10/24/09
North’s boys defended their semistate title — the only two in school history — by the narrowest of margins, nipping North Harrison 55-56. “I knew it was going to be close … as close as it gets unless it goes to a tiebreaker,” North boys coach Lon McDonald laughed. “Our kids ran well today. The conditions were terrible. I’m extremely excited to have the finish we did. North Harrison … the best race I’ve seen out of them all season.” North Harrison placed four boys runners in the top seven finishers, led by race winner Tyler Byrne with a sizzling time of 16:15.5. But North Harrison’s fifth runner placed 39th, while North’s fifth runner was 22nd, allowing the North boys to win by one point.
John Mascari was runner-up in the boys race in a time of 16:35.3, with Milton Brinza (sixth) and Brian Depasse (15th) advancing to the state finals as individuals. “The conditions were terrible again,” Mascari said. “I thought it was worse [than last week]. It was muddier. But we came in as a team to run our best. “Got off to a bad start, kind of slipped at the beginning. I got packed in a little bit, but it didn’t really bother me too much. Got back up front and held on to second place.” “Mascari just ran his usual strong race,” McDonald said. “Milton Brinza ran well. Depasse and [David] Tucker ran right together. We had other younger guys running today, had one guy that normally doesn’t run in our top seven. We got good performances from everybody.” Drew Gambill of Shakamak finished a solid fifth (16:54.6) in the boys race to qualify for the state finals as an individual. Terre Haute South’s Taylor Head was 21st overall, missing the state finals cut by less than nine seconds. Terre Haute South competed as a team in the girl’s race, placing 16th of a field of 20 teams. Rachel Stephens paced the Braves, finishing 47th overall. Shakamak’s Casey Fougerousse competed as an individual, placing 51st. The top 15 individuals and top six teams advanced to the state finals at LaVern Gibson Championship Course on Oct. 31. What do the two North coaches expect at the state finals next week? “The way it looks right now, we’re looking for more rain hopefully,” Dason joked, or was he? “Obviously we do well in the mud. Not that the [LaVern Gibson] course is all muddy, but there are spots on there that are soft and spongy. We’re looking forward to next week to show people what we can do.” “Our goal all season is to make a podium appearance if we can, the top three,” McDonald stated. “It’s been the goal. We’ll leave it at that.”
