On September 10, 2011 Valparaiso High School Boys XC was invited to race at the annual Rensselaer Invitational. This race is unique in the fact that the boys compete within their individual grade, and not all together as one team.
In Rensselaer, the runners have the chance to achieve a PR (personal record). The course is relatively flat which allows the runners to run faster. Many PR's were set on this course Saturday.
Two divisions of races took place. Valpo was in division 1, based on the size and location of their school. Schools competing in division 1 were: Gary West Side, Crown Point, Lake Central, Merrillville, Plymouth and Valparaiso.
Placing 4th was the Valparaiso freshman team, with the scores consisting of: Gary West Side-16, Crown Point-29, Lake Central-33 , Valparaiso-36, Merrillville-76 and Plymouth-107
The top 10 were presented with medals during the awards ceremony. The top 20 received a medal along with ribbons to the top 50. Top teams received a trophy for their school and ribbons were given to the top 5 schools.
Freshman times and places were:
Dylan Workman 10th-18:54
Daniel Ranegar 13th-19:01
Jerry Perez 16-19:21
Camden Davison 24-19:47
Bob Schenck 40-21:47
Rainer Neis 47- 22:38
Taking 1st with only 6 points was the Valparaiso sophomore team. Scores were: Valparaiso -6, Merrillville 26, Crown Point-28 and Lake Central-44.
Sophomore times and places were:
Ari Coulopoulos 1st-16:13
Kevin Hickey 2nd-16:55
Corey Alfredson 3rd-17:27
Kevin Mangel 5th-17:42
Jacob Chapman 8th-17:54
Connor Divine 18:19
Oscar Palin 14th- 18:23
Connor Ritzi 15th-18:24
Drew Finley 17th-18:36
Zach Hardesty 20th-18:57
Jake Southwell 26-19:19
Adam Sandberg 50-22:47
Also taking 1st was the Valparaiso juniors team with just 10 points. Scores consisted of: Valparaiso 10, Crown Point 12, Lake Central 31, Gary West Side 59 and Plymouth 81.
Junior times and places were:
Peyton Reed 1st-15:59
Xavier Reed 4th-16:42
Patrick Dalton 5th-16:44
Landon Davison 6th-16:46
Taylor Bisacchi 8th-17:08
Jordan Galligan 9th-17:32
Mark Halfman10th-17:33
Tim Meyer 15th-17:50
Zach Schwartz 17th 18:04
Andy Miles 19th-18:22
Tyler Schwartz 31st-19:03
Rob Halfman 33rd-19:13
Andy Kahrs 39th-19:31
Josh Marciniak 48th 20:34
John Halfman 55th 21:02
Running as individuals for Valparaiso due to the fact that there are 3 seniors on the injured list were Murry Banks placing 4th with a time of 17:32 and George Molina in 8th place with a time of 18:11.
Next meet for Valpo XC will be September 13 at the Merrillville High School against Merrillville and LaPorte. The meet starts at 4:30.