One race. 5000 meters. New Prairie. To many these are just words, but to 24 athletes and their 4 coaches, these words are what the season has come down to. On Saturday October 20th, the Portage High School boys and girls Cross Country will be competing in the 2012 IHSAA New Prairie Semi-State. In order to punch their tickets to the state finals, each team will have to finish in the top 6 in their respective divisions. In addition to the top 6 teams, the top 15 individual finishers (runners not attached to a qualifying team that finish in the Top 15) will also qualify for the State Finals.
The girls earned their spot on October 13th when they nabbed the final qualifying spot (5th place) at the New Prairie Regional. The girls were paced by Kyra Ball who earned "All Regional" honors with her 11th place finish. Other top 25 finishers for Portage were Paige Pizer (16th), Rhyan Sloan (21st), & Stephanie Waters (24th). The varsity squad was rounded out by Erin Reynolds, Mariah Blackwell, and Mackenzie Jones. If the Portage girls finish in the Top 6 at the Semi-State, they will qualify for the IHSAA State finals for the 5th straight year. The Portage girls are coached by John While and Melissa Miller.
The boys matched their highest regional finish since 2005 by finishing 3rd on the 13th. The Chesterton Sectional Runner-Up's were edged out by La Porte by a mere 4 points (85-89) and the Valparaiso Vikings (28 points). Valparaiso was the defending champion. While the Indian harriers did not have any "All Regional" runners, the Indians ran in a pack putting their 1-7 runners only 38 seconds apart. All 7 runners finished in the Top 30 with 4 in the Top 25. The Indians were led by Dustin Balboa (17th), Anthony Best (18th), Tylor Hudson (21) and Nicolis Solis (23). Other varsity competitors included Jacob Theilbar (25), David Clegg (28) and Tommy Martin (29). The boys have not qualified as a team since 2005 when the program finished 11th. Anthony Best qualified as an individual for the boys in 2010. The boys are coached by Tom Erickson and John Arredondo.
The action begins Saturday at 10:30am with the start of the girls race. The boys race will follow approximately at 11:00am. Both races will be highly competitive and it should be a great morning for racing. We wish both programs the best of luck as they try to get to Terre Haute!
Pictures submitted by Chuck Heimberg