By James Costello Sports Editor
CULVER — If you’ve got to go out, the best way to go is on top.
With that end in mind a core of Culver Military cross country seniors were already  making plans for the 2009 season last year. The group had a strong junior year but, with classmate Trace Ostergren taking a year abroad in China, the Eagles fell short of their ultimate goal of making it out to the state championships. With Ostergren rejoining the team this year as one of six of the team’s top seven runners, the Eagles knew it was their last chance to leave their mark on program history.
On Saturday, they did just that.
CMA cross country capped off a record-breaking year at the IHSAA State Cross Country Finals in Terre Haute, capturing an all-time low 14th-place finish to go down in history as the best team in program history.
The result was two places better than CMA’s only other state finish back in 1997, and it completed a troika of major accomplishments for the squad this year, a list of groundbreaking achievements that included CMA’s first regional championship on Oct. 17, as well as the lowest combined team time in school history at the Meet Of Champions in Hilliard, Ohio Oct. 2.

“I would basically have to say that yes, they are the best,”said Culver Academies head cross country coach Michael Chastain. “They had a number of things. They were the first team to win a regional. We had some teams that were close, but we’d been trying to win a regional for some time, and of course regional is not always the same with quality of competition, but they were the first. They had the lowest combined time of any team.
“There were a number of components of that kind, of measuring to see if they’re the best, and they are. It’s a little disheartening from the standpoint that six of them are seniors. Hopefully, the track season will be good, but this round is over.”
It was for that reason that the team felt a sense of urgency to prove themselves in 2009, an immediacy of purpose shared not only among the seniors in their final season at Culver, but also by junior Austin Welch, who will be the Eagles’ lone returning top-seven runner next year.
“It’s been a long time to build this team. It’s taken four years, and we’re at the top now,”Welch said prior to Saturday’s meet. “I’ll come back in 10 years and see what the program has become, and I’ll know I was on THE team. It’s taken a long time, and a lot of hard work to build up to it but it’s our time... (A)s a junior I know that next year, obviously we’re not going to do as well as a team. That’s part of what drives me to say my contribution is just as important as the next guy’s, because it’s my chance too.”
The Eagles were hoping to leave behind a legacy at CMA, and they’ve made their mark in the history books. They’ve also generated some interest in the program at their school, an interest that was sparked by 2008 alumna Alex Banfich’s three straight individual state titles but hasn’t always been enjoyed equally by the Academies’ boys and girls programs.
“We all feel very proud of what we have done,”said top CMA runner Alejandro Arroyo, who placed sixth overall to lead the Eagles in his third straight state finals appearance Saturday. “For the first time, the people from our school are actually knowing about cross country. Now people have got the idea of what we did and what we can do. It’s nice to see the people you see around you everyday congratulate you and cheer you on.
“I think we made a name for Culver’s cross country teams. We all know that Culver is not very — except for Alex — we haven’t been very well known for our cross country teams. I think for what we did after this cross country season, we created a name for our teams that is now seen from all over the state as a strong program, and I think that is part of our legacy we left here, which is really cool.”
“We have a thing that we’ve been talking about all year. It’s called the ‘It factor,’ said senior Coleman Zimmerman. “We see our team as a group of people that have been bonding for four years. When I came in I saw Alex Banfich and saw how great she was, and I think it’s really almost changed the environment of cross country at the school. I don’t know how it was before, but I’m sure that it wasn’t as good as it has been these past four years or at least this year. As a team we’ve bonded a lot better. The school community has really appreciated that. Alejandro has won Athlete of the Month a number of months, and Wave (Neer) won it twice last year. The school is really starting to see how great we are in track and cross country.”
It’s an interest that Academies runners hope sticks, but one that Chastain said won’t necessarily lead to a major boost in the school’s distance program.
“There are number of sports that are high-profile here at the Academies, so we won’t necessarily jump to the top of the heap,”he said. “But it is nice for kids that are currently here to get that recognition.
“It’s definitely going to be interesting in the next couple of years to see what we develop with who we have as  well as who decides to come.”
As for the Lady Eagles, they were also able to make it out to state, where they finished 16th in their first trip back since a four-year span of team berths from 2003 to 2007.
Led by junior Waverly Neer’s seventh-place finish, Culver Girls Academy was able to end an up-and-down on a positive note, a season that included a number of injuries, including Neer’s own struggles with hip and back issues that stalled her development early in the season.
“Waverly is dedicated, and she’s an extremely hard worker,”said Chastain. “She did come into the season in very good condition, which we were hoping to build on and had a setback in early September that really set her back more than we thought it would.
“It’s a testament to her desire to improve and really give it her all to come back and get seventh at state.”
Neer will return for the 2009 season along with freshman Emma Pettinga and junior Kaye Sitterly, but, like the boys’ team, the Lady Eagles will also have some big holes to fill with the departure of No. 2 Willow Smith, as well as top-seven runners Stephanie Burian and Moira Kelly.
The team was facing a similar situation with only three returning top-performers this year, however, and that story ended in success.
“It’s just been fun having both teams — we strive for it but a school our size doesn’t get both teams down at the state meet that often,”said Chastain. “That was wonderful experience. And having two kids (Neer and Arroyo) — one from each team — on the individual podium was fun to see.”