Article published Aug 26, 2007 Kingsmen duo shine in the rain TIM CREASON Tribune Correspondent MISHAWAKA -- Now, before everybody gets all excited, understand that the Penn Hokum-Karem is not your normal high school cross country meet. Yes, Penn sophomore Valerie Burns did beat two-time defending state champion Alex Banfich into the finish chute on a rain-soaked Saturday morning at Elm Road School. But there's more to the story than that. Instead of a normal 5,000-meter race, where everybody starts at the same time and runs together, a hokum-karem divides teams into pairs. The first runner covers a mile, then hands off to a second runner, who also runs a mile before handing the race back to the first runner. Back and forth they go until each pair covers six miles. While Burns and Banfich were in the same meet, they never really had a chance to race each other. Sarah Hutching made sure of that."I wanted to get a good lead for Val," said Hutchings, whose brilliant first leg pretty much decided the girls "individual" championship before the two feature runners ever got started. Hutchings -- a senior and a returning state finalist herself -- gave Burns a 14-second lead at the first handoff. Hutchings then put the hammer down on her second mile and extended the advantage to 52 seconds. Even a two-time state champ isn't going to make up that kind of ground. "I love running in the rain," said Hutchings, who lapped several slower runners by the end of her third leg. "I just wanted to run steady and try to get a faster split each mile. I didn't quite do that, but it was still a great feeling, knowing who was behind us." Coupled with the fact that Burns' mile splits were as fast as Banfich's -- a couple were even a little faster -- the Penn duo ended up winning by an awesome minute and 31 seconds (1:31).Banfich and her partner, Kiley Trennepohl, were second. Mishawaka's Katelyn Eberhardt and Emily Haines placed third. "Our front two girls are just exceptional," said Penn coach Keri Eby. "My main job this season is to get the girls further back to believe in themselves and run up there with them." Even without the individual title, Culver Girls Academy still walked off with the team trophy, scoring 23 points. An up-and-coming Mishawaka squad took second with 29. "We have a lot of new people and this is our first meet, so we just sort of came here to see what we could do," said Trennepohl, one of the Eagles' senior leaders. "I guess we weren't really expecting a whole lot, so it's sure nice to win it." There was no suspense in the boys race as No. 7-ranked LaPorte finished three pairs among the Top 10 and scored a low 13 points. Penn won a close battle for second with 41.Well, maybe some suspense. It wasn't clear which LaPorte pair would win the individual championship until the final lap. "Yeah, we had a little bet going," said senior Kiel Lovekin. "On the way over, we were all talking to each other about whose team would take first. "Matt and Mike got it, darn it." Matt and Mike as in Matt Miller and Mike Fout, who slopped through the mud for a 31:22 clocking. They finished about a minute ahead of second-place Tyler Toll and Lovekin. They were over 30 seconds ahead of third place Craig Padgett and Rob Melton from Mishawaka. The Slicers simply dominated the boys meet."Our plan was to run together as much as we could the first four miles and then just push it as much as we could at the end," said LaPorte coach Tim Beres. "This is a fun format and our guys were really relaxed. They had fun battling amongst themselves." BOYS Team scores: LaPorte 13, Penn 41, Elkhart Memorial 42, Mishawaka 43, Riley 53, Goshen 57, Plymouth 59, Clay 60, New Prairie 67, Culver Military Academy 92, Adams 101, Niles (Mich.) 125, Portage 125. Top 15 finishers 1, Matt Miller-Mike Fout (LaPorte) 31:22. 2, Tyler Toll-Kiel Lovekin (LaPorte) 32:18. 3, Rob Melton-Craig Padgett (Mishawaka) 32:50. 4, Calvin Cook-Peter Johnson (Plymouth) 33:25. 5, Nick Ellis-Race Dorsey (Elk Mem) 33:33. 6, Joey Goetz-Bryce Amberg (Clay) 33:46. 7, Chris LaFree-Caleb Wantuch (Riley) 33:54. 8, Lance Wu-Ben Bontrager (Penn) 34:05. 9, Ryan Eberhardt-Bryan Adams (Mishawaka) 34:17. 10, DJ Nona-Corbin Slater (LaPorte) 34:20. 11, Joel Glon-Kyle Smiley (New Prairie) 34:38. 12, Jamie Minier-Michael Murto (Goshen) 34:39. 13, Corey Dillon-Josh Jones (LaPorte) 34:58. 14, Michael Lauer-Steven Dennig (Clay) 35:02. 15, Kevin Longacre-Joseph Dye (Elk Mem) 35:04.GIRLS Team scores: Culver Girls Academy 23, Mishawaka 29, Penn 32, Riley 38, New Prairie 56, LaPorte 60, Elkhart Memorial 63, Plymouth 70, Adams 74, Michigan City 95, Clay 119. Top 15 finishers 1, Sarah Hutchings-Valerie Burns (Penn) 36:22. 2, Kiley Trennepohl-Alex Banfich (CGA) 37:53. 3, Katelyn Eberhardt-Emily Haines (Mishawaka) 38:48. 4, Ana Paez-Mercedes Cors (Elk Mem) 39:09. 5, Beth Werge-Tiffany Fowler (Riley) 39:30. 6, Mary Kate Mellen-America Zahn (Mich City) 39:40. 7, Becca Kuehn-Nicole Komasinski (LaPorte) 39:54. 8, Mary Peter-Willow Smith (CGA) 40:17. 9, Maria Catanzarite-Mary Mahon (Adams) 40:23. 10, Morgan Hite-Mae Christiansen (Plymouth) 40:24. 11, Annie Ellis-Courtney Padgett (Mishawaka) 40:32. 12, Brenna Gonderman-Sydney Ludwick (Penn) 40:54. 13, Stephanie Burian-Kaye Sitterley (CGA) 41:02. 14, Sarah Thompson-Julie Jeszensky (New Prairie) 41:06. 15, Ashley Name-Sarah Louderback (Mishawaka) 41:11.