Scouting Report: Lawrence North Boys

Indiana XC 2012: Team Scouting Reports

Aug 28, 2012

The Lawrence North boys' cross country team had a tough year in 2011. The Wildcats placed ninth out of ten teams in the Brebeuf Jesuit Regional which could be considered one of the toughest in state with teams like Hamilton Southeastern, Carmel, Zionsville, and North Central just to name a few. Fortunately, for Lawrence North they return five of their top seven runners from last year. Joe Murphy is the team's top finisher from the regional race. Murphy finished 36th in a personal best time of 16:43. Joining Murphy with regional experience are juniors Aaron Bowers (45th), Robel Teklezghi (55th), Jacob Hanawalt (58th). Joey Khamis is the lone senior on the team.

Coach McAloon will also have some new additions to help take his program one step farther. Incoming freshman Matt Hoskins, has strong family ties to Lawrence North. He's run 4:48 as an 8th grader and strong time of 17:47 for a freshman in August. Also, new to the program will be Ethan Hoeft who dawns the Wildcat singlet for his sophomore season. Hoeft came from Horizon Christian School during the semester break after a strong freshman cross country campaign where he went 16:21. McAloon says Hoeft is training like an all-state caliber runner and his front running will be a huge aid in their 2012 run to the state finals.

If you look at the returning members of this team, one thing sticks out in their cross country and outdoor times, consistency. The Wildcats are pretty even as a team. Joe Murphy has the fastest 1600 meter time of 4:22 which he set at state, but three of his teammates are within twenty-four seconds. Joey Khamis ran 9:52.8 at sections and the Wildcats have three other runners under 10:00, and three under 10:30. Their 1-5 split is just twenty-two seconds. If each runner can drop their times ten to fifteen seconds over the course of the year, Lawrence Central could suprise some people at regionals, and possibly sneak into the top twenty-five teams at state.

Coach McAloon Says...

"We are progressing nicely. It's obviously early, but we have had two very strong "off-seasons" of training (winter and summer), and are ready to hopefully take another step forward. We had a very successful spring as a lot of our young runners made big steps in the winter."

"Well, the team kept their goals simple. We would like to be among the top five teams at every meet this year. In terms of important meets, obviously the Brebeuf Regional is going to be our focus most seasons. With Zionsville being moved out, it does free up some breathing room, but it seems that Z-Ville has been replaced with some very talented young private school teams like Brebeuf, Cathedral and Guerin."