Tipp sweeps Dave Lightle Invite

In the lone home cross country meet of the season for the Tippecanoe squad, the Red Devils made the most of it, winning both the boys and girls races on a great night for running in Tipp City last Wednesday.

The Red Devils boys team earned a championship with a strong performance. They scored 37 points on the night, comfortably defeating Piqua, who placed second. Milton Union was sixth overall with 174 points, and Bethel was eighth with 221.

“It was the best weather we have ever had for the event,” Tipp coach Byron Kimmel said. “The course was changed because of construction.”

Landon Kimmel cruised to the boys title, as the Tipp junior ran a two-mile time of 9:25.1, nearly 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Noah Burgh of Piqua.

Other Tipp top 30 runners included Everett Muhlenkamp, placing seventh (10:11.9), Dimitri Hartman, who placed eighth with a 10:12.3, and Luke Schwieterman, who landed tenth with a finish of 10:21.5.

“I wanted to run under 9:20, but I will take a 9:25 as that puts me in position for another sub-15 race at Anna,” Kimmel said. “I am excited about our team's progress.  Should be fun on Saturday.”

Ethan Berning placed 11th for the Red Devils (10:24.2), Elias Stienecker was 22nd (10:41.9), Eli Ramos was 23rd (10:42), and Will Hept finished with a time of 10:45.8, good enough for 24th overall.

“We wanted to get five under 10:20,” Byron Kimmel said. “We were close as Muhlenkamp and Hartman were at 10:12. Schwieterman and Berning were at 10:21 and 10:24.  Landon wanted to get to that sub 9:20 mark, which is very tough to do on a cross country course.”

“He came up a bit short...but overall very pleased.  We had some outstanding performances from our mid-pack runners (Kaiden Gambill and Ryan Lohnes).”

Also locally, Milton Union runner Colin Hinkelman finished sixth with a time of 10:08, the highest Bulldog runner. Zak Klepinger also placed in the top 30 with a 26th-place finish, with a time of 10:47.6.

For the Bethel Bees, Justin Brinson was their top finisher, running a time of 10:52, good enough for 27th overall. Patrick Firstenberger ran a time of 10:55, placing him 30th among the runners.

In the girls race, Bethel freshman Olivia Brumbaugh was the highest local finisher, with a time of 12:38.2, which placed her third overall.

“It was hot, but I went out as strong as I could to get a place,” Brumbaugh said. “The mile marker came pretty fast, and the road was narrow, so I had to fight for whatever place I could get and finish as strong as I could at the end.”

“I have broken the school record, but I really want to go to state,” she said, talking about how her freshman year has gone. “It’s only my freshman year, so I have three more years to do that if I don’t make it this year.”

Grace Periano was 11th for the Bees with a time of 13:18.4, and Natalie Sonnanstine also made the top 20, placing 19th with a time of 13:42.9.

Tipp won the team race with an overall score of 41, with Newton second with 81 points. Milton Union placed fourth overall with 136 points, and Bethel landed seventh, scoring 165.

Lucia Ranley led Tipp, finishing fifth overall and running 12:40.6. Morgan Collins was close behind, placing seventh and running 12:46.6.

Sydney LaBreck was eighth (12:52.6), and Katelyn Beeson placed ninth (12:56.4) to round out the top ten for the Red Devils.

Mary Waibel finished the race in 13:21.1, which was good enough for 12th overall. Gracie Raiff landed 20th (13:45.4), Kali Greth 22nd (13:48.9), Aubrey Davis 25th (13:53.2), and Lauren Anderson 30th (14:08.1).

“The girls ran the strongest that they have all year,” said girls coach Matt Lieber. “As a unit, we ran great.  We had 4 girls under 13 min, which was very solid for us.  Lucia Ranly ran a 12:40 and has looked really good the last couple of races.”

“Morgan Collins, Sydney LaBreck, and Katelyn Beeson also ran very well.  Mary Waibel was our fifth at 13:21. Three of those girls are multisport athletes in the fall, so we do not always have the chance to run all of them at the same time.”

Leading the way for Milton Union was Aubree Bates, who finished sixth with a time of 12:42.8. Sydnie Barlett ran 13:33.6, good enough for 15th overall, and their next top runner was Madalyn Korte, who ran 14:07.6.