The Valparaiso High School Girls Cross Country team claimed victory at the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) Meet on October 1, 2011. It was a cold and windy day, but it didn't stop the top four runners from breaking the course record of 19:15 set by a Lake Central student.
Lake Central reporting the previous record of 19:15, the top runners were elated hearing that they broke the record as they ran through the shoot, with Valpo claiming two of those positions. Officials are reviewing and plan on correcting any discrepancies.
Valpo had three all-conference runners in the top 12, Katelyn DeVries placed 2nd with a time of 19:12, Alison Mundell 4th 19:17 (official recorded time) and Tiffany Fortney 10th 19:49.
Team Scores: Valpo 48, Crown Point 75, Chesterton 82, Portage 89, Lake Central 92, LaPorte 168, Michigan City 186, Merrillville 212.
Varsity times:
2 DeVries 19:12
4 Mundell 19:17
10 Fortney 19:49
15 Bigger 20:13
17 Joll 20:29
27 Gazdich 20:44
35 Tullis 21:22
Valparaiso High School Athletic Director and Football Coach Mark Hoffman was in attendance cheering on the Vikes. Hoffman said "Our girls are excited to be here competing. They've had some injuries and have been doing great anyway. It's great to see the kids compete, and it's going to be a good day for the Vikings. Coach Prow and Coach Devries, along with assistant coaches Crague and Nellesen have done an excellent job even despite injuries. Valpo has done Very well. It's a tribute to the coaches of how well their training is."
Coach Nellessen included, "Any win is a good win! We keep telling them every race is a step, and a step to the next race and we all learn from the next race and go from there. It is fun to see that when the season started, three of our seniors weren't going to be able to run beause of stress fractures and look at them now. They are leading this team like seniors are supposed to. Each race is getting better. Those three seniors are Katelyn DeVries, Tricia Joll and Lauren Bigger."
JV times:
14 Despoy 21:57
21 Zygmunt 22:18
22 Owens 22:19
33 Konrad 22:55
39 Schlichting 23:16
Team Scores: Portage 32, Crown Point 49, Lake Central 84, Chesterton 89, Valpo 119, LaPorte 180
Thank you to Chris Joll for contributing pictures!