The boys cross country team competed for state on October 28 for the first time in five years.
This accomplishment stunned everyone except the resilient Panthers, who knew they were capable of competing in state.
“We’ve been ranked outside of the top 20, been projected to not make it to state and have had teams that thought we would be no competition, but we’ve outperformed everyone’s expectations of our team,” senior cross country captain Owen Osterman said.
It all started with the Panthers coach, Robert Geile, who instilled the mindset that this team could make it to state. If there is anyone who knows what these runners are capable of, it is Geile. Geile has coached several NC runners, including the two fastest runners Owen Osterman (12) and Emmett Tuason (12) since their middle school years at Eastwood.
All the hard work put into the season showed when the team placed fourth in regionals. The Panthers ran arguably their best race of the season, silencing several doubters who didn’t believe they could advance to the state meet.
The IHSAA state cross country meet annually takes place at Lavern Gibson in Terre Haute. MileSplit, the nation’s premier network for high school cross country and track and field coverage, ranked LaVern Gibson as the third hardest high school cross country course in the nation.
The punishing course got the best of the Panthers who placed 22 out of 25 teams. However, the course was no match for the top five nationally ranked runner, (Brebeuf’s) Cameron Todd. Todd, a Notre Dame commit, is one of three runners to run sub 15 in the state race (2008-present). While only considering the state meet, Todd’s 14:55.5 is only beaten by North Central’s Futsum Zeinasellassie (14:48.8) in 2011.
Carmel’s Tony Provenzano, an Indiana commit, paved the way to to back to back Greyhound championships defeating teams by a respectable amount. Carmel extended its record of cross country championships to 18 – Anderson is second with nine. Carmel has won five championships in the past 10 years.
NC’s Emmett Tuason (71) and sophomore Grant Hostetler (79) led the Panthers running times of 16:05.7 and 16:08.9. Following a large dropoff, sophomore Gus Phillips (167), freshman Keegan Terry (192) and sophomore Max Frank (226) rounded up the Panthers top five. Senior Owen Osterman experienced a cramp midway through the race, but stayed resilient and finished despite facing adversity.
While the Panthers didn’t meet their goal of attaining a top 10 finish in state, they had an extremely successful season proving they can compete with the best of the best. The future is bright as this freshman and sophomore heavy team will be led by Hostetler in years to come.
