Bittersweet finale

     New Hampton's girls were huddling before the start of their home cross country meet Thursday and it looked to be a very serious moment. Until you saw this giant banana….     Just call her coach Chiquita.     "Home meets are always bittersweet," said coach Jamie Ohrt. "On the one hand it's exciting to finally compete at home, but it's very emotional. The kids know I cry at kleenex commercials anyway, so that banana suit, I don't know, maybe made it a little less sad and a little more silly."     It also helped the runners pick out their coach, especially this particularly dreary day. There was rain a good deal of the girls varsity race, which lightened during the boys race.     It would be the final home meet for NH seniors Hunter Carey, Hannah Heit, Brennen Nullan, Jerod Westemeier, Celena Quirk, Jared Aegerter and Taylor Perkins.     "Not all of them have been out for four years but each individual, what I ask of them they will do," said Ohrt. "I count on them to be my little assistant coaches, to keep people on the straight and narrow and they've made me a better coach."
     Results of the meet may be found in the Oct. 10 Tribune.