Steve T. Gorches: New Prairie a glimpse into future

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South Central's Kayleigh Warner finishes fourth in the Class A race during the New Prairie Invitational cross country meet Saturday Sept. 17, 2011 at New Prairie High School in Rolling Prairie, Ind. Photo for Sun Times Media/Joe Raymond

Updated: November 10, 2011 5:34PM

There’s a reason so many kids and coaches look forward to the annual New Prairie Cross Country Invitational that took place last Saturday for the 44th time.

It’s always been a barometer for the rest of the season for teams and individuals.

If your team does well at New Prairie against some of the top squads from across the state, as well as ones from Michigan and Ohio, then the postseason journey — which has a stop right back at New Prairie for the semistate — might be a little less intimidating.

If a runner shines in one of the large races in the mid-September event, more success can be on the horizon, especially for younger runners who get a huge confidence boost from matriculating through Thompson, Gamble and Horseshoe Woods, and over Agony Hill and Victory Bridge.

It’s happened multiple times in recent years for region runners. Freshmen Elena Lancioni of LaPorte and Celena Guerrero of Hobart placed fourth and sixth, respectively, in last year’s AAA race, and both ended up having long postseason runs.

Lancioni was ecstatic with that 2010 effort. But when she finished fourth again last Saturday, the mood changed as expectations have risen.

“I’m a little disappointed; I thought I could do better,” she said. “I knew I could win this race. I knew I could catch (the leaders), but mentally I just lost it (midway through the race). It’s my favorite course and it’s a perfect day (weather-wise). I just needed to be mentally tougher.”

Expect the Slicers’ sophomore to improve on that aspect of her game as sectionals approach.

Boone Grove graduate Jordan Chester won New Prairie all four years and it always seemed to help her the rest of the season.

LaPorte’s Mike Fouts set a course record in 2007, then went on to capture a state title.

In 2008 Valparaiso’s Ahmad Aljobeh won the frosh-soph race Since then he helped the Vikings win the AAA team title in 2010. This year he was injured, but his teammates did just fine in winning a second straight invite title, thanks to sophomore Ari Couloupoulous.

Last year as a freshman, a gleaming Couloupoulous was ecstatic after finishing 61st to help his team win. This year he placed third to contribute even more to a team triumph.

So who could be this year’s surprise out of New Prairie? How about South Central freshman Kyleigh Werner, who finished fourth in the girls Class A race, just ahead of Kouts’ Tara Hamstra in Werner’s first race against the consensus top girls runner in the Porter County Conference?

Makes for an interesting PCC meet less than two weeks away.

“It was messing with my head a little because I’ve been looking and my times aren’t as good as her,” Werner said about Hamstra.

Not only was it Werner’s first race on New Prairie’s challenging and scenic course, but she posted her career best time in any race.

That’s pretty darn impressive.

It was enough to bring tears to the eyes of her coach and mom, Rachel Werner.

“I just didn’t expect this today,” Rachel said, trying to explain the show of emotion. “We were hoping for a top 15. She’s never been in the 20s ever.”

Not only did Kyleigh finish in the 20-minute range, she almost broke into the 19s with 20:00.8.

“I heard (the course) was tough with all the hills, but I was excited because it’s a fast course,” Kyleigh said. “I always try to make my move on the hills and make a surge when other kids are tired.”

Not a bad strategy, especially for a young runner who hasn’t figured out she’s not supposed to be this good this fast. But what she doesn’t know won’t hurt, right?

“It makes me feel real good about myself,” she said.

Someone else who feels good after Saturday’s meet is Hebron coach Mike DeFries, whose boys and girls teams both finished second in the Class A races.

He said in the past he’s worried when those teams peak at New Prairie. In this case I think second is a perfect place to finish, as both should be in good shape for the PCC meet and the postseason, especially with Jasen Egolf leading the boys and “some really good freshmen,” as DeFries put it.

Egolf finished third in the Class A race, just behind PCC rival Alec Kostelnik, who posted his best New Prairie effort. Kostelnik said his plan was to stay with Egolf then make a move, and it worked.

“I knew he wasn’t going to give up and I wasn’t going to give up,” Kostelnik said in giving kudos to Egolf. “It’s all about guts.”

Those four words epitomize New Prairie in a nutshell. And that’s what it will be about over the next month of cross country.