the top 10 in 12th place.

“Landon Griffith, this was his first big race for us and he did really good today,” Womack said.

The Maroons had three top 10 finishers, led by Micah Adams (second, 19:14).

Like many high-school athletes, Adams is splitting time this fall between two fall sports, but Adams has chosen to play two sports that incorporate lots of running in soccer and cross country.

North would have been unable to post a boys team score without his presence Tuesday.

“I just wish he would train with us, but he’s at soccer,” coach Kris Wallace said. “I’m just glad to see that he’s here.”

Maroon Gary Bozeman also broke the 20-minute mark at 19:56 to take sixth overall and teammate Brad Frederick finished two spots behind at 20:37.

Despite finishing in last place as a team, the Panthers had three top 10 finishes in Colton Chapple (fourth, 19:22), Ryan McKnight (ninth, 20:41) and Dayton Reed (10th, 21:27).

Team standings

Boys

1. Central – 28

2. North – 40

3. Dawson Springs – 54

Team standings

Girls

1. Dawson Springs – 31

2. North – 34

3. Central – 68

Other runners competing included the following:

Boys

Central: Trey McBride (15th, 24:20), Donovan Dillingham (16th, 25:55), Brandon Holeman (17th, 27:17), Chase Miller (19th, 25:30)

Dawson: Ryne Bruch (14th, 24:08), Austin Stevens (18th, 27:33)

North: Austen Schuknecht (11th, 21:27), Aaron Poe (13th, 23:45)

Girls

Central: Crystal White (20th, 30:00), Sara Fleischmann (23rd, 31:00), Kendall Bryan (24th, 31:53), Kaitlin Moore (29th, 34:43)

Dawson: Demi Mitchell (12th, 26:30), India Robinson (14th, 27:09), Maranda Starks (15th, 27:21), Rihana McKnight (16th, 28:12)

North: Haley Barfield (11th, 25:50), Rachel Dorris (13th, 26:40), Karah Gill (17th, 28:27), Sasha Ndlovu (18th, 28:29), Nikki Johnson (19th, 28:48), Margaret Soder (21st, 30:09), Koya Baker (22nd, 30:28), Mariah White (25th, 32:01), Hilary Fisher (26th, 32:31), Kaylie Shelton (27th, 33:02), Chelsea Britt (28th, 33:50), Justice Staggs (30th, 40:47)