Fall arrived with an attitude for Saturday's Culver Academies Invitational.

With the rain, wind and cold, there was the feeling that it's starting to get down to crunch time in the cross country season.

"We've got three, hopefully four good weeks left here," Chesterton girls coach Brian Carden said. "It seems like we're starting to gel. We've definitely got more in the tank. We're just going to keep plugging away."

The Trojans finished 12th in a power-packed Open Division field of 35 teams with 385 points, 45 behind Valparaiso, which took 10th, tops among area schools. Carmel topped West Lafayette, 66-104, for the team title.

"It's a big race, a lot of people, some top-notch teams," Carden said. "Overall, I thought we ran solid. Most of them ran good times. There were a couple who weren't really happy, but that's OK. This isn't the end here and maybe it'll light a fire."

Chesterton was paced by Hannah Hoffmann, who checked in at 19:38.6, good enough for 51st. Haley Cushway returned to the lineup and also broke 20 minutes, clocking 19:52.6 (67th). She was followed by Melanie Buckmaster (20:05.6, 76th).

The remaining four were just nine seconds apart with Sam Giordano 97th (20:29.5) and Kassidy Scott 102nd (20:32) rounding out the top five. Erin Socha (111th) and Rosie Biehl (112th) crossed in tandem at 20:38.4 and 20:38.5, respectively.

Leah Sink ran a 20:26.9 (23rd) and Josie Tolin a 20:40.3 (32nd) in the reserve race.

"Getting Haley back will help us out going forward," Carden said. "She's had a little illness and injury that's held her back, so she'll get in better shape every week. Hannah ran tough again. We wanted to get Josie and Leah in a race where they could get some experience running up front and they did a nice job. The top four, five are pretty secure, but we've got 11, 12 fighting to get in the top seven.

“Every week, they go back and forth, and hopefully that makes us stronger."

Defending state champion Ashley Erba of Warsaw avenged her New Prairie loss to Mishawaka's Anna Rohrer, rolling to a course-record time of 17:13.7.

1. Carmel 66, 2. West Lafayette 104, 3. Mason (OH) 126, 4. Columbus North 155, 5. Eastern (Greentown) 198, 6. Terre Haute North 206, 7. Northridge 261, 8. Sylvania 9. Northview (OH) 281, 10. Milford (MI) 285, 11. Valparaiso 340, 12. Warsaw 353, 13. Chesterton 385, 14. Indianapolis North Central 399, 15. Fort Wayne Concordia 458, 16. LaPorte 482, 17. Indianapolis Brebeuf 485, 18. Mishawaka 491, 19. New Prairie 493, 20. Portage 494, 21. Indianapolis Pike 511, 22. Lawrence Central 535, 23. Colerain (OH) 559, 24. Crown Point 602, 25. Bloomington North 613, 26. Fort Wayne Snider 639, 27. Floyd Central 641, 28. Lake Central 693, 29. Warren Central 738, 30. Munster 743, 31. South Bend Clay 781, 32. Lawrence North 865, 33. McCutcheon 1065, 34. Logansport 1073, 35. Kokomo 1153, 36. Michigan City 1170.

1. Ashley Erba (War), 17:13.7; 51. Hannah Hoffmann ©, 19:38; 67. Haley Cushway ©, 19:52.2; 76. Melanie Buckmaster ©, 20:05.2; 99. Samantha Giordano ©, 20:29.5; 102. Kassidy Scott ©, 20:32; 111. Erin Socha ©, 20:38.4; 112. Rosie Biehl ©, 20:38.5.

1. Anna Schmitz (Carmel), 19:09; 23. Leah Sink ©, 20:26.9; 32. Josie Tolin ©, 20:40.3; 42. Stephanie Waters ©, 20:54.2; 47. Kaylee Slont ©, 20:58.5; 66. Katie Haggerty ©, 21:19.9.

Posted 9/24/2012