October 23, 2005

Culver Academy girls earn trip to state

NEW CARLISLE -- How about those Culver Academy Eagles?

Never mind what the fans thought at Saturday's New Prairie semistate cross country meet. Even their own head coach had a hard time believing what he was seeing.

"I'm just shocked," said coach Mike Chastain after Culver Academy finished fourth in the girls team standings, sending the Eagles to the IHSAA state finals for a second straight year.

Additionally, Eagle sophomore Alex Banfich won her second consecutive girls individual championship, missing the semistate course record by only nine seconds.

And in the boys meet, Culver Academy senior Joe Stamper was the Tribune area's top finisher, placing sixth overall and also earning a trip to state.

"You'd have to say it has been a good day," understated Chastain, whose girls tucked in just ahead of West Lafayette on the list of team qualifiers.

The top five teams and top 15 individual finishers advance to the state finals in Terre Haute on Oct. 29.

As expected, Valparaiso won both boys and girls semistate titles, with the No. 8-ranked Vikings edging No. 7 Chesterton in the girls meet, 53-68, and the No. 6 Valpo boys also beating Chesterton, 59-118. Portage was third in both races.

Michigan City's girls suffered the heartbreak of being sixth overall, missing a trip to state by one place and 14 points. However, senior team leader Anna Weber qualified for as an individual entrant by taking fifth in the 4,000-meter girls race with a time of 14:46.

Bremen's Kelsey Nielsen is headed to state as well, as she clocked 14:54 for sixth. And Marian's Mary Cate Quiett will make the trip after finishing 11th.

Unlike last season, when she had to miss the state meet due to a religious obligation, Quiett said she will run this year for sure.

"I've been looking forward to this a long time," she said.

Otherwise, Penn (12th overall), Plymouth (13th), St. Joseph's (15th), Adams (17th) and New Prairie (18th) all closed their girls seasons on a cold, rainy day at New Prairie High School's grounds.

In the boys semistate, no area team came close to state meet qualification. LaPorte led the local bunch with a 10th-place finish, scoring 244.

Slicer senior Anthony Hilb advanced as an individual, running 5,000 meters in 16:12.

Chesterton's Adam Martin was the boys' individual champ, clocking 15:42 to win by six seconds.

Plymouth's boys were 12th, Michigan City 14th and Mishawaka 15th overall. South Bend teams occupied the final three spots in the team standings.

"The only thing I can improve at this point is my mental approach," said Culver Academy's Stamper, a native of Greenwood. "Physically, I think I'm at a peak."

Stamper started slowly -- he was in 20th place at the mile mark -- and steadily passed runners on his way to the front of the boys field.

"That's the way I like to run it," said Stamper. "The only thing is, you have to maintain your concentration the whole time."

Banfich's victory in the girls race was no surprise. As she did a year ago, she waited till the lead pack reached the top of Agony Hill, then surged away.

"I was really nervous before the race, but once we took off, I felt fine," said Banfich, who came home unpressed in 14:28.

Valparaiso's Lauren Hardesty finished 10 seconds behind.

"I didn't know what to expect from the other girls, so I just stuck to the same race plan as last year," she said. "I wasn't expecting to run that fast."

The key to Culver Academy's team success was a minute further back. Sophomore Kiley Trennepohl and junior Hannah Goettle ran tremendous races to finish 28th and 30th, allowing the Eagles to hang on even though their next finisher was 78th.

"When I saw that gap, I really wondered if we would make it out," said Chastain. "I'm stunned that we got all the way up to fourth."

"We knew we were on the bubble," said senior captain Emily Thews, "but Kiley and Hannah really ran great races. It's up to the rest of us to run great races with them next week at state."

BOYS

TEAM SCORES: Valparaiso 59, Chesterton 118, Portage 132, Andrean 136, Crown Point 155, Lafayette Jeff 171, Lowell 222, Merrillville 239, Munster 240, LaPorte 244, Harrison (Lafayette) 282, Plymouth 297, McCutcheon 300, Michigan City 321, Mishawaka 372, Kankakee Valley 440, West Lafayette 444, Riley 453, St. Joseph's 513, Clay 530.

TOP 30 FINISHERS: 1, Adam Martin (Chesterton) 15:42.77. 2, Stephen Hein (Crown Pt.) 15:48.58. 3, Greg Strabavy (Andrean) 15:53.59. 4, Phillip Heckhausen (Portage) 16:00.02. 5, Tito Medrano (Lafayette Jeff) 16:02.15. 6, Joe Stamper (Culver Academy) 16:02.55. 7, Andrew Cleveland (Lowell) 16:09.11. 8, Henry Lee III (Gary Roosevelt) 16:09.36. 9, Kevin Nuppnau (Valpo) 16:10.60. 10, Anthony Hilb (LaPorte) 16:12.85. 11, Justin Floyd (Merrillville) 16:13.26. 12, Timothy Hennessy (Valpo) 16:13.59. 13, Billy Ryan (Valpo) 16:15.06. 14, Teddy Britton (Harrison-Lafayette) 16:16.54. 15, Edward Rico (Calumet) 16:19.13. 16, Jeff Jensen (Valpo) 16:27.87. 17, Daniel Neidlinger (Plymouth) 16:29.55. 18, J.R. Hodgen (McCutcheon) 16:31.05. 19, Chester Vanek (Chesterton) 16:33.54. 20, Craig Baumgarn (Lafayette Jeff) 16:34.28. 21, John Farrell (Valpo) 16:35.77. 22, Bob Becker (Wheeler) 16:36.23. 23, Doug Pearson (Andrean) 16:38.22. 24, Paul Wilson (Twin Lakes) 16:39.33. 25, Logan Koch (Crown Pt.) 16:41.41. 26, Donny Johnson (Valpo) 16:43.21. 27, Danny White (Munster) 16:43.51. 28, Daniel Pape (Lafayette Jeff) 16:44.44. 29, Naza Sanchez (Rensselaer) 16:44.64. 30, Cody Siblisk (Peru) 16:45.76.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES: Valparaiso 53, Chesterton 68, Portage 140, Culver Academy 178, West Lafayette 187, Michigan City 201, Lake Central 241, Southmont 266, Lafayette Jeff 277, Andrean 291, Rensselaer Central 301, Penn 313, Plymouth 336, McCutcheon 342, St. Joseph's 360, Munster 364, Adams 390, New Prairie 393, Hanover Central 399, Crown Point 463.

TOP 30 FINISHERS: 1, Alexandra Banfich (Culver Academy) 14:28.83. 2, Lauren Hardesty (Valpo) 14:38.50. 3, Sarah Kehe (Chesterton) 14:43.18. 4, Amanda Hardesty (Valpo) 14:43.43. 5, Anna Weber (Michigan City) 14:46.04. 6, Kelsey Nielsen (Bremen) 14:54.30. 7, Mary Ballinger (Chesterton) 15:00.46. 8, Kyla Chapman (Rensselaer) 15:01.45. 9, Linsey Daluga (West Lafayette) 15:02.24. 10, Danielle Eagan (Harrison-Lafayette) 15:09.67. 11, Mary Cate Quiett (Marian) 15:12.80. 12, Ali Bishel (Chesterton) 15:14.27. 13, Andrea Kent (Valpo) 15:19.96. 14, Samantha Eliason (Southmont) 15:22.77. 15, Kaitey Jensen (Lake Central) 15:25.72. 16, Julia Rodriguez (Plymouth) 15:34.34. 17, Christina Blackwell (Portage) 15:35.15. 18, Melissa Rogers (Southmont) 15:35.84. 19, Allison Malone (Rensselaer) 15:39.89. 20, Elizabeth Pochop (Valpo) 15:41.42. 21, Malorie Crafton (Chesterton) 15:45.58. 22, Katelyn Eberhardt (Mishawaka) 15:46.49. 23, Sienna Valdez (Mishawaka) 15:47.91. 24, Jordan Arnold (Lafayette Jeff) 15:48.48. 25, Molly Steiner (Valpo) 15:49.35. 26, Caitlin Sams (West Central) 15:49.57. 27, Christia Bieda (Munster) 15:49.84. 28, Kiley Trennepohl (Culver Academy) 15:50.11. 29, Sarah Konkey (Oregon-Davis) 15:51.37. 30, Hannah Goettle (Culver Academy) 15:52.85.

NOTE: Top five teams and top 15 individual finishers in each race advance to IHSAA state finals in Terre Haute on Saturday, Oct. 29.