Depth leads Crown Point boys, girls to wins in home cross country invitational

CROWN POINT | The host school didn't have an individual champion in either race at the Crown Point Invitational on Tuesday at Lemon Lake, but the Bulldogs' runners were close enough to the front to have C.P. claim both team titles.

In the girls race, the Bulldogs placed five runners in the top seven and finished with a team total of 16 points. Munster was second with 65 and Lowell took third with 68.

"I was really pleased with our young runners and some of the girls that have been here that I challenged specifically," Crown Point girls coach Patty Begley said. "They really came through."

The Bulldogs edged Hobart in the boys race. Crown Point had four runners in the top nine and finished with 47 points, while Hobart had 50. Munster was third with 75 points.

Hobart's Celena Guerrero was the individual champion for the girls in a time of 20 minutes, 25 seconds. Lauren McCarroll led the Bulldogs with a second-place finish and time of 20:40.

Guerrero and McCarroll were even through the first mile-and-a-half before Guerrero pulled away in the last half of the race. Crown Point's Allison Wortel, Lyndie Pierce and Alex St. Amour finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. The Bulldogs had 12 girls finish among the top 19.

Munster's Emily McNicholas, Crown Point's Allison Carpenter, Lowell's Sarah Wiser and Sarah Edwards, and Hanover Central's Taylor Hillegonds rounded out the top 10.

In the boys race, Highland's Jacob Baranowski sprinted past Hobart's Brent Dunn with 80 meters to go and then just held Dunn off at the finish to get the win. Both runners posted a time of 16:59.

"He had me really scared," Baranowski said of Dunn. "He really made me work that race."

Daniel Walters was third with a time of 17:06 to pace Crown Point. Alex Ray was fourth, Eric Banser eighth and Tom Cierniak ninth.

"I think at this point in the season, you're just looking to see where you're at, how your kids are doing," Crown Point boys coach Keith Iddings said. "The fact that we were able to win today is just a bonus."

Hobart placed five runners in the top 15. Chad Brooks, John Petrosky and Alex Cordova finished 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively.

Kyle Eller of Lowell finished fifth, and Munster teammates Tom Bolanowski and Tony Rigoni took sixth and seventh.