Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
CULVER -ÊTriton cross country coach Curt Kreft went one for two in his predictions.
Problem is, the prediction he didn't get right was the one he wished he would have gotten right.
Last Wednesday, Kreft said he had his girls' team finishing sixth in Saturday's Culver Military Academy Regional. The regional came and went, and sure enough, Triton's girls finished sixth. The sixth place was not high enough to get them to semistate, as only the top five teams advance.
While Kreft knew his girls would have to put together their best meet of the year to advance to Saturday's New Prairie Semistate, he had big-time hopes for his boys' team.
The Trojans won the Logansport Sectional, capturing only the second sectional championship in the high school's history. If they run like they ran at the sectional, they should take second or third and advance to the semistate, Kreft said.
But the Trojans didn't take second. They didn't take third. And they didn't finish in the top five. Instead, they settled for eighth place out of 10 teams.
Penn won the boys' race with a score of 45 and was followed by South Bend Clay with 79, Mishawaka with 112, Winamac with 127 and South Bend Adams with 128. Triton scored 171.
South Bend St. Joseph's won the girls' race with a score of 66 and was followed by Penn with 74, South Bend Adams with 97, Lewis Cass with 118 and Winamac with 136. Triton scored 152.
Triton's top two runners in both races performed as expected.
Triton's Mason McIntyre took second with a time of 16:38, finishing 11 seconds behind Culver Military Academy's Dan Sweet. Triton teammate Nate Gephart took fourth with a time of 16:47.
Triton's Reghan Kreft finished ninth in the girls' race with a time of 15:57, while Triton teammate Shelly Miller took 13th with a time of 16:00. Winamac's Lauren Bechtold won the race with a time of 15:01.
"Our girls' team was sixth, which was where I had them," Kreft said. "A lot of them ran their personal-best times."
The top 15 individuals advance to Saturday's New Prairie Semistate, so these four Triton runners will make the trip.
As good as these four are, Kreft said all along they are not the key to Triton's success. The Triton boys went 11-0 and Triton girls 9-2 in dual meets. The key to both teams, Kreft said, is the No. 3 runner.
For the boys, it is Wes Rettinger. For the girls, it is Cassandra McIntyre. These two runners in the middle help spark Triton's remaining runners.
And the No. 3 spot is where it went all wrong for the Triton boys. After McIntyre and Gephart finished in the top four, no other Triton runner finished in the top 50 in the 75-man race.
At the Logansport Sectional, Triton's third-place runner was Rettinger, who took 14th. At the Culver Military Academy Regional, Rettinger, Triton's third-place runner, finished 59th with a time of 18:43.
"We ended up eighth, can you believe it?" Kreft said. "We ran our worst meet of the year."
Turns out, injuries hit Triton at the worst time. Rettinger didn't run three days during the week because he strained his hamstring. Then Friday night, hours before the regional, Brandon Zeider twisted his ankle playing basketball. Zeider, who has been Triton's fourth or fifth runner, saw his ankle balloon to twice its normal size.
Like Rettinger, Zeider ran at the regional.
"Whether the injuries just put a negative tone on the week, or whether we had already peaked, I don't know," Kreft said. "Brandon tried.
"We wanted to go to semistate, but I told the guys again that we won the sectional championship, and no one can take that away from us."
1998 CULVER MILITARY ACADEMY CROSS COUNTRY REGIONAL
Saturday results
Boys -Ê1. Penn 45, 2. South Bend Clay 79, 3. Mishawaka 112, 4. Winamac 127, 5. South Bend Adams 128, 6. Lewis Cass 167, 7. Pioneer 171, 8. Triton 171, 9. Plymouth 184, 10. South Bend St. Joseph's 237
Top 15 times - 1. Dan Sweet (Culver Military Academy) 16:27, 2. Mason McIntyre (Triton) 16:38, 3. Michael Haschel (Winamac) 16:42, 4. Nathan Gephart (Triton) 16:47, 5. Nicholas Stefaniak (Penn) 16:49, 6. Nathan Rupert (SB Clay) 16:57, 7. Patrick White (SB Clay) 16:59, 8. Corey Rzepka (Penn) 17:03, 9. Andy Hendricks (Mishawaka) 17:04, 10. Dan Burk (Penn) 17:05, 11. Andrew Fritz (Winamac) 17:07, 12. Josh Dipert (Mishawaka) 17:10, 13. Jason Beisel (Penn) 17:11, 14. Kyle Rzepka (Penn) 17:11, 15. William Hosuton (SB Adams) 17:12
Other Triton results -Ê59. Wes Rettinger 18:43, 61. Brandon Zeider 18:46, 62. Ryan Klotz 18:48, 63. Jason Bules 18:56, 64. Jason Lemler 19:02
Girls -Ê1. South Bend St. Joseph's 66, 2. Penn 74, 3. South Bend Adams 97, 4. Lewis Cass 118, 5. Winamac 136, 6. Triton 152, 7. Maconaquah 155, 8. South Bend Clay 169, 9. South Bend Riley 194, 10. Logansport 215
Top 15 times - 1. Lauren Bechtold (Winamac) 15:01, 2. Jessica Chaplin (Maconaquah) 15:04, 3. Leslie Carden (Lewis Cass) 15:37, 4. Jaymi Hartzler (Rochester) 15:41, 5. Jenel Darland (Peru) 15:46, 6. Kristin Ware (Culver Girls Academy) 15:47, 7. Kara Egan (SB St. Joseph's) 15:49, 8. Katie Ellgass (SB St. Joseph's) 15:49, 9. Reghan Kreft (Triton) 15:57, 10. Nicole Robinson (Pioneer) 15:58, 11. Laura Kagarise (SB Adams) 15:59, 12. Sarah Bowser (Lewis Cass) 15:59, 13. Shelly Miller (Triton) 16:00, 14. Rebekah Hannah (North Miami) 16:01, 15. Laura Brandner (Penn) 16:02
Other Triton results -Ê44. Cassandra McIntyre 17:31, 56. Devan Marsh 18:13, 60. Alison McClarnon 18:32, 72. Danielle Kreft 19:58, 76. Isabel Daniels 21:23
*The top 15 individuals and top five teams advance to Saturday's New Prairie Semistate.
