Valpo Boys Cross Country Dominates, La Porte Girls Take First at Sectionals

The 2013 Sectional Champions goes to Valparaiso Boys Cross Country. With a stellar pack performance, all 7 varsity team members made the top 20.

Andrew Jankowski was first in for Valpo placing 3rd overall with a time of 16:39.

Jankowski said, “This is the third year in a row our team has won Sectionals. It would be awesome for Valpo to carry on that streak to Regionals and Semi-State. Today it was great to have all our guys in a pack for so long and we all finished together and that’s always our goal to keep the pack together as long as possible with as little gap as possible at the end, and we accomplished that.

Coach Mike Prow said, “Jankowski worked really hard and it’s his year. He is a senior and he is a great leader on the team. He’s one of the best leaders but, it’s about the team, it’s not about individuals, but Andrew deserves this honor. We won this meet but we still need better times and need to keep getting better at each meet coming up. We won today and any win is a good win. Today we had a beautiful pack performance. Everything that happened for us was good; it was a great team effort. Our last two guys finished 17 and 19 which means all 7 of our guys were in the top 20.”

The Sectionals race was ran at Sunset Hill on the Chesterton course. Conditions were rainy, cold, and slippery, but the damp weather conditions didn’t prevent La Porte’s Anthony Didion from once again placing 1st in the race. Didion finished with an astounding time of 16:02. Didion proved that in any weather condition, if you keep focused, you can accomplish the goal of winning.

Top 20 boys:

  1. Anthony Didion, La Porte 16:02
  2. David Kampf, New Prairie 16:21
  3. Andrew Jankowski, Valpo 16:37
  4. Ari Coulopoulos, Valpo 16:39
  5. Kevin Kenney, Chesterton 16:42
  6. Kevin Hickey, Valpo 16:42
  7. Sam Miller, La Porte 16:44
  8. Joel O’Shea, Wheeler 16:45
  9. Danny Dalton, Valpo 16:52
  10. Corey Alfredson, Valpo 16:53
  11. Mitch Wilborn, Chesterton 16:55
  12. Braden Griffin, La Porte 16:57
  13. Bryan Flannery, South Central 17:02
  14. Nicholas Heimberg, Portage 17:02
  15. Gavin Gresham, Michigan City 17:03
  16. Jon Hogg, Boon Grove 17:07
  17. Kevin Mangel, Valpo 17:07
  18. Antonio Chapa, Portage 17:08
  19. Jacob Chapman, Valpo 17:10
  20. Jacob Thielbar, Portage 17:15

 

Top 5 schools advancing to Regionals for the boys:

  1. Valpo 32
  2. La Porte 72
  3. Portage 91
  4. Chesterton 96
  5. New Prairie 134

 

La Porte girls took the first place title, taking the trophy home with 59 points. Elena Lancioni placed first overall with a time of 18:44.

Top 5 schools advancing to Regionals for the girls:

  1. La Porte 59
  2. Portage 60
  3. Valpo 69
  4. New Prairie 82
  5. Chesterton 115

 

The motto for the Portage girls team is, “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!” Portage has their eyes focused on the Regional title this Saturday.

Portage Coach Melissa Miller said, “We still have a little more work to do to become Regional champs but I think we can do it.

On the Portage team for the last 4 seasons is Portage senior Janee Escobedo, confident in her team’s ability to win the Regional title.

Escobedo said, “I am very proud of the team and at Regionals we are going to be 1st because we practice and work hard every day.

Top 20 girls:

  1. Elena Lancioni, La Porte 18:44
  2. Rachel Thompson, New Prairie18:57
  3. Kailee Schoof La Porte 19:07
  4. Kelsey Tyler New Prairie 19:27
  5. Alison Mundell, Valpo 19:32
  6. Kyleigh Werner, South Central 19:38
  7. Kyra Ball, Portage 19:44
  8. Michaela Gadzich, Valpo 19:48
  9. Paige Pizer, Portage 19:56
  10. Kristin Cave, La Porte 20:00
  11. Rebecca Timm, Portage 20:03
  12. Kelly O’Shea, Wheeler 20:06
  13. Lindsey Nielsen, Chesterton 20:15
  14. Hope Myroup, New Prairie 20:18
  15. Aurora Bonner, Valpo 20:20
  16. Erin Reynolds, Portage 20:21
  17. Haley Orshonsky, Portage 20:25
  18. Ellie Joll, Valpo 20:31
  19. Alyssa Gerick, La Porte 20:35
  20. Madison Allen, Portage 20:38