By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
Courtesy of junior Meghan Capra, the Westosha Central High School girls cross country team won the Kenosha County Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, but she was not the only Falcon to finish among the top three.
According to Falcons coach Keith Olsen, no one could keep up with the title-winning Capra, who took control of the Sept. 30 race from the start.
The control, he said, came when their original plan consisting of her racing along with Indian Trail athlete Madison Taylor had been scrapped due to Taylor’s injury.
“Meghan was to race with her as they have split in previous races this season,” Olsen stated. “Instead Meghan simply took control straight up the hill and owned the race. It was a solid race for her and set the tone for our team.”
Capra, who finished with 19 minutes, 56.5 seconds, came out nearly 10 seconds ahead of Bradford senior Sophia Gentile.
Anderson, who took third, had a time of 20:46.2.
Contributing the Falcons’ title were junior MacKenzie Maccaux (12, 21:40.0), senior Lindsey Kimpler (22, 22:25.2) and junior Chelsea Lamp (23, 22.32.9).
Trailing Anderson, however, was Wilmot Union High School freshman Tara Nopenz, who took fourth to help the Lady Panthers finish sixth of eight teams.
In addition to Nopenz (21:01.3), seniors Samantha Porter (35, 23:47.5), Stephanie Nuccio (44, 24:09.4), Zoe Glass (49, 24:35.9) and freshman Barbara Cooper (51, 24:45.0) garner points for the Lady Panthers.
Meanwhile, for the boys, senior Sheel Patel took second for the Falcons, who finished sixth as a team.
“Sheel has been racing well all season and did so again Friday,” Olsen said. “He has his eyes on a conference championship and a state qualifying berth.”
Patel, who completed the course at 16:41.9, finished 14 overall places ahead of senior Mason Hedrick (16, 17:53.9), junior Colton Greenhill (23, 18:11.8), senior Jacob Yule (44, 19:07.9) and junior Logan Sperling (55, 19:23.3).
The Panther boys took fifth, one place ahead of the Falcons, after senior Ryan Ott finished 11th (17:41.3) and sophomore Jordan Paulsen notched 13th (17:46.6).
Rounding out the Panthers were sophomore Kyle Diedrich (26, 18:24.5), sophomore Alex Wank (32, 18:31.8) and junior Brock Muzzy (34, 18:37.5).