Hobart was the host of the 2013 NCC Cross Country Championship on Saturday, October 5th. Several runners were capable of taking away the first place honors and everyone was anxious to get the Conference Championship started.
The boys ran first at Maple Lake this Saturday. Coming around the first loop of the lake there was a small pack of three, Dunn, Blaylock and Kritzer in the front. Heading up the hill Kritzer came off and took the lead and broke away from the pack.
With less than a half mile the gap was widened and Kritzer was leading the pack with Blaylock trailing behind in second.
The winning time was 16:02 over 2nd place Brian Blaylock at 16:13. Tom Bolanowski took 3rd place with 16:19 and Brent Dunn took home 4th for Hobart with a time of 16:23.
Kritzer said, "Maple Lake is a slow course, it was a little muddy and it has some holes, but that's cross country." He continued, "This win will be a big boost, something we can build on going on in the season."
Munster took the Conference Title with a time of 1:23:08 over Lowell's time of 1:26:39 and Hobart's third place time of 1:26:47. Kankakee Valley followed in 4th, Andrean in 5th and Highland in 6th.
The girls were quick to get on the starting line after the boys finished. Once the gun started the first out of the pack was Hobart's Celena Guerrero and Mindy Whidden along with Lowell's Sarah Wieser.
Coming around the first loop of the race both Whidden and Guerrero took a comanding lead over the rest of the group. After the girls made the turn off the ridge, Whidden had taken a 5 meter lead.
"I felt awful today and I had to push myself", adding that, " it's not supposed to feel good when you run."
Well, she ran good enough to win the NCC Conference meet with a time of 19:16 followed by teammate Celena Guerrero at 19:26.
3rd was Munster's Emily McNicholas, 4th place Sarah Wieser from Lowell and Marina Ahner from Hobart made it in the top 5 with a 20:52.
Middle School Coach Betty Funkhouser has known both girls (Mindy and Celena) since Middle School. Mindy was more of a track runner and Celena cross country. "I told them they were going to be sisters," she explained. "It seemed as if Mindy kind of fought cross country a while but has grown far more fond of it then when first running it.
The Hobart Girls took the Conference Championship with a winning time of 1:42:13 followed by 2nd place Munster with a time of 1:45:58 and Kankakee Valley taking 3rd with 1:48:04.
The JV race got underway, running against the weather as well as the teams. About halfway into the race the rain joined in and everyone was drenched. In the boys race 1 thru 3 were Lowell runners; Brett Curry, C.J. Crepeau and Hunter Boyer.
The girls JV girls top three were Munster runners: Kyra Marriott, Maggie Anderson and Isabel Nieves.
Conference Sectionals start on October 15.