Article published Oct 22, 2006

Hat trick for Banfich
Culver Girls Academy star captures third semistate crown despite adversity

TIM CREASON
Tribune Correspondent

NEW CARLISLE -- Yes, her left ankle is sprained. Yes, she runs with her leg wrapped in tape.

So what? It's going to take more than that to stop Alex Banfich.

"Really, I don't even think about it," says Banfich, the Culver Girls Academy junior who won her third consecutive New Prairie semistate girls cross country championship Saturday.

"It doesn't bother me when I'm running. I just block it out," said Banfich, who sat with a sack of ice on the injured area following the 4,000-meter race at New Prairie High School. "Everything went fine today."

In more ways than one. In addition to winning her race by 16 seconds, Banfich led her teammates to the IHSAA state finals for a third straight year. The No. 18-ranked Eagles edged New Prairie by four points for the fifth and final state qualifying spot.

No. 9 Valparaiso won its eighth consecutive girls semistate title with 67 points. West Lafayette (110), Lake Central (111) and Portage (138) completed the list of state team qualifiers.

The Eagles, who also got a huge boost from Kiley Trennepohl's 14th place finish, scored 181 to New Prairie's 185.

Penn finished eighth, St. Joseph's 12th, Marian 13th, Mishawaka 17th and LaPorte 19th.

Only the top five teams and top 15 individual finishers advance to next week's state meet at Terre Haute.

"For a school our size to get to the state meet three straight years, that's pretty special," said CGA coach Mike Chastain. "We've had our problems this season, but the girls have tried to be very positive this week. They were very determined. The last three-quarters of a mile today, I don't think anybody got around us."

Certainly nobody could get around Banfich, who ran step-for-step with Valparaiso's Hardesty twins, Amanda and Lauren, for about half the race before surging away.

"I'm not really sure where I broke them," said Banfich. "I picked up the pace in the woods and then I could sense I was by myself."

She was all alone on the homestretch and finished in 14:26.33.

Behind her, a massive dash for the finish chute occurred with a most unlikely character in the middle. Riley senior Sunsea Shaw, who didn't even decide to run cross country until the season had already begun, placed sixth in 15:06.89 and qualified for state.

She wasn't even Riley's No. 1 runner until the last few meets.

"It took me a while to get in shape," she said.

Marian's Mary Cate Quiett was seventh, Penn's Sarah Hutchings 13th and Mishawaka's Katelyn Eberhardt 15th to also advance.

"I was so scared of being 16th," said Eberhardt. "I was going all-out at the end."

Plymouth boys peak

It didn't take Plymouth's boys long to get over their heart-breaking loss to Mishawaka at last week's Culver Academies regional.

"We forgot about it right away," said senior Dan Neidlinger, whose outstanding second-place individual finish helped the Pilgrims run to next week's state finals.

"Really, we just focused on this weekend and running the best that we could. I think we did all right," Neidlinger said.

More than all right. Plymouth's No. 2 through 5 runners finished within a 22 second span and the Pilgrims placed third with 152 points. No. 7-ranked McCutcheon won the boys semistate title with 81 points. No. 8 Chesterton finished second at 123.

Plymouth edged Munster (155) and Andrean (160) in the race for third.

The final results were heartbreaking for several local boys squads.

Michigan City and LaPorte tied with 189 points, but it was a tie for sixth-place. Only the top five advance.

The Wolves came out ahead on the sixth-man tiebreaker.

"That's the first time we beat LaPorte all season," said Michigan City coach Ray Bloomer. "But it doesn't mean a whole lot."

Mishawaka, which beat Plymouth at the regional, finished eighth. Penn was 16th and Riley 20th.

At least Mishawaka's Craig Padgett (7th) and LaPorte's Mike Fout (8th) advance to state as individuals by virtue of their Top 15 finishes.

So does New Prairie's Ryan Toth, who ran right with the leaders and finished fifth, covering 5,000 meters in 16:15.57.

"I didn't really have a strategy," said Toth. "I was just running as hard as I could."

McCutcheon's Danny Stockberger was first in 15:46.01. Behind him, Neidlinger settled into second and fought off every challenge. He clocked 16:05.24.

"I was tired but I felt pretty good," said Neidlinger. "I couldn't let anybody pass me for the team's sake."

At New Carlisle
GIRLS
Team scores: Valparaiso 67, West Lafayette 110, Lake Central 111, Portage 138, Culver Girls Academy 181, New Prairie 185, Chesterton 202, Penn 208, Rensselaer Central 250, Harrison (Lafayette) 260, Andrean 323, St. Joseph's 341, Marian 351, Munster 354, Hanover Central 380, Crown Point 383, Mishawaka 421, Southmont 429, LaPorte 462, Carroll (Flora) 500.
Top 20 finishers: 1, Alex Banfich (CGA) 14:26. 2, Amanda Hardesty (Valpo) 14:42. 3, Lauren Hardesty (Valpo) 14:53. 4, Megan Plenus (Lake Central) 14:57. 5, Linsey Daluga (West Lafayette) 15:02. 6, Sunsea Shaw (Riley) 15:06. 7, Mary Cate Quiett (Marian) 15:10. 8, Paula Puntillo (Andrean) 15:15. 9, Dana Payonk (Lake Central) 15:20. 10, Melinda Misch (Portage) 15:21. 11, Natalie Goolik (Highland) 15:25. 12, Tiffany Caluag (Portage) 15:28. 13, Sarah Hutchings (Penn) 15:33. 14, Kiley Trennepohl (CGA) 15:35. 15, Katelyn Eberhardt (Mishawaka) 15:35. 16, Megan Ranegar (Valpo) 15:42. 17, Caroline Early (West Lafayette) 15:46. 18, Allison Malone (Rensselaer) 15:46. 19, Morgan Hite (Plymouth) 15:47. 20, Kailey Jensen (Lake Central) 15:48.

BOYS
Team scores: McCutcheon 81, Chesterton 123, Plymouth 152, Munster 155, Andrean 160, Michigan City 189 (6th runner tie-breaker), LaPorte 189, Mishawaka 229, Portage 243, Valparaiso 292, Crown Point 295, West Lafayette 327, Peru 328, Harrison (Lafayette) 335, Hobart 337, Penn 348, Lafayette Jeff 353, Lowell 383, Kankakee Valley 479, Riley 530.
Top 20 finishers: 1, Danny Stockberger (McCutcheon) 15:46. 2, Dan Neidlinger (Plymouth) 16:05. 3, Tito Medrano (Lafayette Jeff) 16:09. 4, Henry Lee (Gary Roosevelt) 16:10. 5, Ryan Toth (New Prairie) 16:15. 6, Eddie Rico (Calumet) 16:16. 7, Craig Padgett (Mishawaka) 16:16. 8, Michael Fout (LaPorte) 16:17. 9, Chester Vanek (Chesterton) 16:20. 10, James Hodgen (McCutcheon) 16:23. 11, Cody Siblisk (Peru) 16:25. 12, Logan Koch (Crown Point) 16:28. 13, Kale Liechty (Hobart) 16:30. 14, Ross Russell (McCutcheon) 16:31. 15, Naza Sanchez (Rensselaer) 16:31. 16, Jonathan Jimenez (Andrean) 16:35. 17, Blake Williams (Munster) 16:38. 18, Mark Fischer (Portage) 16:39. 19, Theodore Britton (Harrison) 16:44. 20, Matt Miller (LaPorte) 16:47.