Published: October 05, 2008 12:35 am         

Northridge boys win 10th-straight cross country title

Josh Fletcher can put his coaching resume in the Northern Lakes Conference high school boys cross country meet up with just about anyone’s.

Fletcher has been coaching Northridge for 10 years and, Saturday at Ox Bow County Park, the Raiders captured their 10th consecutive NLC title.

“It feels like I just started coaching yesterday,” said Fletcher, who was named ‘Coach of the Year” by his peers. “I have been fortunate to have talented kids and parents who support the program.”

The coach also broke out the uniforms from the 1999 season.

“I don’t know if it motivated the kids or not, but they like to change uniforms during the season.”

The last team to win the NLC besides Northridge was Wawasee in 1998 when Andrew McKalips of Goshen was the individual champion.

Besides coaching 10 straight NLC champions, Fletcher led Northridge to the team title in 1994 when he was the individual race champion.

The Raiders finished Saturday’s meet with a team score of 36, followed by Concord 57, Warsaw 81, Goshen 103, Elkhart Memorial 128, Wawasee 134, NorthWood 161 and Plymouth 197.

Memorial senior Race Dorsey was the individual winner in 15:46 for 5,000 meters. Northridge senior Andrew Albert was runner-up in 15:52.

“With about 400 meters to go Dorsey passed Albert,” Fletcher said. “Albert retook the lead, but coming down the hill on the way to the finish line Dorsey went into another gear which Albert didn’t have.”

Also for the Raiders, senior Mitch Keyser was third (16:15), sophomore Trevor Moore sixth (16:26), senior Taylor Bontrager ninth (16:38) and sophomore Marshal Hawn 15th (16:56).

Concord finished a strong second with sophomore Daniel Zelaya fourth (16:21), junior Brian Willoughby seventh (16:29) junior Todd Dion 14th (16:52), junior Andrew Witkowski 15th (16:52) and junior Ben Clark 17th (16:59).

“We ran an exceptional race. When you have five guys under 17 minutes on this course it’s quite an accomplishment,” Concord coach Jeff Payne said. “The kids wanted to compete with Northridge. They are a strong team and when you try to compete with them you are going to run fast times. Willoughby ran an exceptional race. His time was about 1 minute faster than his best time last year.”

For the Goshen Redskins, senior Cameron Miller finished fifth (16:25), sophomore Tyler Wynn 19th (17:07), sophomore Luke Jacobs 21st (17:13), senior Gustavo Hernandez 26th (17:23), junior James Minier 32nd (17:46), senior Sam Jacobs 47th 18:26 and junior Colin Gregory 51st (18:54).

“We were close to third, but not close enough,” Goshen coach Mike Wynn said. “From what I could see everyone of our kids ran a respectable race.

“Miller jumped up into the Top Five, Tyler (Wynn) was a little off, Hernandez ran one heck of a race and Minier stepped things up. Sam Jacobs and Gregory really came through.”



Summary

Northridge (36) — 2, Andrew Albert 15:52; 3, Mitch Keyser 16:15; 6, Trevor Moore 16:26; 9, Taylor Bontrager 16:38; 15, Marshal Hawn 16:56. Also: 28, Tyler Beachy 17:26; 35, Mike Linn 17:53.

Concord (57) — 4, Daniel Zelaya 16:21; 7, Brian Willoughby 16:29; 14, Todd Dion 16:52; 15, Andrew Witkowski 16:52; 17, Ben Clark 16:59. Also: 18, Andrew Malcolm 17:06; 29, Joel Contreras 17:29.

Warsaw (91) — 12, Nate West 16:47; 13, Jeremiah Stitcher 16:50; 20, Brian Donvan 17:08; 22, Jordan Scroggs 17:15; 24, Trevor Callahan 17:20. Also: 48, Kyle Jones 18:39; 50, Trevor Hanson 18:43;

Goshen (103) — 5, Cameron Miller 16:25; 19, Tyler Wynn 17:07; 21, Luke Jacobs 17:13; 26, Gustavo Hernandez 17:23; 32, James Minier 17:46. Also: 47, Sam Jacobs 18:26; 51, Colin Gregory 18:54.

Elkhart Memorial (103) — 1, Race Dorsey 15:46; 25, Marcas Kidder 17:21; 27, Nicholas Ellis 17:25; 37, John Bloczynski 17:53; 38, Joseph Dye 18:02. Also: 39, Marshall Yeoman 18:05; 44, Nicholas Sedlock 18:27;

Wawasee (134) — 10, Jose Mejia 15:41; 23, Daniil Gardner 17:19; 31, Matt Rensberger 17:43; 34, Luke Thompson 17:52; 36, Justin Krizman 17:54. Also: 41, Adam Gingerich 18:21; 43, Kyle Denton 18:24.

NorthWood (161) — 11, Austin Wenger 16:44; 30, Jamin Parker 17:39; 33, Jordan Weyenburg 17:50; 42, Cole Page 18:20; 45, Corbin Wyatt 18:29. Also: 52, T.J. Stueve 18:44; 53, Michael Leatherman 18:44.

Plymouth (197) — 8, Calvin Cook 16:33; 40, Declan Fox 18:16; 46, Andrew Kurtz 18:32; 49, Derrick Lee 18:40; 64, Jordan Winkler 19:14; Also: 55, Matthew Lee 20:02; 56, Richard Wise 20:17.

JV Top Ten — 1, Alex Rodriguez (Concord) 17:19; 2, Thomas Fearnow (Northridge) 17:23; 3, Collin Chupp (Concord) 17:16; Austin Ball (Northridge) 17:43; 5, Cody Welty (Northridge) 17:47; 6, Spencer Rheinhardt (Warsaw) 17:56; 7, Taylor Purviance (Northridge) 18:00; 8, Si Shear (Wawasee) 18:01; 9, Cristain Nava (Concord) 18:22; 10, Zac Clark (Northridge) 18:03.

All-NLC — Daniel Zelaya and Brian Willoughby of Concord; Cameron Miller of Goshen, Andrew Albert, Taylor Bontrager, Mitch Keyser and Trevor Moore of Northridge; Race Dorsey of Memorial, Calvin Cook of Plymouth, Jose Mejia of Wawasee.

Honorable Mention — Andrew Witkowski of Concord, Tyler Wynn of Goshen, Austin Wenger of NorthWood, Jeremiah Sticher and Nate West of Warsaw.