BOYS XC: Howard County 2024 season preview

Western’s boys cross country team is hungry to regain the Logansport Sectional title that it last won in 2020.

Last year, Maconaquah edged Western by four points. The Braves repeated as sectional champions while the Panthers had to settle for their fifth runner-up finish in the last 10 years.

“For a variety of reasons, we feel like we let one slip away at sectional last year. It could have easily turned out differently,” Western coach Gary Jewell said.

“I think you could say we have a bit of a chip on our shoulders this year because of the unfinished business from a year ago,” Jewell added. “I stressed to our guys how we need to adopt a professional attitude when it comes to everything — training, racing, school, mental preparedness.”

The Panthers, who finished 13th out of 25 teams in the Brownsburg Regional, return six of the seven runners from their postseason lineup. That group includes juniors Camden Raab (third place in the sectional) and Miles Rudy (ninth) and sophomore Maddox Carver (12th).

The Panthers also return seniors Lincoln McKillip and Noel Wittenbach and sophomores John Gilbert, Jace Bagley and Jimi Oguntoye. New to the team is freshman Beck Bennett, the youngest son of longtime Western swim coach Brad Bennett.

Raab, Rudy and Carver are the clear top three in the Panthers’ lineup with Bennett slotting in after them. From there, the final three spots in the lineup likely will come from Gilbert, Wittenbach, Bagley and McKillip.

“I think our top three with Camden, Miles and Maddox are probably the best in the area. They finished second, fourth and fifth at Northwestern [in the Tigers’ 3K Combination meet],” Jewell said. “Our 4-7 guys were separated by six seconds and our eighth man was another 12 seconds back. We’re challenging those four guys to push each other daily in the workouts.”

Western won the Northwestern Combination and the Jacob Graf Memorial Invitational meets in the season’s opening week.

The Panthers have meets the next four weekends. Following a bye week, the stakes will intensify. The Nike Valley Twilight Meet, which is new to the Panthers’ schedule this year, is Oct. 5 at Terre Haute’s Lavern Gibson Cross Country Course (the State Finals course), the Hoosier Conference meet is Oct. 12 and the sectional is Oct. 19.

Jewell hopes the Panthers can challenge for the conference title this year.

“It’s like a stretch goal — aim for perfection and check off a bunch of goals along the way. Always aim for the top spot. West Lafayette’s only lost once in the last 28 years and that was to us in 2020, it could happen again,” he said.

Of course, the sectional is the primary goal.

“We’ve had our share of near misses at sectional over the last 10 years and I think it’s time we did something about it,” Jewell said.

The following are looks at the other Howard County teams.

NORTHWESTERN

The Tigers took sixth place in the sectional last year. They fell one place shy of advancing to the regional.

The returnees are led by sophomores Mason Broeker (25th in sectional) and Isaac Everson (33rd). The Tigers also return juniors Ryland Barnes and Sam Martin and sophomore Kaden Herschberger.

Sophomores Bryan Burkhalter and Simon Murmann are new to the team.

“We have a clear varsity squad,” coach Josh Perry said. “Our top seven is a close-knit group and they keep pushing each other during workouts. I have been really excited working with this group.”

Northwestern is new to the Three Rivers Conference this year. Perry pointed to strong showings in the conference and sectional meets as goals.

“We know what it’s going to take and there is a clear and achievable path to that goal. We know that it won’t be easy,” he said. “Luckily, there are some good teams in the area. Every weekend, we are going to have good competition to keep us moving forward.

“The boys were very disappointed in how last season went. Missing the regional meet was unacceptable in their eyes. They have worked on fixing a lot of the problems we had last year. I am excited to see how far we get this season. We are already out-pacing last year’s group on week 1. The boys deserve a lot of credit for all of the work that they have put in.”

The Tigers finished second in their season-opening Combination 3K meet.

KOKOMO

The Wildkats, with the bulk of the lineup back, are poised to improve on their ninth-place showing in the sectional last year.

The returning runners are led by junior Cooper Cage and senior Connor Frederick. Last year, Cage took seventh in the sectional and qualified as an individual for the regional where he finished 52nd. Frederick was 38th in the sectional.

“[Cage] is looking forward to the season and working to get back to the regional and improve upon his placing,” Kokomo coach Jordan Ousley said. “Connor just missed making it to regional last year, in fact missing by one spot, which was heartbreaking, but he has responded in a positive way. He had a solid track season and a great summer of training.”

Ousley is looking to juniors Preston Arreola and Ben Wallace to fill the next spots in the lineup.

“Both of these guys showed growth their sophomore season and followed it up with a good summer of offseason training. I think these two guys will be very critical to our team’s success this upcoming season,” he said.

Seniors Gabe Newland and Kadin Smail and juniors Braxton Frederick and Ethan Lytle also return. Juniors Trevor Nelson and Tyler Anderson and freshmen Leo Serra, Reece Wright, Gaius Cooper, Henry King-Brown, Owen Downing and Odin Salinas are new to the team.

“We have 16 total boys on the team, which is the largest I have had in my six years of coaching the boys program, so we are very excited about our depth,” Ousley said.

Ousley is seeing good competition in practice and some potentially nice packs developing.

“The old saying is ‘iron sharpens iron’ and that’s really what I am seeing practice,” he said.

Ousley is shooting for the top half in the North Central Conference, which is down to six teams. As for the sectional, he is looking for a big jump.

“I think by the end of the season we can compete for one of those top five team spots for advancement to the regional,” he said. “We will race the sectional teams several times over the season so we will have opportunities to see where everyone is at as our season progresses. I really like where our guys are at right now mentally and I think we will respond well this season no matter if we have positive or negative days.”

EASTERN

The Comets have a nice mix of returning and new runners.

“Practice has been good and we have a really positive team chemistry,” coach Ben Cox said. “We were happy with what we learned from the Northwestern Combination race and we’ll grow from that experience.”

Senior Obi Greene is the top returning runner. Last year, he was the Howard County Boys Runner of the Year after making it to the State Finals. He was fifth in the sectional, 25th in the regional and 158th (out of 250) at state.

“Obi is motivated to grow beyond last year’s experience,” Cox said. “It is nice to know who first runner will be — there are plenty of other questions to answer with every new team, so one less is always welcome.”

The Comets also return senior Parker Smith-McCombs, juniors Jakob Bertoline and Reagan Long and sophomore William Kuntz.

Junior Nick Miller is a promising addition to the team.

“Nick is transferring after moving from Michigan; he ran in the Upper Peninsula State Meet last season, and that experience is certainly valuable,” Cox said. “He just started practice, though, so it may take us awhile to really sort things out.”

The other new runners are senior Tim Leopard, sophomores Alex Leopard and Trenton Smith and freshman Samuel Thomas.

Eastern is hoping to improve on its 13th-place finish in the sectional last year.

“We have a bit more depth this year, so we’ll be in a position to do that,” Cox said.

TAYLOR

Junior Braden Wunderlich leads the Titans. He took 51st in a field of 104 runners at the sectional last year.

“[He] is an extremely hard worker and smart kid. I hope to see him make it to the regional this year. He missed out by about 15 places last year, but he progressed well over the summer, so I hope to see great things out of him,” Taylor coach Julian Wallace said.

Wallace is excited to have junior Collier Thompson and freshman Xander Snow new to the squad.

“Collier is a great athlete on Taylor’s soccer team, has an incredible work ethic, and is highly coachable. I see a lot of potential in him this year and the year after,” Wallace said. “Xander showed great promise last year in middle school and has made the same transition to high school. He’s a good runner with plenty of time to grow and show his [ability].”

The Titans also have senior Nathan Spray, who Wallace said has shown potential in his early practices.

“I’m excited to see what he can do this year. He’s extremely positive and eager to compete, which is impressive for a runner and athlete,” he said.

Wallace pointed to advancing a runner or runners to the regional as a goal.

“These athletes are the building blocks of a great program, and I’m excited to see what happens this year,” he said.