HIGHLAND | Andrean coach Rick Torres aptly stated Lowell's Kyle Eller is running in his own world right now.
That may be true, but according to Eller, someone of divine inspiration always joins him on his ventures through various courses across Northwest Indiana.
"I just ask God to help me get through these races and give me enough strength to finish," he said.
The Red Devil junior used that, along with his God-given talent, to finish first in the boy's varsity race at the Highland Invitational on Saturday morning.
"As a team we performed as well as we would have liked to," said Eller, who finished with a time of 15:52. "I just kept on praying and asking God to give me more strength to win."
The main team Times No. 6 Lowell was competing with was No. 3 Andrean, which edged the Red Devils 72-76 for the team crown.
Andrean had the most runners in the Top 20, including senior Patrick Musgrave (sixth), junior Lucas Kalbfell (11th), senior Blaine Wolf (12th) and sophomore Jack Musgrave (20th).
Torres thinks his team has only scratched the surface of how good it can become.
"The next six weeks will tell how far we've come," he said. "If we can get our workout times comparable to our race times, the results will take care of themselves."
The Andrean boys weren't the only ones from 5959 Broadway who found success.
59ers junior Becca Conley was running by herself most of the race, finishing in 18:35 -- almost two minutes ahead of runner-up Taylor Austin of Griffith.
"I was happy with my time after finishing at 19:17 last week in New Prairie," Conley said. "My goal right now is 18:20, and I have all my focus on semistate and finishing in the top five there."
Perry Meridian captured the girls title with 112 points, while Kankakee Valley finished second with 115.
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