Cross Country teams from eight different schools across the region competed at the Rudy Skorupa Invitational 2019 at Lake Central High School (LCHS) on Saturday. The meet hosted more than 200 runners with a total of four different races.
The Rudy Skorupa Invitational is named after Rudy Skorupa who coached Lake Central cross country for 40 years.
“It’s just a nice event to have at the school for parents or grandparents come out and watch their children or grandchildren,” said LCHS athletic director, Chris Enyeart.
For Boys Varisty, the top five runners were Genesio Christofanelli from Crown Point High School (CPHS) in first, Lucas Guerra from Highland High School (HHS) in second, Quinton Bock from CPHS in third, Cole Raymond from La Porte High School (LPHS) in fourth, and Logan Russel from LCHS in fifth.
CPHS won the race with 36 points, LPHS came in second with 56 points, LCHS came in third with 69 points, Portage High School (PHS) came in fourth with 113 points, HHS took fifth with 137 points, Munster High School (MHS) came in sixth place with 147 points, and Merrillville High School (MVHS) took 7th with 147 points.
In Girls Varsity, the top five runners included Maddie Russin from Crown Point, Jaelyn Burgos from Crown Point, Hannah Roth from Lake Central, Aubree Foreman from Valparaiso, and Lilly Zubeck from Lake Central.
Lake Central came in first with 47 points, Crown Point took second with 67 points, Valparaiso High School (VHS) took third with 78 points, Portage came in fourth with 96 points, Highland came in fifth with 135 points, Munster came in sixth with 139 points, La Porte came in seventh with 151 points, and Merrillville finished eighth with 246 points.
This is the first time we’ve seen some teams play, such as the VHS Girls Team.
“This is our opening race,” said VHS girls coach, John Arredondo. “The girls are concerned about times, but we just want to see them compete.”
In Boys Reserve, the top five runners were Nathan Murphy from Crown Point, Evan Murphy from Crown Point, Hayden Podlin from Lake Central, Dylan Lopez from Lake Central, and Ethan Miller from Portage.
Crown Point came in first with 24 points, Lake Central took second with 40 points, La Porte came in third with 85 points, Portage came in fourth for 124 points, Munster took fifth with 130 points, and Highland took last, sixth, with 152 points.
In Girls Reserve, the top five runners were Amanda Spanier from Lake Central, Ava Allen from Portage, Kylie Carroll from Lake Central, Olympia Berbesque from Valparaiso, and Abigail Artherhults from Valparaiso.
Lake Central took first with 31 points, Valparaiso took second with 46 points, Crown Point took third with 65 points, and Portage took fourth, last, with 90 points.
With fierce competition today, the tone was set for what looks to be an interesting year for Cross Country in NWI.
