The New Prairie Cross Country team made it to state on Saturday, November 2nd.
“I was wishing and praying deeply that this, the 8th team I've had qualify for semi state, would indeed be the team to qualify for the IHSAA State Finals,” coach John Arndt stated as he waited for the results at semi- state.
The New Prairie Cross Country team hasn’t gone to state with all 7 runners since 2001. This year has been a huge accomplishment for the team.
“Individual joy was multiplied by the joy of knowing that 7 young men who had earned their place in the state meet would be allowed the opportunity to represent New Prairie Boys Cross Country as the 9th team from NPHS in the state finals and the first since 2001,” Arndt said.
As the team arrived at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, they marveled at the amazing course they had.
“The entire course was top notch in terms of sound systems, course grooming, course layout, starting areas, finish areas, fencing, etc,” Arndt said.
Even as the course has all the bells and whistles that a runner may enjoy, there still are some things that make it difficult for runners.
“The course is very hilly and muddy compared to our course at New Prairie,” varsity runner abc sophomore Brenden Oden said.
Along with the course being more difficult, Indiana and Rhode Island are the only states in the nation that have one race for all classes.
“New Prairie is the 111th size school in our entire state with a student population of 961 and the average population of the teams we face in the semi state is 1,800,” Arndt said.
When the day of the state finals came the team had an amazing mindset.
“Coach just wanted us to show everyone that we belonged here,” Oden said.
The team overall finished 22nd at the State Finals. Coach Arndt stated that the team ran excellent!
“Our team ran beautifully; Tim O'Laughlin, ranked 6th finished 5th; Josh Baltes, ranked 30th finished 32nd; Quinn Beall, ranked 50th, finished 42nd; Tom Wykoff, ranked 115th, finished 67th; Alex Cicero, ranked 131st, finished 98th; Brenden Oden, ranked 142nd finished 110th; Ethan Walden, ranked 129th finished 127th,” said Arndt.
Sadly the team almost didn’t make it to state this year. There was a scoring error that occurred because of an electron chip.
“Essentially, there is a timing mat which stretches the length of the finish line which will read the 'chip' on each runner's number bib/tag pinned to their singlet or shirt. Every once in awhile, the timing mat will 'read' the 'chip' on a runner very slightly before the runner's chest actually crosses the finish line,” said Arndt.
Coach Arndt found out hours later that there was a scoring error.
“He said that he saw the results which list all of the runners in order of finish and had been told by Quinn Beall that one spot was wrong in the results: Quinn actually beat a runner from LaPorte by a step but the results listed the LaPorte runner ahead of Quinn,” Arndt said.
Both coaches, Arndt and Dailey, contacted Ben Bachmann, athletic director, who informed the IHSSA about the scoring issue.
After two long days the coaches and the team were ecstatic when they received the news that they were going to the state finals.
“When we all got in the locker room we all just started screaming,” Oden said.
The New Prairie team had an amazing season that helped them lead up to the state finals.
“We were ranked 68th in the state in the preseason and were expected to finish 14th in our semi state, 8 slots away from the top 6 who qualify for the state meet,” said Arndt.
Many runners on the team improved running times this year, like Oden.
“I personally was on varsity and had a pretty big improvement from last year. My PR last year was 19:55 and this year it was 17:44.” said Oden.
Not only did the team improve their overall running, but they improved the tone of this season.
“I think the overall mindset of the team was better this season, in a sense, because coach gave us higher hopes by saying we had a better chance of making it to state,” stated sophomore Roman Piergalski.