Ryan Nix places seventh at New Prairie Invitational and leads Chesterton to sixth-place finish at the cross country meet where the regional is run in October

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com
Slowy, Chesterton junior distance runner Ryan Nix’s arrow keeps turning north, step by step, inch by inch.
Nix finished seventh Saturday at the New Prairie Invitational, a meet that foreshadows the regional that is run on the course against a similar field on Oct. 25.
Only one runner from the DAC placed ahead of Nix. Lake Central’s Ben Perschon took second in the race. Baylor Miller won it, leading Northridge to the team title.
Perschon and Crown Point’s Jacob Metzger, both seniors, provide nice barometers to track Nix’s progress.
At Chesterton’s Larry James Invitational on Aug. 23, Perschon finished almost 24 seconds ahead of Nix. Perschon finished 12 seconds ahead of him at both Lake Central’s Rudy Skorupa Invitational on (Aug. 30), and at New Prairie.
At the first race of the year, The Valley Kickoff run on the state championship course in Terre Haute, Metzger beat Nix by six seconds. When they next met, Nix edged Metzger by three seconds at the Rudy Skorupa, and beat him again at New Prairie, this time by 12 seconds.
Nix ran a 16:14.2 Saturday, finishing almost a full minute ahead of his closest teammate, Nick Jakel (17:13.0), followed by Will Roberson (17:14.7), Nolan Harrington (17:15.9) and Will Morgan (17:29.8).
The next-best times were run by sophomores Aaron Pieters and Xander Sierazy, who competed in the frosh/soph race. Pieters ran a 17:50.5, Sierazy an 18:12.7. Hundt ran an 18:19.7, adhering to the restriction of walking a minute in the middle of the race to minimize the risk of reinjury.
Seven runners compete in the postseason and the team score is determined by totaling the places of the top five finishers.
That calculation Saturday led to Chesterton finishing sixth with 164 points, behind Northridge (38), Penn (75), Lowell (124), Concord (143) and Crown Point (147).
The top five teams at the regional advance to the state meet, which means a repeat finish when the Trojans return to the course won’t get it done.
“We didn’t need to do it today,” Nix said. “We have some things we can tweak and fix, so we know we can do it.”
The biggest factor in improving would be adding Martin to the lineup.
“That will be a big help,” Nix said. “Our main goal is getting Nick, Nolan, Will and Will to run together because if those four can all finish in a certain range, a 10-second range, those numbers in a big race like regionals are going to be really big for us.”
With Nix and Martin, if the latter is healthy enough at regionals to run, the Trojans will just need three of the four mentioned by Nix to stay on the improvement path they are on to give the team a strong chance to make it to state.
A junior, Harrington quietly has turned a dedicated summer of running into a strong fall.
“I’m happy I’m able to be part of the group because last year I was part of the group, but I wasn’t part of the main focus, so this year it feels great being a part of the main focus,” he said.
Harrington explained what the 430 miles he ran over the summer did for him: “Especially the places we run, it helps me work my paces and work my legs to where I can go to certain speeds I need to. And it helps me to be uncomfortable, and be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Harrington broke 17 minutes in the previous two weeks on flatter courses, running a 16:53.0 at the Marion Invitational and a 16:59.1 at the Eagle Classic.
Harrington keys off Jakel, who was Chesterton’s second finisher at New Prairie despite falling early in the race.
“My main goal is staying with Nick, especially at workouts,” Harrington said. “When he got tripped, right at the beginning, I was on my own. But he got right back up and eventually came back to me and pulled me along with him. I’ve improved a lot just running with him over the summer and during practices, and I think he helps push me to my limits, which is good.”
Half milers Roberson and Morgan also have made huge strides in cross country, and nobody has improved more than Jakel.
The Trojans next compete Saturday in an invitational at Culver Academies.