At Home Among the Dew

By Tony Miller
News Editor

ELKHART — By 9 a.m. Saturday morning, the temperature in Elkhart had risen to a brisk 54 degrees. To most people, this is a slightly chilly August morning that calls for a sweatshirt. But to dozens of people clustered on the wet grass behind First Baptist Church, this morning was an excuse to strip down to their racing singlets.

Those people were cross country runners. Their goal was victory in the Elkhart Christian Hokum Karem, an unusual event in which runners pair up and alternate running loops. This meet required each runner to complete three circuits of a course that measured just short of one mile, a format that permitted every athlete's total distance to approximate the standard 5,000 meters (3.11 miles).

As is usual in Indiana cross country meets, the girls race ran first. For the Bruins, this meant senior Sadie Gustafson-Zook and sophomore Lena Yeakey toed the starting line. While the presence of one pair meant that no team score was recorded for Bethany, both members of the pair improved on their times from the Goshen Invitational and finished at a clip of 49:57.

An hour later, the boys race commenced. Sophomore Austin Hooley and senior Jesse Bontreger toed the line for Bethany. The returning letterwinners were paired respectively with junior Ryan Miller, returning to cross country after a year off, and sophomore Colin Samuel, embarking on his first interscholastic cross country season.

Bontreger, running in Bethany's lead pair for the fourth straight year, was expected to set the pace for the Bruins. He did just that, finishing the first loop in 5:29 and all three circuits in 16:44 — a time that very closely matched the 33:32 run by Bontreger and Ben Hochstetler last year. Hooley ran the first lap in 6:25, his fastest recorded mile according to the team's statistics, and finished his 4,800 meters in 21:16.

On the return leg for the first pair, Samuel began impressively with a 6:15 mile. While his pace slowed considerably late in the race, as the of a first-time runner usually does, his 20:58 aggregate would have been second among Bruins at the Goshen Invitational on Thursday. Miller would also have been second among BCHS runners Thursday (neither runner had enough practices to compete), finishing in a time of 21:16.

Bethany wraps up a three-meet, six-day stretch on Tuesday at Westview in a quadrangular meet with Northridge and Lakeland.

Boys cross country
ELKHART — Bethany incomplete at ECA Hokum Karem.
(Pairs of runners alternated running loops on a 1600-meter course. To estimate a pair's average 5K time, divide their finish time by 1.99.)
Team standings (sum of top three times) — Hobart 1:32:06, Goshen 1:32:29, NorthWood 1:38:14, Concord 1:39:21, Elkhart Christian 1:46:59, Jimtown 1:51:13.Top ten pairs — Luke Kaufman/Reid Zimmerman (G) 30:05. Justin Leon/Jacy Leon (H) 30:22, John Petroskey/Zach Spain (H) 30:35, Alfonso Torres/Adam Weeden (G) 31:04. Alex Cordova/Brent Dunn (H) 31:11. Nick Woodward/Gerardo Abad (G) 31:20. Joel Hartman/Steve Weaver (ECA) 31:26. Henry Zelaya/Dominic Proffitt (C) 31:35. Nate Bailey/Jose Medina (NW) 32:42. Casey Hershberger/Reid Yoder (NW) 32:43.
Bruin pairs — Jesse Bontreger/Colin Samuel 37:42, Austin Hooley/Ryan Miller 41:29.

Girls cross country
ELKHART — Bethany incomplete at ECA Hokum Karem.
(Pairs of runners alternated running loops on a 1600-meter course. To estimate a pair's average 5K time, divide their finish time by 1.99.)
Team standings (sum of top three times) —  Concord 1:56:12, Goshen 1:57:06, Hobart 1:59:27, NorthWood 2:04:16, Elkhart Christian 2:06:59, Jimtown 2:13:52.
Top ten pairs — Celena Guerrero/Kaylee Gubricky (H) 36:57. Annelise Wiebe/Adrienne Henke (G) 37:43. Kayla Casaletto/Sydney Newland (ECA) 37:49. Heather Johnson/Emily Davis (C) 38:15. Cassidy Field/McKenah D’Arcy (C) 38:40. Anna Niesen/Vanessa Steiner (C) 39:17. Megan Graves/Jessica Wynn (G) 39:36. Tricia Place/Andrea Kline (G) 39:47. Ellie Hathawa/Morgan Short (G) 40:07. McKayla Fielstra/Maddie Angle (NW) 40:10.
Bruin pair — Sadie Gustafson-Zook/Lena Yeakey 49:57.