Published: October 26, 2009 11:54 pm         

North running after girls cross country state title

Pats have two who could win personal state championship

TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute North freshman Tapring Goatee is simply not built for second place.

Not her talent level.

Not her mind set.

After the sectional race at LaVern Gibson Championship Course, Goatee credited teammate Chanli Mundy for running well that day and throughout her absence in races for several weeks due to a hip ailment.

Despite the kind words for her teammate, the body language and the look on Goatee’s face told the story of someone who expects greatness — and first place.

“I hated getting second,” Goatee admitted Friday, the day before running away with the Brown County Semistate, finishing in 19 minutes, 25.1 seconds despite the sloppiest course conditions of the season. Considering Goatee missed three weeks due to a hip ailment, she could be ready to get back to times closer to the season-best 18:39 she ran Sept. 5 at the State Preview meet in Terre Haute.

“She looked effortless,” coach Mike Dason said, “like she was just out there for another run.

“She is most gifted athlete I’ve ever had the chance to coach,” Dason added.

As good as Goatee is, Mundy owns the faster time of the two this season; she ran 18:26 to take second at the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference meet. The state-winning time last year was 18:14 by senior Sarah Higgens of Center Grove.

Goatee, with her long and powerful gait, and Mundy, all 5-foot-1 and 75 pounds of her, have both proven to be bona fide contenders to win a state championship in the next four years.

They will have that opportunity Saturday at the Gibson course, and two more freshman are also giving the Patriots a chance for the highest team finish in school history.

“The friendly competition between them has been good for our team,” said fellow freshman Annie Mullican, who has assumed the Patriots’ No. 3 runner role. Mullican said the team is shooting for “top 5, podium,” and maybe nobody wants to see Mundy and Goatee challenge the state’s best more than the cheerful Mullican.

“There’s about five runners that could all take the title,” Mullican said, and “those two could definitely be up there.”

Mundy appears determined to keep improving.

When volunteer assistant coach Tom Dever provided a copy of race tips that appeared in the recent issue of “The Running Times,” Mundy took one of those pieces of advice to heart: pass with authority.

When Mundy went to pass Bloomington South’s Anna Voskuil for second place near the halfway point of the semistate, she flew past convincingly and helped secure North’s second straight 1-2 finish in the postseason.

“Definitely the biggest surprise,” senior Lindy Jones said of Mundy. “All summer long, she just went through the workouts then we had a time trial and she came out of nowhere.

“She has the best attitude, she races hard. She’s tough and she doesn’t want to get beat.”

Things seem to come more naturally for Goatee, Jones said.

“She trains different, and she’s crazy, crazy leaps and bounds ahead of everybody. She does what she has to do to win, and she’s always going to make sure she wins,” Jones said. “She’s a speed runner too. If she doesn’t win state [in track], I’m personally going to be upset.”

Jones, one of North’s top two runners last season, doesn’t mind having some of these freshmen passing her by.

“Now I just know this team’s only going to do as well as I do,” Jones said. “These girls are dependable, they’re like little sisters and I love them to death.”

Mullican and the fourth freshman, Kiowa Burris, have become as steady as can be for North.

“[Mullican’s] probably, out of everybody, the most consistent as far as always being in the same top spot for us,” Dason said.

Burris has improved each meet. Dason did not include Burris with the varsity in a big meet at Culver, but she ran a time of 20:21 in the open race — better than sophomore Emily Cotterman, who was North’s top runner part of last season.

When Cotterman suffered multiple injuries to her knee and leg earlier this month, Burris become a precious part of the team and her confidence rose.

Burris ran a half-marathon as an eighth grader so she had the endurance, but she had to find a higher gear for the 5K.

Burris’ first time of the season was at 22 minutes; she’s cut more than two minutes off that in less than two months.

At the semistate, Burris even showed she could sprint step for step with senior Alexa McFadden, who’s known for her footspeed on the track.

“Kiowa was so impressive,” Dason said. “She was running around 22 minutes [for 5K] in her first meet this season. Now she’s one of our top runners.”

Mullican and Mundy said another important part of the Patriots’ success is having 38 runners on the team that are good friends — 26 of those runners stayed in the same house for a week in Florida before the season as a training/bonding experience.

“I always heard it was like family,” Mullican said, “and thought it was cliche. Now I really think that.”