Still without full team, Hayes stars as Rochester girls finish 5th at Mac Invite
Pioneer’s Bowditch runs 17:12; DuBois runs 17:33 as Rochester boys take 6th
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Warner DuBois Dane Bowditch Daniela Ochoa Brylie Caudle
BUNKER HILL — The Rochester girls cross-country team has not fielded a full team yet this year.
That should change at the New Prairie Invitational this Saturday.
But without a full team, the Lady Zs gave a taste of what they might be able to do when they scored 105 points and finished fifth out of eight teams at the Maconaquah Invitational Saturday.
Among other area teams, Pioneer was sixth with 129 points, Winamac was eighth with 223 points, and North Miami had an incomplete team.
Meanwhile, the Rochester boys scored 146 points and finished sixth in a 10-team field. Winamac was eighth with 219 points, and Pioneer and North Miami both had incomplete teams.
McCutcheon won the girls meet with 63 points, 15 fewer than Western. Southwood’s Ava Stouffer won a photo finish over Northfield’s Kaleigh Rice for the individual title in 19:45.
Northwestern won the boys meet with 38 points. McCutcheon was second with 55. Western’s Beck Bennett was the individual champion in 16:25.
Girls
Rochester’s frontrunner was Adison Hayes, who was 16th in the field of 99 runners in 22:19. Daniela Ochoa was 20th in 22:59, Addisyn Malone was 25th in 24:00, Vivian Miller was 26th in 24:03, Addisyn Zimmerman was 57th in 27:43, Chloie Tyler was 61st in 27:57, Trinity Baine was 62nd in 27:57, Jane Gottschalk was 65th in 28:09, Jocelynn Shafer was 74th in 29:42, and Addyson Hake was 93rd in 36:53.
Rochester was missing freshman Katelyn Conliff, who was away at a soils judging competition. Conliff ran a 22:23 at the Caston Invitational Sept. 5 and won a ribbon by finishing in the top 25 at the Oak Hill Invitational the previous week.
“Adison had to be the frontrunner, and Hayes stepped up,” Rochester coach Troy Pryor said. “She was fantastic today. Finished 16th, a really good time. Great weather for it. Great conditions. So I think good race overall for the girls. Hayes stepped up and was the leader and did exactly what I expect of her. When Katelyn’s not here, she still steps up and races well.
“If I had to single out a second runner who ran really well, I would say Addisyn Malone figured out the pacing a little bit as a freshman. She keyed off senior leader Vivian Miller, and I thought those two worked really well together, and Addy Malone kind of got her feet wet in high school cross-country today.”
Pioneer again relied on the freshman trio of Brylie Caudle, Jolene Kennell and Evie Shafer. Caudle was just behind Hayes in 17th in 22:21, Kennell was 21st in 23:04, and Shafer was 32nd in 24:51. There was a gap to Avery Haselby in 53rd in 27:19, Paytyn Dillman was 60th in 27:53, Lenix Jasmantas was 69th in 28:42, and Zadie Fross was 70th in 29:13.
“It’s been an interesting transition from eighth grade to varsity,” Pioneer coach Gavin Cottingham said of his freshman group. “Just going from the 3K race to the 5K race. They’re still adjusting to that, and their times haven’t come down yet. Their times have been very consistent through the first races, but we’re hoping through New Prairie and through Culver (Academy Invitational on Sept. 26) that they start to come down a little bit.”
Winamac’s frontrunner was again freshman Jillian Burns, who was 41st in 25:43. Brooklyn Jachim was 63rd in 28:00, Katelyn Burgess was 72nd in 29:25, Kallie Kasten was 83rd in 31:22, and Jaelyn Huddleston was 94th in 37:45.
Junior Leah Shafer was the first North Miami runner across the line in 24:06, good for 28th place. Sydney Lane placed 59th in 27:52.
Boys
Rochester freshman Warner DuBois cut off 48 seconds off his Caston Invitational time and finished 16th in 17:33 in the field of 119 runners.
Running against Maconaquah sophomore Abel Robinson, who was 15th in 17:30, served as motivation, according to Pryor.
“I think Warner is still working on finding the pacing and the rhythm of high school 5K cross-country racing versus the 3K in middle school, which is what he’s used to,” Pryor said. “I thought today he really ran very well through the first mile to mile-and-a-half. He was in a very good position, and then it felt like he just got a little bit lethargic there for a mile, maybe a little complacent with where he was. And then Maconaquah’s number one, he’s had a rivalry with since middle school … Abel caught him, and you could see that lit a fire under Warner for the last half-mile or so, but I felt like maybe he got a little complacent there in the middle part of the race, and we need to work on staying mentally locked in, and some of that’s just used to racing an extra 2K.”
Among other Rochester runners, Leandro Javier was 28th in 18:35, Caden Biernacki was 40th in 19:22, Tyson Wachtmann was 44th in 19:29, Parker Smith was 46th in 19:53, Lucas Scorsone was 53rd in 20:16, and Tommy Schwenk was 111th in 26:12.
Biernacki cut 1:39 off his Caston time, and this marked the first time all season that Rochester has had five runners under 20 minutes.
Winamac freshman Brody Bonnell was 20th in 17:49 to lead the Warriors. Elisha Burns was 63rd in 20:57, Austin Pratt was 70th in 21:15, Ethan Showley was 75th in 21:32, Evan Burgess was right behind in 76th in 21:36, Braylen Becker was 80th in 22:01, and Joel Showley was 102nd in 23:58.
The fastest area runner in the field was Pioneer senior Dane Bowditch, who was eighth in 17:12, an improvement of over 50 seconds from his Caston Invitational time. Other Panther harriers included Eli Hines, who was 49th in 19:58; and Peyton Hines, who was 77th in 21:41.
Braylon Jamerson was out with a muscle injury in his leg.
“He’s been sick,” Cottingham said of Bowditch. “He was sick for the county meet, and he had not trained all week before the Caston meet. We weren’t even sure he was going to run at Caston last week. It was a morning decision to see how he was feeling. … But today he ran 17:12, and that was a good time for him. He was happy with it, and I’m happy with it.”
Michael Miser, a senior, was the lone North Miami runner, finishing 58th in 20:40.
MACONAQUAH INVITATIONAL GIRLS RESULTS (POINTS IN PARENTHESES): McCutcheon 63, Western 78, Manchester 80, Lewis Cass 91, ROCHESTER 105, PIONEER 129, Southwood 168, Winamac 223
Incomplete team: NORTH MIAMI
ROCHESTER RESULTS (105 POINTS, FIFTH PLACE)
16. Adison Hayes – 22:19 (11), 20. Daniela Ochoa – 22:59 (15), 25. Addisyn Malone – 24:00 (20), 26. Vivian Miller – 24:03 (21), 57. Addisyn Zimmerman – 27:43 (38), 61. Chloie Tyler – 27:57.4, 62. Trinity Baine – 27:57.7, 65. Jane Gottschalk – 28:09, 74. Jocelynn Shafer – 29:42, , 93. Addyson Hake – 36:53
PIONEER RESULTS (129 POINTS, SIXTH PLACE)
17. Brylie Caudle – 22:21 (12), 21. Jolene Kennell – 23:04 (16), 32. Evie Shafer – 24:51 (25), 53. Avery Haselby – 27:19 (37), 60. Paytyn Dillman – 27:53 (39), 69. Lenis Jasmantas – 28:42, 70. Zadie Fross – 29:13
WINAMAC RESULTS (223 POINTS, EIGHTH PLACE)
41. Jillian Burns – 25:43 (32), 63. Brooklyn Jachim – 28:00 (42), 72. Katelyn Burgess – 29:25 (47), 83. Kallie Kasten – 31:22 (50), 94. Jaelyn Huddleston – 37:45 (52)
NORTH MIAMI RESULTS
28. Leah Shafer – 24:06, 59. Sydney Lane – 27:52
Individual champion: Ava Stouffer (Southwood) – 19:45
MACONAQUAH INVITATIONAL BOYS RESULTS (POINTS IN PARENTHESES): Northwestern 38, McCutcheon 55, Western 61, Manchester 136, Eastern (Greentown) 144, ROCHESTER 146, Northfield 186, WINAMAC 219, Maconaquah 240, Madison-Grant 296
Incomplete teams: PIONEER, NORTH MIAMI
ROCHESTER RESULTS (146 POINTS, SIXTH PLACE)
16. Warner DuBois – 17:33 (15), 28. Leandro Javier – 18:35 (25), 40. Caden Biernacki – 19:22 (33), 44. Tyson Wachtmann – 19:29 (36), 46. Parker Smith – 19:53 (37), 53. Lucas Scorsone – 20:16, 111. Tommy Schwenk – 26:12
WINAMAC RESULTS (219 POINTS, EIGHTH PLACE)
20. Brody Bonnell – 17:49 (19), 63. Elisha Burns – 20:57 (45), 70. Austin Pratt – 21:15 (50), 75. Ethan Showley – 21:32 (52), 76. Evan Burgess – 21:36 (53), 80. Braylen Becker – 22:01, 102. Joel Showley – 23:58
PIONEER RESULTS
8. Dane Bowditch – 17:12, 49. Eli Hines – 19:58, 77. Peyton Hines – 21:41
NORTH MIAMI RESULTS
58. Michael Miser – 20:40
Individual champion: Beck Bennett (Western) – 16:25
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