It's always good to have options.

"I've got three girls in this race who could easily jump into the top seven," Chesterton girls cross country coach Brian Carden said as he awaited the start of the reserve race at Saturday's New Prairie Invitational. "The varsity's not set in stone, which is a nice problem to have."

Not that Carden had a lot of complaints with the performance. The Trojans turned in a solid showing in the Class AAA (big school) event, placing fifth among 31 teams with 193 points. Eastern (Greentown) distanced itself from the field, winning with 76.

"We needed a race like this to start building some confidence," Carden said. "We didn't have a very good race at Ben Davis (last Saturday), so we did some things a little different this week. Nobody's backing off, but we might have a tad more Thursday."

Chesterton had six girls finish in 20:40 or better, led by Hannah Hoffman, who cracked the 20-minute mark with a time of 19:48.3, good for 23rd. Kassidy Scott was second for the Trojans and 32nd overall in 20:03.1. Melanie Buckmaster was 42nd (20:22.3), followed by freshman Leah Sink (50th, 20:34.8) and Samantha Giordano (51st, 20:36.7). Erin Socha (56th, 20:43.5) and Josie Tolin (76th, 21:00.3) rounded out the lineup.

"We don't have a superstar individual, but we've got a nice pack," Carden said. "Now we need to have it move up closer, another 20 seconds. Hannah ran well. Mel's race wasn't the greatest, but she's nursing an ankle. We had her do her cool-down on the track. She's a tough kid. She'll be there when it matters."

Chesterton was second among local teams, behind Valpo, which took third in 178. Lake Central placed right behind Chesterton in sixth at 208 with Portage ninth (248), LaPorte (295) 12th and Crown Point (349) 13th.

"This is a fun meet. The weather's good. There's some good, top-notch teams here," Carden said. "We know Valpo's going to be there and Lake Central was right behind us. We'll just keep plugging away. Hopefully, we can keep it going. The ultimate goal's to get to the big dance."

1. Eastern (Greentown), 76; 2. Northridge, 160; 3. Valparaiso, 178; 4. Warsaw, 179; 5. Chesterton, 193; 6. Lake Central, 208; 7. Elkhart Memorial, 218; 8. Penn, 230; 9. Portage, 248; 10. Mishawaka, 268; 11. Fremont, 283; 12. LaPorte, 295; 13. Crown Point, 349; 14. West Lafayette Harrison, 370; 15. East Noble, 372; 16. Hobart, 452; 17. Munster, 457; 18. South Bend Adams, 473; 19. South Bend Riley, 477; 20. Concord, 545; 21. Lowell, 553; 22. South Bend Clay, 633; 23. Merrillville, 693; 24. Martinsville, 758; 25. Marion, 768; 26. Ft. Wayne Northrop, 794; 27. Logansport, 816; 28. McCutcheon, 823; 29. Elkhart Central, 866; 30. Gary West Side, 889.

1. Anna Rohrer (Mish), 17:14.1 (COURSE RECORD); 2. Ashley Erba, (War) 17:25.1; 3. Maddie Woods (Penn), 18:11.4; 4. Bethany Neeley (E), 18:18.9; 5. Abby Hostetler (Fre),18:20.4; 6. Anna Aldrich (Fre), 18:27.0; 7. Elena Lancioni (LP), 18:40.5; 8. Amanda Farrough (SBC), 18:53.6; 9. Brittany Neeley (E), 19:02.7; 10. Sarah Ray (War), 19:06.2; 11. Jennifer Schrock (Nor), 19:08.5; 12. Megan Zajac (LC), 19:19.3; 13. Olivia Golden (Nor), 19:28.7; 14. Brooke Moore (EM), 19:31.5; 15. Kyra Ball (Port), 19:32.2; 16. Becca Conley (And), 19:32.6; 17. Alison Mundell (Val), 19:39.7; 18. Carly Jones (E), 19:40.8; 19. Mindy Whidden (Hob), 19:40.8; 20. Sarah Wagner (E), 19:44.6; 21. Alexia Zawadzke (EN), 19:45.7; 22. Michaela Lewis (SBA), 19:45.8; 23. Hannah Hoffmann ©, 19:48.3; 24. Celena Guerrero (Hob), 19.49.9; 25. Lauren Pottschmidt (Penn), 19:50.3.

Other Chesterton finishers: 32. Kassidy Scott, 20:03.1; 42. Melanie Buckmaster, 20:22.3; 50. Leah Sink, 20:34.8; 51. Samantha Giordano, 20:36.7; 56. Erin Socha, 20:43.5; 76. Josie Tolin, 21:00.3.

Posted 9/17/2012