Wawasee CC Team Soars To 10th At State
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
BLOOMINGTON -ÊWawasee's Rob Chalfant and Triton's Nate Gephart each earned All-State cross country honors, and Wawasee's team placed 10th out of 20 teams at the Indiana State Cross Country Meet Saturday in Bloomington.
Gephart's time of 15:54 was good enough for 12th place overall. It was the highest placing ever for a Triton runner.
"He broke the school record he set the previous week at the semistate," said Triton coach Curt Kreft.
"He ran really well. We told him to run the first two miles hard to get a good position, and then it was all guts and effort after that. It was really exciting."
But it was not Gephart's first trip to Bloomington for the state meet.
"Last year as a sophomore, Nate placed 64th and felt he had a bad race," said Kreft. "He really wanted to redeem himself with a good strong race this year."
Wawasee's team had a strong race as well, placing 10th out of 20 teams and above Northern Lakes Conference co-champion Northridge, which was 18th overall.
All of the boys teams in the race were ranked in the top 20. The Warriors moved up as they entered the race No. 19. They finished ahead of DeKalb, the team that won the regional and semistate that Wawasee competed in.
"We talked about if we really ran well, if every kid in at least the top five ran a super race we might be somewhere around 14th or 15th, somewhere in that area," said Wawasee coach Dave Stookey. "I don't think we felt we were going to place 10th."
Chalfant led the Wariors by placing 22nd overall with a time of 16:06, while Flaco Perales was close behind at 31st with a 16:17. Ryan Stichter, Wawasee's No. 3 runner, ran a 16:32 and placed 50th overall.
"If you totaled the times of our first three guys, Rob, Flaco and Ryan," said Stookey, "they were ahead of the first threes in all the other teams except the first four. I think that was a key for us there."
Curt Farrell (90th, 17:20) and Matt Dunithan (160th, 18:03) rounded out Wawasee's top five. Simon Hernandez and Eric Gingerich placed 165th and 166th overall to round out the Warrior competitors.
"All our runners really ran an outstanding race," said Stookey.
Luke Stoffel, who has been Wawasee's No. 4 runner most of the season, did not run in the state meet due to illness.
"Luke Stoffel has basically run third or fourth for us during the year," said Stookey. "He started running a temp the day before the race, and he was not able to run on race day so we had to put our eighth runner in the race."
But Wawasee was not sure if Stoffel would feel up to running until just before the race.
"We didn't find out that Luke was not going to run until noon," said Stookey. "It was really a downer, but we got together and talked as a team. All year we have talked about taking it up a notch and stepping in to help pick someone up. We just said we had to do that again. It's just fabulous how well they did it."
Area runners fared well on a course that was much different than many northern Indiana teams experience during the regular season.
"It was very hilly compared to the courses in northern Indiana," said Kreft. "We had Nate training on hills for the last few weeks and I think it helped him."
"There is no comparision between that course and the course at Manchester (where Wawasee ran in the regional and semistate)," said Stookey. There are lots of hills and it is a difficult course."
Chalfant and Gephart will appear in an All-State publication featuring the top 25 cross country runners.
Valparaiso swept the boys and girls races, and Franklin Central's Aaron Fisher won the individual race for the third year in a row. Fisher's time of 15:12 bested his nearest competitor by 12 seconds. It was the first time a person has won three consecutive titles since 1946, '47, and '48 when Anderson's John Stayton accomplished the feat.
Valparaiso won with a team score of 79. Wawasee had a team score of 276 to edge DeKalb by one point.
Teams -Ê1. Valparaiso 79, 2. Carmel 111, 3. Lawrence North 127, 4. Franklin Community 147, 5. Warren Central 215, 6. Lake Central 246, 7. Penn 251, 8. Brown County 259, 9. Bloomington North 273, 10. Wawasee 276, 11. DeKalb 277, 12. North Central 291, 13. Portage 307, 14. Chesterton 330, 15. FW Northrop 337, 16. Bedford North Lawrence 340, 17. Northview 357, 18. Northridge3 91, 19. Norwell 415, 20. Castle 461
Top 25 individuals -Ê1. Aaron Fisher (Franklin Central) 15:12; 2. Michael Hashel (Winamac), 15:24; 3. Kaleb Vanort (DeKalb), 15:41; 4. David Welch (Bloomington North), 15:44; 5. Charlie Keoppen (Carmel), 15:44; 6. Steve Vrska (Chesterton) 15:49; 7. Eric Redman (North Central), 15:49; 8. Bret Grover (Bluffton), 15:50; 9. Nich Kruse (Lake Central), 15:52; 10. Robert Smitson (Brebeuff Jesuit), 15:52; 11. Joe Dillabaugh (Valparaiso), 15:52; 12. Nathan Gephart (Triton), 15:54; 13. Aaron Harding (Warren Central) 15:55; 14. Eric Fleming (Valparaiso), 15:56; 15. Chase Christy (Zionsville), 15:59; 16. Benjamin Allen (South Bend Riley), 16:00; 17. Josh Wolfe (DeKalb)16:00; 18. Jeff Kent (Valparaiso), 16:01; 19. Travis Moyer (Mishawaka Marian), 16:02; 20. Seth Aydt (Gibson Southern), 16:04; 21. Jeff Powers (Franklin Community), 16:05; 22. Rob Chalfant (Wawasee), 16:06; 23. Cody Brown (Central Noble), 16:08; 24. Sean Threewits (Union City), 16:08; 25. Thomas Wolfe (Fairfield), 16:10
Other Wawasee finishers -Ê31. Flaco Perales, 16:17; 50. Ryan Stichter, 16:32; 124. Curtis Farrell, 17:20; 160. Matt Dunithan, 18:03; 165. Simon Hernandez, 18:18; 166. Eric Gingerich 18:18 [[In-content Ad]]
BLOOMINGTON -ÊWawasee's Rob Chalfant and Triton's Nate Gephart each earned All-State cross country honors, and Wawasee's team placed 10th out of 20 teams at the Indiana State Cross Country Meet Saturday in Bloomington.
Gephart's time of 15:54 was good enough for 12th place overall. It was the highest placing ever for a Triton runner.
"He broke the school record he set the previous week at the semistate," said Triton coach Curt Kreft.
"He ran really well. We told him to run the first two miles hard to get a good position, and then it was all guts and effort after that. It was really exciting."
But it was not Gephart's first trip to Bloomington for the state meet.
"Last year as a sophomore, Nate placed 64th and felt he had a bad race," said Kreft. "He really wanted to redeem himself with a good strong race this year."
Wawasee's team had a strong race as well, placing 10th out of 20 teams and above Northern Lakes Conference co-champion Northridge, which was 18th overall.
All of the boys teams in the race were ranked in the top 20. The Warriors moved up as they entered the race No. 19. They finished ahead of DeKalb, the team that won the regional and semistate that Wawasee competed in.
"We talked about if we really ran well, if every kid in at least the top five ran a super race we might be somewhere around 14th or 15th, somewhere in that area," said Wawasee coach Dave Stookey. "I don't think we felt we were going to place 10th."
Chalfant led the Wariors by placing 22nd overall with a time of 16:06, while Flaco Perales was close behind at 31st with a 16:17. Ryan Stichter, Wawasee's No. 3 runner, ran a 16:32 and placed 50th overall.
"If you totaled the times of our first three guys, Rob, Flaco and Ryan," said Stookey, "they were ahead of the first threes in all the other teams except the first four. I think that was a key for us there."
Curt Farrell (90th, 17:20) and Matt Dunithan (160th, 18:03) rounded out Wawasee's top five. Simon Hernandez and Eric Gingerich placed 165th and 166th overall to round out the Warrior competitors.
"All our runners really ran an outstanding race," said Stookey.
Luke Stoffel, who has been Wawasee's No. 4 runner most of the season, did not run in the state meet due to illness.
"Luke Stoffel has basically run third or fourth for us during the year," said Stookey. "He started running a temp the day before the race, and he was not able to run on race day so we had to put our eighth runner in the race."
But Wawasee was not sure if Stoffel would feel up to running until just before the race.
"We didn't find out that Luke was not going to run until noon," said Stookey. "It was really a downer, but we got together and talked as a team. All year we have talked about taking it up a notch and stepping in to help pick someone up. We just said we had to do that again. It's just fabulous how well they did it."
Area runners fared well on a course that was much different than many northern Indiana teams experience during the regular season.
"It was very hilly compared to the courses in northern Indiana," said Kreft. "We had Nate training on hills for the last few weeks and I think it helped him."
"There is no comparision between that course and the course at Manchester (where Wawasee ran in the regional and semistate)," said Stookey. There are lots of hills and it is a difficult course."
Chalfant and Gephart will appear in an All-State publication featuring the top 25 cross country runners.
Valparaiso swept the boys and girls races, and Franklin Central's Aaron Fisher won the individual race for the third year in a row. Fisher's time of 15:12 bested his nearest competitor by 12 seconds. It was the first time a person has won three consecutive titles since 1946, '47, and '48 when Anderson's John Stayton accomplished the feat.
Valparaiso won with a team score of 79. Wawasee had a team score of 276 to edge DeKalb by one point.
Teams -Ê1. Valparaiso 79, 2. Carmel 111, 3. Lawrence North 127, 4. Franklin Community 147, 5. Warren Central 215, 6. Lake Central 246, 7. Penn 251, 8. Brown County 259, 9. Bloomington North 273, 10. Wawasee 276, 11. DeKalb 277, 12. North Central 291, 13. Portage 307, 14. Chesterton 330, 15. FW Northrop 337, 16. Bedford North Lawrence 340, 17. Northview 357, 18. Northridge3 91, 19. Norwell 415, 20. Castle 461
Top 25 individuals -Ê1. Aaron Fisher (Franklin Central) 15:12; 2. Michael Hashel (Winamac), 15:24; 3. Kaleb Vanort (DeKalb), 15:41; 4. David Welch (Bloomington North), 15:44; 5. Charlie Keoppen (Carmel), 15:44; 6. Steve Vrska (Chesterton) 15:49; 7. Eric Redman (North Central), 15:49; 8. Bret Grover (Bluffton), 15:50; 9. Nich Kruse (Lake Central), 15:52; 10. Robert Smitson (Brebeuff Jesuit), 15:52; 11. Joe Dillabaugh (Valparaiso), 15:52; 12. Nathan Gephart (Triton), 15:54; 13. Aaron Harding (Warren Central) 15:55; 14. Eric Fleming (Valparaiso), 15:56; 15. Chase Christy (Zionsville), 15:59; 16. Benjamin Allen (South Bend Riley), 16:00; 17. Josh Wolfe (DeKalb)16:00; 18. Jeff Kent (Valparaiso), 16:01; 19. Travis Moyer (Mishawaka Marian), 16:02; 20. Seth Aydt (Gibson Southern), 16:04; 21. Jeff Powers (Franklin Community), 16:05; 22. Rob Chalfant (Wawasee), 16:06; 23. Cody Brown (Central Noble), 16:08; 24. Sean Threewits (Union City), 16:08; 25. Thomas Wolfe (Fairfield), 16:10
Other Wawasee finishers -Ê31. Flaco Perales, 16:17; 50. Ryan Stichter, 16:32; 124. Curtis Farrell, 17:20; 160. Matt Dunithan, 18:03; 165. Simon Hernandez, 18:18; 166. Eric Gingerich 18:18 [[In-content Ad]]