Cross Country
Lowell senior outruns Highland’s Guerra, who finishes 2nd in boys race
Guerra, a Highland junior, won the semistate meet Oct. 26, but as he and Sanchez, a Lowell senior, headed down the final stretch of the Lavern Gibson Championship Course at the state meet on Saturday, it was Sanchez who kicked into gear.
“In my head, I’m telling myself I’m not gonna lose to him again,” Sanchez said. “I’m looking over my shoulder, and (Guerra) wasn’t coming up. At the end, I’m seeing the crowd and everybody else, I gave a little shoutout to the Lord and pointed at the sky, and at that moment, I took it in.”
Sanchez’s time of 15 minutes, 28.7 seconds earned him a state championship, making him the first Lowell winner in school history. Guerra was runner-up in 15:32.90. Sanchez finished second last year.
Lowell sophomore Karina James was the Region’s highest finisher in the girls race, taking fourth in 18:04.3. Bishop Dwenger’s Erin Strzelecki won in 17:22.9.
“I don’t know if I can believe it that I was coming down the stretch that I was gapping a kid for the title. It was insane, crazy,” Sanchez said. “Lucas and I were side by side coming around the corner, maybe about 400, 450 meters to go, and then me and him passed (Lapel’s Luke) Combs. At that point, I saw the finish line and took off.”
Sanchez downplayed any rivalry between the two.
“I respect Lucas and wanna see him continue to grow as a runner. He’s a beast,” Sanchez said. “He’s only a junior and did what I did (finishing second), except he was contending for a top spot the whole race.”
For Guerra, he said his biggest takeaway is to not let anyone dictate his race.
“I’m not too upset about losing, but I’m not too excited about getting second, of course,” he said. “I’m my own person, so I gotta do what I can do and not worry about what someone else is doing.
“I’m already excited to come back here and try to get the title.
“Everyone dreams of winning a state title, and that’s definitely going to fuel me the rest of my high school career.”
Fort Wayne Concordia and Fort Wayne Carroll won the boys’ and girls’ team titles, respectively. Crown Point’s boys finished seventh with 243 points, led by Geno Christofanelli, who was ninth in 15:51.9. Valparaiso paced the area’s girls teams with an eighth-place finish, headed by Ava Gilliana, who was 15th in 18:37.3. Wheeler’s Hailey Orosz was 20th in 18:43.3 in the girls race.
Valparaiso in 11th, Chesterton in 16th and Lake Central in 25th rounded out the area teams in the boys race, with Lake Central in 18th, Lowell in 20th and Portage in 21st in the girls race.
James bested her performance at the 2018 state meet, where she finished 36th. She had an expectation of top 10, if not better.
“I honestly couldn’t ask for anything more than what I got out of this,” James said. “Last year I went in thinking I can run with the big dogs, and I realized I couldn’t. This year I knew I could, and it worked out.
“It was just my confidence level and knowing my capabilities and my body. I was in the best position I’ve ever been in to compete (Saturday). I’m only a sophomore; I know I got time to make some noise.”
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