For those of you who are confused as to what a Hokum Karem is, allow me to explain for you. In simple terms, a Hokum Karem (Hokum for short), is a relay race made up of two runners. Each lap of the course is typically a 1 mile loop. Each runner races 3 laps of the course, totally 6 miles between the pair. The goal is to have the fastest time overall between the pair, usually the boys' varsity of this style of race will take about 30 minutes for the top placing team. Depending on how fast your partner is in the race depends on how much rest you get in between each lap. So, if you get partnered with the fastest miler on your team you may only get about 5:30 minutes of rest before you must take off again. At these meets as well, the JV runners for the most part just race 2 laps on the course, for a total of 2 miles. Hokum's are a fun way for athletes to get their legs back into racing mode after conditioning all summer.
HSE makes their hokum a little different than just a mile loop though. They have added hay bales to their course as an obstacle for competitors to leap over as they speed through. Spread throughout the mile loop are 4 hay bales as an added obstacle for the runners.
On the girl's side of the race, the bales didn't seem like much trouble for the team of Dean/Loughery out of Lawrence North. The duo took 1st place overall, finishing in 35:35, an average pace of 5:56/mile. The girls won by 2 minutes, with the pair of Black/Alphin coming in 2nd.
Dean split 5:38, 6:03, 6:00 for each of her miles while Loughery split 5:59, 6:03, 6:00 to secure the individual win. These two look strong this year and will be a competitive 1+2 for the Cats.
Their 1st place finish though wasn't enough to stop the lady Royals from taking the team win. HSE's girls are known to pack up and run really well together to score the best they can, and that is exactly what they did, scoring just 10 points. Lawrence North placed 2nd with 18 points. Pendleton Heights placed 3rd with 25 points and Greenfield Central 4th with 35 points.
A little later on the boys side of things, Gabe Fendel made his senior season debut. Unfortunately for him and Swinson they came up a little short to the pair from Pendleton Heights, Upton and Jones and came in 2nd.
Jones and Upton over took the number one HSE pair but just shy of a minute to help secure a Pendleton Heights victory with a score of 15. HSE placed 2nd with 18 points. LN 3rd, Franklin Central 4th and Greenfield Central 5th.
In the JV race freshman Jaylen Castillo of HSE won the two mile race in 11:12.9, winning by 2 seconds.
HSE's Mcnarney, Patrick and Wright took the 1-2-3 spots in the girls race. Mcnarney, a sophomore, won 13 seconds ahead of Patrick.
Both HSE boys' and girls' won the JV races.