NORTH MANCHESTER - As the announcer read off the places where the girls finished, Terry Screeton paced at the bottom of the hill behind the sea of people gathered for Saturday's cross country regional at Manchester High School.

The Tippecanoe Valley cross country coach kept his head bowed, looking at the ground as he walked back and forth. He was hoping for the best, but preparing himself for any disappointment.

He heard the announcer say (read from worst to first) Columbia City, Western, Marion and Eastern. Then he heard him say Tippecanoe Valley.

The Vikings finished sixth. If they would have finished fifth, the whole team would have competed at the Manchester Semistate next Saturday.

"We knew we had to beat Oak Hill, Kokomo or Eastern, two of those three schools," Screeton said. "We beat one of them, but we didn't get Kokomo or Oak Hill. We've been chasing Oak Hill all year."

Valley finished sixth with 139 points, while Oak Hill was fifth with 108 and Kokomo fourth with 102. Northfield won the race with 50 points. Carroll's Stephanie Magley, who won the regional last year, won it again with a time of 14:43.

Screeton's day was far from a disaster. One of his runners, Jenny Day, placed 10th overall with a time of 15:46. Because Day was in the top 15, she will move on to semistate.

"She put in a lot of time this summer," Screeton said. "She's run faster this year than at any other time in her career. That's due to the time she put in the summer. It's shown."

Two other Vikings cracked the top 21. Tamar Strohschein was 18th with a time of 16:12, while Sarah Kindig was 21st with a time of 16:13.

Strohschein and Kindig set personal records, while Day finished one second behind her best time.

"Our top three ran as well as they could possibly run," Screeton said. "We had three in the top 21. That's good. Our four and five (runners), we just needed them up a little bit."

Alas, that was the problem. After Kindig, the next Viking - Emily Jackson - finished 55th out of 75 runners. That gap between 21 and 55 swallowed the Vikings.

After Jackson, Valley's Julia Honig placed 62nd, Carrie Whetstone 67th and Kelly Kamp 69th.

Boys: Whitko Places 10th

Whitko's boys team placed 10th out of 10 teams in Saturday's Manchester Regional.

Northfield swept the day by winning the boys' race with a score of 57. Northfield's Chad Andrews won the race with a time of 15:47.

Manchester's team didn't compete at the regional, but the Squires sent one runner. Jeremy 16:57, just making the cut for semistate.

Scott Ervin led the Wildcats by placing 45th out of 74 runners. Tylen Hull was 49th, Daryl Nicodemus 50th, Jered Deckena 60th, Mike McKeighen 63rd, Micah Moncrief 70th and Phil Fetro 73rd.

This is how Whitko's day went: McKeighen won several races for the Wildcats this season, but he was fifth-best on his team at the regional. Deckena previously won a few races.

McKeighen and Deckena labored for legitimate reasons

"I know the kids are a little disappointed," Whitko coach Steve Hoopingarner said. "Mike McKeighen's back was bothering him again. He didn't run very much this week.

"You never know what to count on. You never know what the weather will be like for Jered. Will it be good enough for him to run, or will it be too cold?

"When Jered was younger, he had something that scarred the tissues in his bronchial tubes. In any cold weather, it's hard for him to breathe. It doesn't take much cold to affect him."

Ervin's time of 17:53 was his second-best this season. Because he and everyone else except Deckena will return next year, Hoopingarner chalked this one up to a bad day and nothing else.

"Things just didn't click," he said. "Our times weren't the best. We knew we would have to have some (personal records) to be right in there.

"Last year we didn't even make it out of sectional. We were sixth. We've improved. Our goal all year was to be in the top three in the conference. We made that."

GIRLS (TEAM RESULTS): 1. Northfield 50, 2. Carroll 68, 3. Huntington North 84, 4. Kokomo 102, 5. Oak Hill 108, 6. TIPPECANOE VALLEY 139, 7. Eastern 177, 8. Marion 185, 9. Western 216, 10. Columbia City 232

Tippecanoe Valley results: 10. Jenny Day 15:46, 18. Tamar Strohschein 16:12, 21. Sarah Kindig 16:13, 55. Emily Jackson 17:26, 62. Julia Honig 17:47, 67. Carrie Whetstone 18:23, 69. Kelly Kamp 18:42

Top 15 times: 1. Stephanie Magley (CAR) 14:43, *2. Stacy Clapp (Churubusco) 14:57, 3. Natalie Guenin (NOR) 15:02, 4. Candace Carrothers (NOR) 15:20, *5. Ilia Smith (Northwestern) 15:32, 6. Christin Tyner (OH) 15:35, 7. Page Mirante (NOR) 15:37, 8. Bethanay Hoyle (CAR) 15:39, 9. Elizabeth Sehr (KOK) 15:39, 10. Jenny Day (TV) 15:46, *11. Erin Reep (Northwestern) 15:46, *12. Megan Nunnally (TriCentral) 15:49, 13. Sabrina Cohee (HN) 15:50, 14. Bethany Hudson (CAR) 15:58, 15. Beth Saddler (EAS) 16:00

* individuals who advanced, but team did not.

BOYS (TEAM RESULTS): 1. Northfield 57, 2. Carroll 66, 3. Huntington North 82, 4. Marion 91, 5. Wabash 125, 6. Eastern 140, 7. Kokomo 174, 8. Northwestern 203, 9. Tipton 236, 10. WHITKO 237

Whitko results: 45. Scott Ervin 17:53, 49. Tylen Hull 17:59, 50. Daryl Nicodemus 18:00, 60. Jered Dekena 18:18, 63. Mike McKeighen 18:22, 70. Micah Moncrief 19:02, 73. Phil Fetro 19:14

Manchester result: 15. Jeremy Stacy 16:57

Top 15 times: 1. Chad Andrews (NOR) 15:47, 2. Kurtis George (WAB) 15:52, 3. Cameron Norris (HN) 16:01, 4. David Rudy (NW) 16:24, 5. Paige Brunner (MAR) 16:36, 6. Steve Girardot (CAR) 16:39, 7. Mike Summers (EAS) 16:41, 8. Jason Parks (NOR) 16:47, 9. Josh Eckert (HN) 16:48, *10. Matt Sneed (Eastbrook) 16:49, *11. Brett Hamilton (Madison-Grant) 16:51, 12. Paul Trahin (CAR) 16:53, 13. Cody McClure (NOR) 16:53, 14. Joe Cotton (HN) 16:54, *15. Jeremy Stacy (Manchester) 16:57

*individuals who advanced but team did not.

Top 15 individuals and top five teams advance to Manchester Semistate. [[In-content Ad]]