Steve T. Gorches: Surprises advance to cross country regionals

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Updated: November 16, 2011 3:49PM

Depending on how you look at it, the most compelling part of the cross country postseason is done.

Yes, there’s those battles among perennial powerhouses in Lake Central, Valparaiso and Chesterton, and frequent contenders in Portage, Andrean, Munster and LaPorte.

And whichever ones survive regional and semistate to reach the state finals in Terre Haute, it will be fun to see if any can challenge for the title like the Chesterton boys (runner-up in 2009), LaPorte boys (runner-up in 2007), Valparaiso boys (won in 1997 and 2000), Portage boys (won in 1999), Lake Central girls (runner-up in 2007 and 2008) and Valparaiso girls (five titles and three runner-up finishes between 1999 and 2006) have done in recent years.

But the most compelling part to me is watching the fourth and fifth places in the sectionals, looking for teams that rarely get to taste regional competition.

Like the West Side boys finishing fifth at Crown Point, led by Dijon Smith’s 11th-place effort.

Or the North Newton boys edging Knox by one point to earn fifth at Rensselaer.

Or individuals who advance without their team, such as Wheeler’s Kyle Nurse, Jon Hogg and John Wallington from Boone Grove, Nate Rhodes of LaCrosse or West Side’s DeAushania Wheeler, who is looking for a second straight trip to semistate.

And then there’s a pair of Warriors that advanced from the Gavit Sectional — the Bishop Noll boys and Calumet girls.

Noll placed fifth Tuesday to advance to the regional for the first time since 2007. Not a very long drought, but it’s definitely a huge boost for the entire program in its second year under the leadership of Karl Repay.

“We’ve got a lot more kids out this year,” Repay said. “The (boys) team has doubled in size.”

One of the new runners this season in sophomore Sal Cordova, who also plays JV soccer and ran track last spring. It’s his first year out for cross country, and he parlayed just one season of learning into a 10th-place finish at Tuesday’s sectional.

Cordova got out front very quickly at Dowling Park and was surprisingly still ahead just before the one-mile mark.

“He was unsure of himself asking ‘Why am I out in front?’ or “Should I be in front?’” Repay said. “It surprised me too (he was in front early). But I told him that’s OK.

“I really thought we could get out of sectional and that was definitely a goal this season.”

Can Noll take it one more step to reach semistate? They’re probably not ready for that leap yet, but the Warriors are very young and led by a constantly improving runner who’s learning as he goes.

“I guess I’ve learned a lot,” Cordova said. “It’s weird — the gun goes off and I think I have to go. As soon as I started going I realized I might have started too fast. Next time I’ll try to wait back and hang with (Munster’s Tom) Bolanowski (who finished second) and (Highland’s Jake) Baranowski (who won the sectional).”

Not only has Noll increased the size and success of the boys team, but it also has a girls team for the first time in 10 years. Based on what has transpired with the boys, maybe the girls can turn things around like Calumet has.

The Calumet girls team had never advanced out of sectional until this week. It was definitely a goal of second-year coach Rob Lukowski, but it was tough to imagine in a sectional made up of strong programs such as Munster, Lake Central, Griffith and Highland and not much cross country history at the school.

“I can’t say enough about our senior leadership,” Lukowski said about his team’s effort.

The funny part of that statement is that he only has one senior — Andrea DeGard, who finished seventh to earn a top-15 finish for the first time.

“She’s one of the few four-year letter winners in Calumet cross country history,” Lukowski said. “Her lead-by-example style is what this program needed.”

DeGard also might turn out to be a pretty good coach down the line since she’s a pretty good recruiter. She recruited Lukowski to coach the team two years ago after he had been an assistant football and track (sprints) coach for about 10 years. She’s also recruited runners for the current and future team.

“We practice with the middle school program sometimes and she’s like an assistant — my not-so-silent silent partner,” said Lukowski, who admitted he’s learned on the job. “I’ve gone to coaching clinics and read books.”

Yes, people still do actually use books instead of using a Kindle or an iPad or a Nook.

Lukowski also said he owes a lot to the kids too in his development as a coach and person.

“I’m going to tell them at practice (on Wednesday) how much I’ve learned from them, not just in coaching but in life and how to be a better person,” he said.

That’s perfect reciprocation — Lukowski has helped the Warriors become a better team while the runners have helped him.