Lady Tiger Harriers Silencing Critics
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Graduating 2012 state runner-up and 2011 state champion Ashley Erba, as well as Sarah Ray, who finished 33rd at last year’s state meet, the Lady Tigers have rebounded well.
Winning both the Culver Academies Sectional and Regional, the Lady Tigers are now prepping for a top six finish at Saturday’s New Prairie Semistate, which would earn the team its third-straight trip to the IHSAA state finals in Terre Haute.
Warsaw’s state finals appearance in 2011 was made possible, in very large part to Ashley Erba.
Erba won the 2011 state race in a then-record time of 18:05.6, although that time was eclipsed by Mishawaka’s Anna Rohrer last year, as she won in 17:13.2, while Erba was second in 17:29.2.
Without the star runner, who’s now competing at Providence University, questions surrounded the Warsaw girls program, but the team has come together to run as one.
During a team camp in the summer, coach Scott Erba left the girls on their own to come up with some team goals, and they weren’t much different than the goals of previous teams.
“Some of their team goals were to beat 10th-ranked Northridge and win (the Northern Lakes Conference), and they came amazingly close to doing that,” Erba said Wednesday night. “They also wanted to win the sectional and the big goal was to make it to state. As coaches, we said, ‘O.K., if that’s what you guys want to do, then here’s what we need to accomplish in order to do that.’ They put their minds and bodies into situations where they had challenging workouts, recovering when they needed to recover and resting when they needed to rest. There’s been times when we’ve had girls injured or sick, and we’ve told them, ‘Hey, you aren’t going to run right now. I know it’s disappointing, but we’re looking at the big picture.’ Now, we’re in a position where we have all of our girls back. They’re excited and motivated, so we’re looking for our best performance of the year.”
With the vacancy left at the No. 1 runner position, freshman Allison Miller has filled in nicely.
Leading the Lady Tigers throughout the year, Miller finished second at the sectional, running in a time of 19:32, but struggled at the regional four days later, placing 11th in 20:16.
Finishing 48 seconds slower than she did at the sectional, Erba says Miller’s stomach was giving her problems leading up to the start of the race, and affected her throughout.
“She had some kind of stomach ailment and she told me she had never felt like that before,” he said. “We’ve been working with that this week, trying to figure out what’s happening. It’s still bothering her some, but I think it’s something that, come race day, she’ll feel better. She’s going to be able to dig in and give a great performance.”
With Miller struggling, sophomore Hannah Dawson finished fifth (19:47), sophomore Brooke Rhodes was ninth (20:38), sophomore Emma Hayward was 16th (20:38) and freshman Charlene Orr round out the top five scoring by finishing 21st in a 20:50, winning the team’s second regional championship overall and second in three years.
According to Erba, seeing his girls post finishes ranging between fifth and 21st is what they need to do to win.
“We’ve known from the get-go of the season that our strength was not going to be having huge front runners like we’ve had the past four years with Ashley,” Erba said. “Then, it was almost a given in a meet that she was taking one point for us, or maybe even two, but most likely one. Then, you’re looking at trying to score your other four runners. (This year), we knew we needed to do a much better job of preparing for, and competing, in packs. Their motto is to ‘pack it up’ this year. They’ve really done a better job than any Warsaw team I’ve seen of getting those girls stacked up together and sticking together. When they do that, it’s just a great looking group that’s powerful.”
The girls also ‘packed it up’ at the sectional, as all seven runners finished between second and 16th place.
By running so well in that race, senior Madeline Hooks, senior Aletheia Burritt and sophomore Claire Kehler were given the regional off.
The trio finished 12th, 15th and 16th, respectively, at the sectional, and going into the regional, the girls were asked if they’d like to compete or take time off to rest, therefore risking the opportunity of winning the regional crown.
“I asked the girls what they wanted to do, and they all said, ‘We want to have the best chance to get to state,’” Erba said. “So, we made that switch. I thought giving some of those girls a break – both physically and mentally – was a good thing.”
Rested, the girls will need to finish sixth in a semistate featuring six ranked teams, led by No. 1 West Lafayette.
Other ranked teams at the New Prairie Semistate include Portage (13th), LaPorte (16th), Lake Central (19th), Warsaw (21st) and Valparaiso (24th).
On paper, Warsaw looks primed for another trip southwest to Terre Haute, but Erba says the teams are so tightly matched that the small things will decided who moves on to state.
“That’s why it’s such an exciting meet, because the smallest of margins or improvements can make the biggest differences in the end result,” he said. “There are so many instances where, if you have a five-second improvement, that may jump you eight or nine spots, and move other teams down. There will be some major team point totals that can be altered based on the smallest of results.”
If his team can stick to the game plan, which is to stick together, Erba thinks his girls have as good of a chance as anyone else at the meet.
“I think we have a great opportunity to move on,” he said. “Which ever six teams end up moving on out of the New Prairie Semistate, they’re going to have to have earned it. There’s going to be a lot of teams that look at the finish and think, ‘Boy, if we had just of done this or gotten this placing or run just a little bit faster.’ But I feel good with where our girls are and I’m looking forward to some really good running Saturday.”
And with the girls having already defied the nay-sayers, who’s to say the program’s string of state meet appearances will end Saturday afternoon?
“I’ve been really impressed with the way the girls have approached this season, through the summer and all the way until now,” Erba said. “A lot of people thought we were going to be well out of the mix after losing Ashley and Sarah from last year’s team. The girls have really stepped in and put the time and effort in, and steadily improved throughout the entire year.”[[In-content Ad]]
Graduating 2012 state runner-up and 2011 state champion Ashley Erba, as well as Sarah Ray, who finished 33rd at last year’s state meet, the Lady Tigers have rebounded well.
Winning both the Culver Academies Sectional and Regional, the Lady Tigers are now prepping for a top six finish at Saturday’s New Prairie Semistate, which would earn the team its third-straight trip to the IHSAA state finals in Terre Haute.
Warsaw’s state finals appearance in 2011 was made possible, in very large part to Ashley Erba.
Erba won the 2011 state race in a then-record time of 18:05.6, although that time was eclipsed by Mishawaka’s Anna Rohrer last year, as she won in 17:13.2, while Erba was second in 17:29.2.
Without the star runner, who’s now competing at Providence University, questions surrounded the Warsaw girls program, but the team has come together to run as one.
During a team camp in the summer, coach Scott Erba left the girls on their own to come up with some team goals, and they weren’t much different than the goals of previous teams.
“Some of their team goals were to beat 10th-ranked Northridge and win (the Northern Lakes Conference), and they came amazingly close to doing that,” Erba said Wednesday night. “They also wanted to win the sectional and the big goal was to make it to state. As coaches, we said, ‘O.K., if that’s what you guys want to do, then here’s what we need to accomplish in order to do that.’ They put their minds and bodies into situations where they had challenging workouts, recovering when they needed to recover and resting when they needed to rest. There’s been times when we’ve had girls injured or sick, and we’ve told them, ‘Hey, you aren’t going to run right now. I know it’s disappointing, but we’re looking at the big picture.’ Now, we’re in a position where we have all of our girls back. They’re excited and motivated, so we’re looking for our best performance of the year.”
With the vacancy left at the No. 1 runner position, freshman Allison Miller has filled in nicely.
Leading the Lady Tigers throughout the year, Miller finished second at the sectional, running in a time of 19:32, but struggled at the regional four days later, placing 11th in 20:16.
Finishing 48 seconds slower than she did at the sectional, Erba says Miller’s stomach was giving her problems leading up to the start of the race, and affected her throughout.
“She had some kind of stomach ailment and she told me she had never felt like that before,” he said. “We’ve been working with that this week, trying to figure out what’s happening. It’s still bothering her some, but I think it’s something that, come race day, she’ll feel better. She’s going to be able to dig in and give a great performance.”
With Miller struggling, sophomore Hannah Dawson finished fifth (19:47), sophomore Brooke Rhodes was ninth (20:38), sophomore Emma Hayward was 16th (20:38) and freshman Charlene Orr round out the top five scoring by finishing 21st in a 20:50, winning the team’s second regional championship overall and second in three years.
According to Erba, seeing his girls post finishes ranging between fifth and 21st is what they need to do to win.
“We’ve known from the get-go of the season that our strength was not going to be having huge front runners like we’ve had the past four years with Ashley,” Erba said. “Then, it was almost a given in a meet that she was taking one point for us, or maybe even two, but most likely one. Then, you’re looking at trying to score your other four runners. (This year), we knew we needed to do a much better job of preparing for, and competing, in packs. Their motto is to ‘pack it up’ this year. They’ve really done a better job than any Warsaw team I’ve seen of getting those girls stacked up together and sticking together. When they do that, it’s just a great looking group that’s powerful.”
The girls also ‘packed it up’ at the sectional, as all seven runners finished between second and 16th place.
By running so well in that race, senior Madeline Hooks, senior Aletheia Burritt and sophomore Claire Kehler were given the regional off.
The trio finished 12th, 15th and 16th, respectively, at the sectional, and going into the regional, the girls were asked if they’d like to compete or take time off to rest, therefore risking the opportunity of winning the regional crown.
“I asked the girls what they wanted to do, and they all said, ‘We want to have the best chance to get to state,’” Erba said. “So, we made that switch. I thought giving some of those girls a break – both physically and mentally – was a good thing.”
Rested, the girls will need to finish sixth in a semistate featuring six ranked teams, led by No. 1 West Lafayette.
Other ranked teams at the New Prairie Semistate include Portage (13th), LaPorte (16th), Lake Central (19th), Warsaw (21st) and Valparaiso (24th).
On paper, Warsaw looks primed for another trip southwest to Terre Haute, but Erba says the teams are so tightly matched that the small things will decided who moves on to state.
“That’s why it’s such an exciting meet, because the smallest of margins or improvements can make the biggest differences in the end result,” he said. “There are so many instances where, if you have a five-second improvement, that may jump you eight or nine spots, and move other teams down. There will be some major team point totals that can be altered based on the smallest of results.”
If his team can stick to the game plan, which is to stick together, Erba thinks his girls have as good of a chance as anyone else at the meet.
“I think we have a great opportunity to move on,” he said. “Which ever six teams end up moving on out of the New Prairie Semistate, they’re going to have to have earned it. There’s going to be a lot of teams that look at the finish and think, ‘Boy, if we had just of done this or gotten this placing or run just a little bit faster.’ But I feel good with where our girls are and I’m looking forward to some really good running Saturday.”
And with the girls having already defied the nay-sayers, who’s to say the program’s string of state meet appearances will end Saturday afternoon?
“I’ve been really impressed with the way the girls have approached this season, through the summer and all the way until now,” Erba said. “A lot of people thought we were going to be well out of the mix after losing Ashley and Sarah from last year’s team. The girls have really stepped in and put the time and effort in, and steadily improved throughout the entire year.”[[In-content Ad]]
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