South Bend Tribune staff report
10/30/2008
NEW CARLISLE — All fall long, LaPorte's Matt Miller and Chesterton's David Osborn have taken turns beating each other in boys cross country races.
So when Osborn threw down a wicked surge just after the mile mark at Saturday's New Prairie boys semistate, Miller admits the wheels started turning.
"In the back of my mind, I was thinking, 'Oh no, here we go again,'" said the Slicer senior. "I tried to stay with him for a little while, and then I decided that was crazy. I figured he would either keep going or he would start coming back to me at some point."
Though Osborn opened a 100-meter lead heading into the woods, Miller's instincts were correct. He slowly made up ground, then caught his struggling Duneland Athletic Conference opponent with 1,000 meters to go.
Along the tree line that leads to the final homestretch, Miller swept past, then pulled away to win the championship in 15:53.57.
Miller becomes the second consecutive Slicer to win a semistate individual title, following last year's state and national champion, Mike Fout.
He also led the Slicers to the IHSAA state finals for the second time, as LaPorte finished fourth with 157 points.
The top six teams and top 15 individual finishers at a semistate advance to the state meet in Terre Haute on Saturday, Nov. 1.
Freshman Mitch Hubner was 31st and senior Corbin Slater 32nd to lift the Slicers.
"This feels great," said Miller. "I am really excited for next week."
Joining the Slicers in Terre Haute will be Culver Military Academy's Alejandro Arroyo, who finished eighth; New Prairie senior Kyle Smiley (10th), and Michigan City's Philip Strader (13th).
No. 3 McCutcheon dominated the boys semistate, placing five runners among the top 17 finishers and scoring 48 points.
No. 5 Lake Central won the girls meet, edging No. 4 Valparaiso, 51-64.
Lake Central's Dana Payonk won the girls individual title in 18:17, breaking the meet record of 18:21 set last year by Alex Banfich.
Culver Girls Academy was the top girls team from the area, finishing eighth. CGA sophomore Waverly Neer finished 11th to earn an individual state meet berth.
"I didn't feel well the whole race," Neer said. "I'm disappointed in the way I ran, but I'm grateful that I've got another chance next week."
Michigan City's Mary Kate Mellen and LaPorte's Rebecca Kuehn finished 12th and 13th, respectively, to earn state meet berths.
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Following the race, Chesterton senior David Osborn was named as the winner of the Charles F. Maas Mental Attitude Award....
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The Columbus North boys team and North Central’s Futsum Zeinasellassie took championship honors at the IHSAA Boys Cross Country State ...
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Dan Cummins is the recipient of the 2009 Interscholastic Athletic Official Association Award for excellence in the sport of cross ...
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