The Valparaiso High School boys cross country team is moving on to semi-state following their Regionals win at New Prairie. The team looked strong, running as a pack and coming through the finish line one after another, ensuring the win for Valpo. Star runner Ahmad Aljobeh was back running with the team again, as his ankle is almost fully healed.
When asked how he felt to be running a race with his team again, Aljobeh simply said, "Good!" On his race performance he said, "It felt good to keep the guys together today, and that's what coach wanted."
Ari Coulopoulos, who finished second to Mitch Hubner of LaPorte, was not upset of placing second, stating, "It was cool running as a team and keeping the guys all in there today, I felt really comfortable even though I wasn't going all out, I had a lot of air left after the race." Coulopoulos stirred up his teammates during the race saying, "I was cheering for all the guys as they were coming in."
Coach Prow chimed in and said, "Today was about places, not times. We got the places we wanted." He continued, "It's great we have five (four official) all-regional runners. We know all (of our runners) are comparable in ability. It was good seeing six guys running together at the one-mile marker and four at Agony Hill before the 3K marker. Pat, Ari, Ahmad and Peyton were all running together. If they execute like that the rest of the way through, we are going to be in good shape."
Varsity places and times:
2 Coulopoulos 16:05.5
4 P. Reed 16:19.7
9 Dalton 16:40.4
13 L. Davison16:43.4
16 Hickey 16:49.6
17 Bisacchi 16:51.8
18 Aljobeh 16:52.2
Coach Crague said of the race, "The times were a little slower today because of the wind and of it being cooler out, but it was a good team effort. They executed our game plan very well. Running together as a group helped us out."
Moving on to semi-state are the top 5 schools including; Valparaiso 42, LaPorte 81, Chesterton 92, New Prairie 105 and Portage 114.
Other participating schools were: Hebron 164, Morgan Township 197, Rensselaer Central 223, Kankakee Valley 225, North Newton 260, Boon Grove (no team score), Knox (no team score), LaCrosse (no team score), Wheeler (no team score), and Winamac (no team score)
Thank you to Kelly Coulopoulos and teammate Kevin Mangel for contributing photos!