Eagles make state

When her name was called at the awards ceremony following the race, and Hite stepped forward to receive her recognition, she did so to a chorus of cheers from her teammates on the balcony at the New Prairie gymnasium. The Pilgrims’ chants of “Mo! Mo! Mo!” — their affectionate nickname for the soccer player-turned cross country champion — echoed in the concrete and hardwood accoustics of the New Prairie gym while Hite took her place on the leaders’ platform beneath various banners commemorating dozens of Cougars cross country championships.

Surrounded by these and other artifacts of cross country history in one of the sport’s most hallowed halls in Indiana, “Mo” took her own small place in that history as the flashbulbs of numerous cameras signalled the record-keeping of the moment.

Also on hand was Culver Academies’ Alex Banfich, who already occupies nearly legendary status in Indiana cross country culture. Banfich’s name seemed to be on everyone’s lips throughout the morning and hundreds of fans watched with eager anticipation as she rounded the final turn at New Prairie to win her fourth semistate championship. Banfich averaged a time of 5:54 per mile to win the race in 18:21 and lead fourth-place CGA to its fourth straight state qualification. Also advancing are Lake Central, which set a new race record with four runners in the top 15 and 32 points, West Lafayette in second, Valparaiso in third, Munster in fourth and Chesterton in sixth. Plymouth finished 17th in the girls race.

“I’m relieved,” said Culver head coach Michael Chastain. “Each of the four years we’ve been doing this, it’s never been a convincing move to state. We’ve always been on the bubble.”

Kaye Sitterly was 27th for the Eagles, followed by Mary Margaret Peter in 41st, Lauren Davis in 70th, Zita Groll in 78th and Kiley Trennepohl in 79th.

For Plymouth, freshman Allasyn Slater ran an impressive race to place 101st, while Mae Christiansen finished 122nd, Olivia Houin was 130th and Kathryn Day was 138th.

Also at the race, Culver Community sophomore Lauren Shaffer placed 136th to cap off an outstanding season. Shaffer advanced to New Prairie out of the Culver Academies’ Regional last weekend with a 13-place finish.

While a semistate qualification is remarkable for any sophomore, Shaffer’s case is especially remarkable as she is the Cavaliers’ lone female runner. While that fact has made her road more difficult, Shaffer says the Cav boys have helped her adjust and have even challenged her to be better in some ways.

“It’s hard getting motivated,” admitted Shaffer. “But with the guys running with me, they don’t like to get beaten by a girl, so it pushes me to run harder.”

While they’ll be there to cheer Hite on next weekend, Plymouth’s boys team struggled at the punishing New Prairie course to take 14th.

Calvin Cook led Plymouth in 32nd, while senior Matt Galt placed 52nd. Galt burst off the starting line at the race to lead the field at New Prairie in his final race. He was tripped up and fell, however, and he ran the race with mud from the soggy grounds caked on his jersey and arms. Fellow Pilgrim seniors Peter Johnson and Kyle Thoden finished 68th and 126th respectively, while junior Declan Fox took 133rd.

“It was a good season, and I really enjoyed running with all three of them (Galt, Johnson, Thoden) and the rest of the team as well,” said Cook. “It’s going to be a little bit emptier here without them to make us laugh and pick us up.”

The Eagles finished two places behind Plymouth in 16th to close out their season, although Alejandro Arroyo crossed the line in ninth in the individual run to advance to Terre Haute individually. In his first season with CMA, the sophomore was enthusiastic about accomplishing his season goal of moving on to state, as well as the prospect of running at the Terre Haute course again, after beginning his season there at the state preview meet.