A 'Noble' Effort From Wawasee Boys Harriers
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SYRACUSE - Dave Stookey knew it has been a while, but how long exactly he didn't know. Brian Shepherd figured it has been at least 10 years.
Wawasee's boys cross country team beat West Noble 27-28 in a Thursday meet.
"This is my eighth year," Shepherd, West Noble's cross country coach, said. "I know it's been at least 10 years since we lost to them."
"You don't know how long it's been since we beat them," Stookey said. "I'd have to go look at the books. This is as close as you can get. There's other people I'd rather beat, but I'll take it."
While Shepherd had the results figured in his head as soon as the race ended, Stookey wasn't so sure.
Wawasee runner Pete Melendez got passed only a few feet from the finish line by a West Noble runner and finished ninth instead of eighth. Stookey thought that may have cost Wawasee the win, and he knew that West Noble cranks out talented cross country teams on a yearly basis, so he wasn't about to relax until he saw the official score.
He fretted for nothing.
Wawasee's Jerad Stoffel finished second, while teammate Jeff Moerchen finished third.
"We knew coming in Wawasee was a good team," Shepherd said. "We knew what we had to do. Some of us did the job, and some of us didn't. There's always the next race."
Any fretting and suspense was taken away early in the girls race, a race that was all West Noble.
The West Noble girls entered ranked sixth, and they lived up to their billing in their first race of the season, winning 15-47. Four West Noble girls crossed the finish line at the same time, as if they were a moving wall, for the first four places.
At cross country races, you see exhausted kids collapsing in heaps and others crying. Not these four West Noble girls. They barely looked like they broke a sweat, and none were bent over at the waste, tugging on their shorts or gasping for breaths.
When the fifth-place runner crossed just seconds later, also from West Noble, one of the first four still had the energy to scold her teammate. "Don't look back," she said.
Wawasee's top girl, Megan Hoffman, finished sixth.
The only confusion on the day came on the course's direction. Near the end of the girls race, several officials yelled at the girls to make sure they turned at a flag. In the boys race, Moerchen nearly ran a second cross country lap. People screamed at him, and only at the last second did everything click. He had to make a sharp left turn to get over to the finish line.
The Wawasee girls (0-1) and Wawasee boys (1-0) compete in Saturday's 9 a.m. Prairie Heights Invitational.
Even though the races had ended, Wawasee's day had not. Afterward Stookey, his forest green Wawasee cap perched on his head, stalked around with his right hand on his hip and barked, "Both squads stay here for practice. Practice. That's how you get good."
On this day, practice was what Stookey called "a three-mile warmdown" run.
BOYS: WAWASEE 27, WEST NOBLE 28
Top finishers for Wawasee (times not available): 2. Jerad Stoffel, 3. Jeff Moerchen, 6. Rob Chalfant, 7. Dustin Young, 9. Pete Melendez, 13. Curtis Shoemaker, 15. Curt Farrell
GIRLS: WEST NOBLE 15, WAWASEE 47
Top finishers for Wawasee (times not available): 6. Megan Hoffman, 9. Katie McCauley, 11. Alisha Henderson, 12. Stephanie Huffman, 14. Laura Lundin, 15. Brenda Wong, 16. Mandy Sawyer [[In-content Ad]]
SYRACUSE - Dave Stookey knew it has been a while, but how long exactly he didn't know. Brian Shepherd figured it has been at least 10 years.
Wawasee's boys cross country team beat West Noble 27-28 in a Thursday meet.
"This is my eighth year," Shepherd, West Noble's cross country coach, said. "I know it's been at least 10 years since we lost to them."
"You don't know how long it's been since we beat them," Stookey said. "I'd have to go look at the books. This is as close as you can get. There's other people I'd rather beat, but I'll take it."
While Shepherd had the results figured in his head as soon as the race ended, Stookey wasn't so sure.
Wawasee runner Pete Melendez got passed only a few feet from the finish line by a West Noble runner and finished ninth instead of eighth. Stookey thought that may have cost Wawasee the win, and he knew that West Noble cranks out talented cross country teams on a yearly basis, so he wasn't about to relax until he saw the official score.
He fretted for nothing.
Wawasee's Jerad Stoffel finished second, while teammate Jeff Moerchen finished third.
"We knew coming in Wawasee was a good team," Shepherd said. "We knew what we had to do. Some of us did the job, and some of us didn't. There's always the next race."
Any fretting and suspense was taken away early in the girls race, a race that was all West Noble.
The West Noble girls entered ranked sixth, and they lived up to their billing in their first race of the season, winning 15-47. Four West Noble girls crossed the finish line at the same time, as if they were a moving wall, for the first four places.
At cross country races, you see exhausted kids collapsing in heaps and others crying. Not these four West Noble girls. They barely looked like they broke a sweat, and none were bent over at the waste, tugging on their shorts or gasping for breaths.
When the fifth-place runner crossed just seconds later, also from West Noble, one of the first four still had the energy to scold her teammate. "Don't look back," she said.
Wawasee's top girl, Megan Hoffman, finished sixth.
The only confusion on the day came on the course's direction. Near the end of the girls race, several officials yelled at the girls to make sure they turned at a flag. In the boys race, Moerchen nearly ran a second cross country lap. People screamed at him, and only at the last second did everything click. He had to make a sharp left turn to get over to the finish line.
The Wawasee girls (0-1) and Wawasee boys (1-0) compete in Saturday's 9 a.m. Prairie Heights Invitational.
Even though the races had ended, Wawasee's day had not. Afterward Stookey, his forest green Wawasee cap perched on his head, stalked around with his right hand on his hip and barked, "Both squads stay here for practice. Practice. That's how you get good."
On this day, practice was what Stookey called "a three-mile warmdown" run.
BOYS: WAWASEE 27, WEST NOBLE 28
Top finishers for Wawasee (times not available): 2. Jerad Stoffel, 3. Jeff Moerchen, 6. Rob Chalfant, 7. Dustin Young, 9. Pete Melendez, 13. Curtis Shoemaker, 15. Curt Farrell
GIRLS: WEST NOBLE 15, WAWASEE 47
Top finishers for Wawasee (times not available): 6. Megan Hoffman, 9. Katie McCauley, 11. Alisha Henderson, 12. Stephanie Huffman, 14. Laura Lundin, 15. Brenda Wong, 16. Mandy Sawyer [[In-content Ad]]