October 18, 2004

Banfich dominates regional

Lauer second in cold, wind at Culver

AREA: HS CROSS COUNTRY

By TIM CREASON
Tribune Correspondent

CULVER -- The thing is, she made it look easy.

Surging away from the field, almost as if someone flipped a switch, putting the length of a football field between herself and some of the area's best high school runners in about the time it takes to tie your shoes.

That's the way Alex Banfich won Saturday's IHSAA girls cross country regional at Culver Academy.

Not just won it, but broke the regional record, clocking 14:42.4 despite a stiff, frigid wind that threatened to blow the Culver Academy freshman right off the 4,000 meter (2.5 mile) course.

Defending champion Caity Lauer of Adams finished 25 seconds behind. Penn ace Laura Carr, coming off an injury but still running, was another 10 seconds back in third.

"I'm extremely surprised," said Banfich, who was mobbed by friends and family as she came out of the finish chute. "I never thought I would win like this. I've been hearing about Laura Carr for so long, and Caity Lauer, I was scared to death. I was just hoping to stay with them for as long as I could."

As it was, she only stayed with them about a mile, pacing behind the two leaders in the early going. Then Banfich took off, opening a 12 second lead by the time she reached the hill and leaving Carr and Lauer to battle for second.

Banfich remains unbeaten, and has yet to be truly tested this season.

"I assume that will change next week," said Culver Academy coach Mike Chastain, who watched in amazement as the regional race unfolded. "There will be some extremely fast girls at the (New Prairie) semistate. I'm just as interested to see what happens as everyone else."

The top five teams and top 15 individual finishers at a regional advance to semistate competition.

Banfich will be joined at New Prairie by her Culver Academy teammates, who gave No. 16-ranked Penn a tough race for the girls title but fell 17 points short.

The Kingsmen placed four runners among the top 10 finishers and totaled 40 points.

Freshman Sarah Hutchings was fifth, Nina Chaudhary eighth and Christine Cummings 10th.

Culver Academy, which actually put five runners in front of Penn's No. 5, scored 57.

Bremen finished third to earn its first-ever trip to semistate. Adams was fourth and Mishawaka nipped Clay by one point for the final girls qualifying spot.

Penn also claimed its eighth consecutive boys regional championship, fending off a stiff early challenge from Rochester.

Kingsman leader Brent Snyder finished second in a dandy 5,000-meter (3.1 mile) race to the wire with Rochester's Troy Pryor. The Zebra senior surged with 400 meters to go and won in 16:34.4. Snyder clocked 16:39.9.

Culver Academy's Joe Stamper was third.

"I tried a new strategy," said Pryor, who finished second to Stamper at the Logansport sectional. "I let the other guys control the pace for 2-1/2 miles and then I threw in a big surge at the end."

Penn coupled Snyder's second with a fourth place from Thor Brown and 16th from Mike Jensen on its way to 63 points. Rochester had 96.

Mishawaka totaled 107 in third, while Culver Academy was fourth and St. Joseph's fifth to round out the boys semistate qualifiers.

"This is the best team performance we've had all season, the boys and girls both," said Penn coach Tom Miller. "We've been drilling into them all week that they had to step it up today, and they responded."

IHSAA CROSS COUNTRY REGIONAL

Team scores: Penn 63, Rochester 96, Mishawaka 107, Culver Academy 120, St. Joseph's 127, Plymouth 133, Marian 135, Peru 175, Adams 177, Pioneer 244.

Top 20 finishers: 1, Troy Pryor (Roc) 16:34.4. 2, Brent Snyder (Penn) 16:39.9. 3, Joseph Stamper (Culver Academy) 16:48.1. 4, Thor Brown (Penn) 16:55.2. 5, Thomas Conroy (Adams) 16:58.4. 6, Daniel Neidlinger (Ply) 17:08.8. 7, Calon Naragon (Mish) 17:11.8. 8, Tony Pryor (Roc) 17:17.5. 9, Conrad Warder (Peru) 17:18.8. 10, Paul Mackowiak (St. Joe) 17:23.8. 11, Theodore Ebner (Culver Academy) 17:24.2. 12, James Roush (Riley) 17:29.2. 13, Chris Brown (Clay) 17:31.7. 14, Michael Dunbar (Clay) 17:35.4. 15, Cody Siblisk (Peru) 17:36.9. 16, Mike Jensen (Penn) 17:38.8. 17, Michael McDonald (St. Joe) 17:42.5. 18, Craig Padgett (Mish) 17:45.3. 19, David Caldwell (Ply) 17:46.0. 20, David Schroeder (Penn) 17:46.9.

GIRLS

Team scores: Penn 40, Culver Girls Academy 57, Bremen 123, Adams 137, Mishawaka 141, Clay 142, Maconaquah 159, Plymouth 183, Lewis Cass 203, Winamac 240.

Top 20 finishers: 1, Alexandra Banfich (Culver Academy) 14:42.4. 2, Caitlin Lauer (Adams) 15:07.9. 3, Laura Carr (Penn) 15:17.0. 4, Mary Cate Quiett (Marian) 15:18.0. 5, Sarah Hutchings (Penn) 15:18.4. 6, Kelsey Nielsen (Bre) 15:29.7. 7, Julia Rodriquez (Ply) 15:38.1. 8, Nina Chaudhary (Penn) 15:42.4. 9, Tiffany Fowler (Riley) 15:45.5. 10, Christine Cummings (Penn) 15:45.8. 11, Ashley Clifford (Culver Academy) 15:49.1. 12, Megan Holzwart (Ply) 15:49.5. 13, Joanna Patterson (Adams) 15:50.0. 14, Katelyn Eberhardt (Mish) 15:55.9. 15, Samantha Hartsough (Bre) 15:56.4. 16, Elise Hoover (Culver Academy) 16:02.9. 17, Danielle Lewis (Clay) 16:04.8. 18, Hannah Martin (Culver Academy) 16:08.6. 19, Kiley Trennepohl (Culver Academy) 16:09.5. 20, Whitney Cullen (Penn) 16:09.8.

NOTE: Top five teams and top 15 individual finishers in each race advance to New Prairie semistate on Saturday, Oct. 23.