Eller, Conley take individual titles at CP

CEDAR LAKE | Highland's Jacob Baranowski knew his friendly Lowell rival, Kyle Eller, would be on his heels at the hilly course at Lemon Lake in Saturday's Crown Point Regional.

Predictably, Eller found another gear in the final kilometer to overtake Baranowski to win the individual title (16:28) by just 4 seconds on a sunny, brisk day.

"It was tough," Eller said. "Baranowski is a really great runner. I was afraid because he was a little bit ahead of me by the 2-mile mark. I caught up before we went back into the woods again, and, thankfully, I was able to pull ahead a little."

Baranowski was working with Andrean's Pat Musgrave, who finished third, in a battle to the finish.

"(Eller) came out of nowhere shortly thereafter, so I tried to hang on," Baranowski said. "It's hard to make up ground with those hills."

Baranowski was glad the Northwest Crossroads Conference showed its mettle in a tough field.

"The NCC guys got one, two, three and (four), so I think it's really cool," he said.

"I would never had dreamed to be the regional champion," Eller said.

Hobart sophomore Brent Dunn was fourth to lead the Brickies to a surprise regional title after placing third in the sectional. Hobart put all five of its runners in the top 20.

"Our other sophomore, John Petroskey, finished 14th, and our freshman, Collin Allen, ran a phenomenal race to finish as our fifth man," Hobart coach Ty Artherhults said. "It was just a good day."

The top five teams and the top 15 runners advanced to the New Prairie Semistate. Other boys teams moving on were Andrean, Crown Point, Lowell and Lake Central.

Like Eller, Andrean's Becca Conley added the regional title after winning sectional in the girls race. After two years of trying, Conley, a junior, said she finally learned how to conquer the Lemon Lake course.

"It's a lot easier to start out controlled and then start picking it up," she said. "That's what I did, so then in the last K I had some left in the tank to really knock it down."

Conley finished 11 seconds ahead of Griffith's Taylor Austin in 19:05.

"This course used to haunt me so much," Conley said. "I just could not figure it out because I would just end up dying. Now, I kinda like it."

Calumet's Andrea DeGard placed 12th to become just the second runner in school history to advance to the semistate. The first was Lisa Scott.

"I knew when I got to the third K, I had to go," she said. "It's a big accomplishment."

Lake Central added a regional title to go along with its sectional crown, and unseated defending champion Crown Point in the process. Crown Point was second, followed by Munster, Hobart and Andrean.

The Indians put their first five runners in the top 15, led by Shelby Carroll, who placed fourth.

"If we get five girls in the top 15, we'll win," Lake Central coach Amy Nimetz said. "We had that in mind, and that was our goal today."