New Prairie Invitational

By: Stephen Bain

September 16, 2009

On the most beautiful course in the state, if not the country, over a hundred schools will race.  There will be multiple divisions going on throughout the day show casing every level of school.

One thing that always stood out to me about this meet, beyond how large and competitive it was, was the opening ceremony.  New Prairie really goes over the top to make the opening ceremony something special and treats this Cross Country Invitational as a big championship football game.

We are going to focus on just the AAA race (Coach Swank has completed a write on the AA and A races).  I am going to go along with the rumor that West Lafayette will be bumping up in the AAA race as well.

Let’s take a look at the lineup for Saturday.

Carroll (Fort Wayne), #6 Chesterton, Concord, #18 Crown Point, DeKalb, East Noble, Elkhart Central, Elkhart Memorial, Fort Wayne Northrop, Harrison (Lafayette), Highland, Hobart, LaPorte, Lake Central, Logansport, Lowell, McCutcheon, Marion, Martinsville, Merrillville, Michigan City, Mishawaka, Munster, Northridge, Penn, Portage, Richmond, South Bend Adams, South Bend Clay, South Bend Riley, So Bend Washington, #20 Valparaiso, Warsaw, #15 West Lafayette

Question to be answered:

Who is in a good position for the New Prairie Semi State?

Chesterton should be ahead of the rest of these teams, but the Slicers, Bulldogs, Vikings and many alike will be battling it out to make sure they can punch their ticket to Terre Haute in about a month.

A quick look at the Top Teams:

#6 Chesterton – They are back and in full power most likely for Saturday.  This will be the first time the whole state gets to see the real Trojans on display.  They should be looking to send a message this weekend.

#15 West Lafayette – Rumor is they are bumping up.  Kudos to them for doing so.  These guys have ran tough all year and should be running with the “big boys”.

#18 Crown Point – This is another group that was under the radar a bit pre-season but has quietly continued winning in the DAC and will look to go after some top notch competition.

#20 Valparaiso – I mentioned falling off the bandwagon.  However, Ramadan should be ending this weekend.  It could mean that Ahmad will miss the meet entirely though if it ends Friday.  How is that for a story line, that the moon holds Valpo’s fate this weekend?

#21 Concord – These guys suffered a tough beating at Lafayette a few weeks ago.  However, this is their next big meet to earn some respect back from the state.

LaPorte – We can finally see the Slicers against some more big names and they will hopefully knock some of these teams down.  Expect them to do well, and crack the Top 25 after this weekend in a big way.

Lake Central – Same as LaPorte

Race team favorite:  Chesterton

Team that may surprise:  LaPorte

A look at the front of the race:

David Osborn (12) – Chesterton [NP #1]

James Martin (11) – Carroll (Allen) [NH #2]

Ryan Cutter (11) – Chesterton [NP #7]

Dylan Harrison (11) – Merrillville [NP #6]

Julian Jimenez-Corredor (12) – West Lafayette [NP #5]

Jared Wethington (12) – McCutcheon [NP #3]

Morgan Welsh (11) – McCutcheon [NP #18]

Ahmad Aljobeh (12) – Valparaiso [NP #16]

James Elia (12) – Valparaiso [NP #14]

Bradley Hess (11) – Carroll (Allen) [NH #4]

Mitchell Hubner (10) – LaPorte [NP #12]

Jake Ponton (12) – Lake Central [NP #10]

Zane Cooperider (11) – West Lafayette [NP #9]

Daniel Zelaya (11) – Concord [NH #10]

Brian Willoughby (11) – Concord [NH #14]

Chris Shellenberger (12) – Crown Point [NP #19]

Jace Lowry (11) – Martinsville [BC #4]

Taylor Lowry (11) – Martinsville [BC #13]

Chris LaFree (12) – South Bend Riley [NH #15]

Nate West (12) – Warsaw [NH #13]

What a lovely show Osborn and Martin should put on.  Osborn recently finished just one second behind Futsum (Futsum had turned it off I am told, but still a fast time) while Martin recently was defeated at the State Preview.  However, Martin is getting faster each week.