NW sounds the alarm that it's closing the gap on Western

Kokomo Tribune - Thursday, May 01, 2008

GREENTOWN — Wednesday's Howard County track and field meet at Eastern High School, which features relaxed rules for participation in the distance and field events, looked more like a dual meet between Western and Northwestern, with Eastern and Taylor on the outside looking in.

Traditionally. limited in meets like conference and sectional to just two participants in each of 13 individual events, teams at the county meet are given the opportunity to put three athletes in eight of the 13 events, andthe Panthers and Tigers took full advantage.

Western defended both its boys and girls titles as Northwestern finished second in both. The Panther boys racked up 110 points to the Tigers' 73, with the Comets (46) third and the Titans (15) fourth.

Western's girls won with 117, followed by Northwestern (87), Eastern (20) and Taylor (20).

It was the first time the two schools from the west side of town had met this season.

"We missed Western earlier in the year in the dual meet and didn't get to see them until [Wednesday]," said Tigers boys coach Dave Stevens. "I think [the county meet] will go a long way toward them having confidence that they can compete with Western — one event at a time."

Northwestern had three outstanding efforts, led by Cam Bannon, who was recognized as the meet's high-point earner.

Bannon won both the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a school-record time of 41.4 seconds and the long jump with a personal-best 20 feet, 11 inches. He was third in the 100 meters and helped the 1,600 relay team finish second.

"I'm trying to get to 40 seconds [in the 300]. That's my goal," Bannon said. "There were a lot of good athletes. I felt like I 'had to do my best to win"

Northwestern's Kory Kennedy won both the 1,600 (438.6) and the 3,200 (10:263) in impressive fashion, as did Brock Ford, who captured discus (144-6) and shot put (47-5).

As for whether Northwestern can dose the gap with Western, Bannon said: "I'm really proud of my team. I think we're the team to catch them, definitely."

The Panthers were merely overwhelming. They won all three relays and six individual titles with six different athletes. Often they were their closest competition.

Kyle Brown won the 100 meters in 11.4 seconds with Jerel Hall second. Hall (23.1) came back to edge Brown in the 200. Alex Sigler (52.2) won the 400 with teammate Brad DiCarlo second, Patrick Lennon (15.9) won the 110 high hurdles and Kyle Young (2:03.6) won the 800.

Bart Shepherd (13 feet 6 inches), Chris Harter and Trent Lawlyes finished first, third and fourth, respectively, in pole vault.

In the race for high points, Bannon had 16 while Brown, Young and Hall each had 13 apiece.

"That depth is a nice thing to have, and it's helped out where we can make one ,or two substitutions," Panthers coach Marvin Boswell said. "If we want to load up in a 200, we can load up in a 200 and take points away from somebody. They keep us going and it's kind of fun to create a lineup here."

Eastern's Ethan Flick was the only athlete to take gold away from either of the top two teams. He won high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 2 inches.

Western girls capture title

The Panther girls were similar to the boys in their sprint dominance, led by the meet's high-point scorer, Cara Earlywine.

Earlywine captured the 100-and 200-meter dashes and anchored their winning 400 relay team. She came back in the 1,600 relay, a new event for her this season, to help Western finish second.

Earlywine's transformation into a quarter-miler is just one of the measures the Panthers have taken to improve upon last season when they finished a disappointing fourth at the Madison-Grant Sectional.

"I think everybody has improved," she said. "We've had a lot of underclassmen come up and take their place. It's been a really good year for us."

"I'm really getting excited for sectional. Hopefully we'll do pretty good"

Nikki McCracken (110 hurdles, pole vault) and Lizi Chandler (shot put, discus) were double winners for Western, which also won the 3200 relay. While not winning a race beyond 200 meters, the Panthers did place three runners in well both the 1,600 and 3,200, as as three athletes in long jump and pole vault "[The girls] came out [Wednesday] night and had some rellally good times and worked wetogether as a team," said Boswell. "The girls just kind of feed off of each other and want to come out and continue to improve. They don't want to let the person next to them down. It's nice to have that teamwork:'

The Tigers collected seven wins, including double winner Hannah Ault (1,600, 3,200), as well as Kara DeFabritis (long jump), Megan Schubert (high jump), Lindsey Sewell Nicki Hendricks (800) and the 1,600 relay team.

"It was the race we've been waiting on to see where we stood with [Western]," said Northwestern coach Mary Clem. "We like to let [the Panthers] know we're right there behind them."

"We had some great times. Ashley Miller broke the school record in pole vault [second place-at 8 feet, 6 inches]. Hannah Ault was just outstanding with two firsts. All around the girls did a phenomenal job."

As with the boys, the Comets grabbed the lone victory not gobbled up by either Western or Northwestern.

Freshman Zoe Wolfe, in her first varsity Howard County meet, set a school record of 49.6 seconds in winning the 300-meter low hurdles.