As LaPorte freshman Shelby Riehle approached the finish line at Saturday morning’s Duneland Athletic Conference Meet, her eyes were fixed on the clock.
And she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“I was shocked to be breaking 19 minutes,” she said. “I just remember looking at the clock and I stared until I reached the finish line and then I had this huge smile on my face. Even when I was going through the chutes, I was still smiling so big.”
Riehle finished fourth overall in 18 minutes and 52 seconds, leading LaPorte to the team title at the conference meet.
That was a personal-best time for Riehle and the second-best time by a LaPorte freshman, surpassed only by 2014 graduate Elena Lancioni.
Just one year ago, though, that result may have been hard to imagine for Riehle. Just two races into her final year of middle school cross country, a stress fracture in her right foot ended her eighth-grade season.
“At first, I didn’t think it was a problem. Then, it just got so painful,” Riehle recalled. “It hurt every time I walked. I was pretty upset. I was looking forward to running that whole season.”
Riehle wore a walking boot for about two months. Her foot healed and she was healthy enough to compete in track that spring and to begin preseason training with the high school cross country team.
“She ran all summer with our top girls, but she was never really out in front,” LaPorte coach John Dearing said of Riehle. “I was still thinking she’d be our No. 8 runner. Then, she came out of nowhere and won the freshman-sophomore race at NIC.”
Riehle finished in 20:02 to win the frosh-soph race at the Northern Indiana Conference Stomp on Aug. 22. One week later, she was running with the varsity team, finishing in 19:42 at the Penn Invitational, good for fifth as part of LaPorte’s team victory there.
Soon after that race, though, a familiar ache returned to Riehle’s right foot, and she feared the worst.
“It came on so suddenly,” she said. “But I knew I had to tell my coach right away. If there was a chance I could stop it in its tracks and let it heal, I wanted that to happen.”
“We thought that she may be done. She told me she had foot pain right where she had it before,” Dearing said.
There was no stress fracture this time, though. Riehle sat out three races during September as a precaution, although she was in the lineup when LaPorte won the New Prairie Invitational for the first time in school history.
Despite her time away from competition, Riehle’s times haven’t suffered, either.
“That’s pretty rare. Usually, you fall back,” Dearing said. “Her first time back, there was a little conditioning issue. She said she was winded, although she never looks like it at all.
She certainly didn’t look that way following the DAC race, and that race has Riehle and the rest of the Slicers anxious to begin the postseason, which kicks off with Saturday’s sectional meets.
“I’ve got no complaints with my foot. I know they’re still going to be cautious with me, but I’m looking forward to (the postseason),” she said. “We’re all looking forward to great things.”
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
SECTIONAL MEETS
Chesterton Sectional
Where: Sunset Hill Farm.
When: Saturday, 9 a.m. (girls) and 9:45 a.m. (boys).
Teams entered: Boone Grove, Chesterton, Lake Station, LaPorte, Marquette, Michigan City, New Prairie, Portage, South Central, Valparaiso, Washington Twp., Westville, Wheeler.
Favorites: Boys – Valparaiso; Girls – LaPorte.
Runners to watch: Boys — Jakob Kintzele, Chesterton; Dakota Merkel, Bryan Flannery, LaPorte; Antonio Chapa, Dillon Quinones, Portage; Danny Dalton, Jack Gabrish, Carl Frey, Valparaiso; Zack Titus, Washington Twp.; Joel O’Shea, Aiden Hostetler, Wheeler. Girls — Kara Krol, Chesterton; Kailee Schoof, Marie Didion, Katerina Shuble, Katie Pickford, Shelby Riehle, LaPorte; Kyra Ball, Portage; Logan Ferngren, Alena Tonne, Valparaiso.
Gavit Sectional
Where: Riverside Park.
When: Saturday, 10 a.m. (girls) and 10:45 a.m. (boys).
Teams entered: Bishop Noll, Calumet, Clark, East Chicago, Gavit, Griffith, Highland, Hammond, Lake Central, Morton, Munster, West Side, Whiting.
Favorite: Boys – Lake Central; Girls – Lake Central.
Runners to watch: Boys – Mike Kristy, Tristen Guerra, Austin Comer, Highland; Kameron Konopasek, Tyler Kramer-Stephens, Zach Hupp, Lake Central; Tyler Keslin, Theo Burgwald, Munster. Girls – Summer Brown, Calumet; Trinity Austin, Griffith; Reilly Panozzo, Highland; Sarah Hunsley, Gabrielle DeVries, Jenny Crague, Lake Central; Hannah Hammer, Morton; Brisha Bohling, Elise Garcia, Munster.
Crown Point Sectional
Where: Lemon Lake Park.
When: Saturday, 10 a.m. (girls) and 10:45 a.m. (boys).
Teams entered: 21st Century, Andrean, Bowman, Crown Point, Gary Lighthouse, Hanover Central, Hebron, Hobart, Lowell, Merrillville, Roosevelt, River Forest.
Favorite: Boys – Crown Point; Girls – Lowell.
Runners to watch: Boys – Ryan Kepshire, Matt Mosak, Crown Point; Kevin Paszko, Hanover Central; Joe MacNeill, Hebron; Hunter Boyer, Matt Wilson, Dustin Hudak, Lowell; Chris Ramos, River Forest. Girls – Hannah Wylie, Crown Point; Lindsey Kolanowski, Olivia Umlauf, Hanover Central; Payton Schatz, Hebron; Christina Shaginaw, Hobart; Annalise James, Jordyn Boyer, Lowell; Diamond Taher, Merrillville.
Rensselaer Central
Where: Rensselaer Central.
When: Saturday, 10:30 a.m. (girls) and 11:15 a.m. (boys).
Teams entered: Kankakee Valley, Knox, Kouts, LaCrosse, Morgan Twp., North Judson, North Newton, Oregon-Davis, Rensselaer Central, South Newton, West Central.
Favorites: Boys – Morgan Twp.; Girls – Rensselaer Central.
Runners to watch: Boys — Trevor Conley, Bryce Niewoehner, Kankakee Valley; Jay Heinold, Grant Hamstra, Kouts; Ben Savage, Trevor Braden, Cameron Chapman, Morgan Twp.; Jacob Kessler, North Newton. Girls — Holly Kuebler, Kouts; Justene Charlesworth, LaCrosse; Kiersten Duzan, Mariah Haveck, Hailey Haveck, Morgan Twp.; Ivy Allen, North Newton.
Advancement
The top five teams and the top 10 individuals from non-advancing teams will advance to regionals.
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY TOP 5
Last week’s ranking in parentheses.
1. Valparaiso (4)
2. Lake Central (1)
3. LaPorte (2)
4. Crown Point (3)
5. Lowell (5)
Runner of the Week: Lake Central’s Kameron Konopasek’s used a final surge down the homestretch to win the Duneland Athletic Conference individual title with a time of 15:40.
GIRLS CROSS COUNTYRY TOP 5
Last week’s ranking in parentheses.
1. LaPorte (1)
2. Lake Central (2)
3. Valparaiso (3)
4. Portage (4)
5. Munster (NR)
Runner of the Week: Hanover Central senior Lindsay Kolanowski ran 19:48 to win the Greater South Shore Conference race and lead the Wildcats to the team title.
![Recent polls suggest half the country may vote against their own self-interests in November. The self-sabotage is head-turning: Christians who defend debauchery; poor people who give their money to a billionaire with rotating Ponzi schemes; and pensioners who don’t understand that tax cuts for the 1% threaten their own entitlements. As the new Time Magazine interview made clear, Trump has done nothing for the common man and everything for his wealthy donors, yet somehow, that fact doesn’t seem to compute. To misquote Jesus, the stupid will always be among us. Our politics reflect a cognitive decline When Trump celebrated his […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2023/09/07/E2CUYJVVWV7WIZ6TGJMIU7ZIXI.jpg?w=535 "Recent polls suggest half the country may vote against their own self-interests in November. The self-sabotage is head-turning: Christians who defend debauchery; poor people who give their money to a billionaire with rotating Ponzi schemes; and pensioners who don’t understand that tax cuts for the 1% threaten their own entitlements. As the new Time Magazine interview made clear, Trump has done nothing for the common man and everything for his wealthy donors, yet somehow, that fact doesn’t seem to compute. To misquote Jesus, the stupid will always be among us. Our politics reflect a cognitive decline When Trump celebrated his […]")
