Lady Tigers Win Track Regional
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Hosting the regional for the second-straight year, the Lady Tigers won for the second-straight time, albeit barely.
Trailing Mishawaka 61-59 going into the last event of the night, Warsaw’s 1600 relay finished first, garnering 10 points, while Mishawaka earned five with its fourth-place finish, handing the regional crown to the host team.
Warsaw won the championship with 69 points, followed by Mishawaka’s 66 and South Bend Clay’s 48.
Following last week’s dominating sectional championship, which it won by 93 points, Warsaw looked primed to claim the regional title, but some weekend mishaps dampered the optimism.
First, senior Brittney Rhodes, who was a member of the sectional champion 400 relay, suffered a broken toe during Saturday’s prom.
While that hurt, it wasn’t as painful as losing junior Ann Harvuot Sunday, when she was injured while horseback riding.
The loss of Harvuot meant the absence of a three-time sectional champion in the 100, as well as a two-time sectional champ in the 200, not to mention the anchor leg of the 400 relay.
“She’s a No. 1 seed in the 200, a No. 2 seed in the 100 and we had a great chance in the 4x100 to get (to state),” Warsaw girls track and field coach Scott Erba said.
“She wanted to run,” Erba said of Harvuot. “Had I thought she could have run at all, I think she would have. She’s just still hobbled when she walked. To expect she’d come out and run 25 seconds (in the 200) or 12-and-a-half seconds (in the 100) on a bum leg – it just wasn’t going to happen.”
Hampered by injuries, things looked even bleaker when junior Jackie Ferguson was disqualified for a false start in the 100 hurdles, an event she was seeded second in.
“We didn’t start the meet off in the best of ways, but other events picked up just a little bit, a little bit,” Erba said. “I talked to the girls today about who was going to step up, who was going to lift up their teammates.”
Erba pointed to his 3200 relay, which was seeded 12th, but finished seventh to get two points.
Also, senior Megan Dearlove improved her sixth seed at pole vault, finishing fourth and garnering five points, and freshman Courtney Farling also came up big on her last attempt at long jump.
“Going into the last jump, we had Courtney Farling PR, to go from ninth place with zero points, to going to sixth to get three points,” Erba said. “In hindsight, that’s huge.”
The gradual chipping allowed Warsaw to sneak back into the meet, taking the crown in shocking fashion.
“It’s one of those things, like, how did that happen?,” Erba said. “With all the different things we just had thrown at us in the last 48 hours, how did that happen?”
Along with winners qualifying for the June 1 state finals at Indiana University, the top three finishers from each event also qualify, as does any athlete that met the state standard time, height or distance.
Joining the 1600 relay at the state meet will be Ferguson, who rebounded from her DQ to finish third in the 300 hurdles, as well as senior Sarah Ray, who met the state standard in the 1600 and finished third in the 3200, and senior Jamie Lacheta, who finished third at high jump.
Taking the relay and the three individuals is nice, but Erba had hoped for a lot more.
Fortunately, winning the championship took the sting away from the diminished state qualifiers.
“This makes it a little more palatable,” he said of the title, Warsaw’s fourth overall. “I would much rather learn a lesson this way, then saying, ‘Hey we missed out on winning a championship,’ which is a great thing to achieve.”
Even though the team was in better spirits after the title, it was still a bit of a downer for the individuals who had misfortune ruin a chance at state.
“Short term, yeah this is a bummer, it’s the pits,” Erba said. “It’s disappointing. It affects the team, it affects individuals, relays. But in the big picture, nobody died, nobody’s in a coma, nobody’s paralyzed.”
WARSAW REGIONAL
Team Scores (Top 10 and Local) – 1. Warsaw 69, 2. Mishawaka 66, 3. S.B. Clay 48, 4. Concord 42, 5. Penn 35, 6. Angola 32, 7. (tie) Elkhart Central 29, Plymouth 29, 9. (tie) DeKalb 28, Elkhart Memorial 28, 22. Manchester 7.5, 25. Tippecanoe Valley 6, 27. Triton 3, 28. Lakeland Christian Academy 2
(Top 3 Advance To State,
Local Results)
3200 Relay – 1. Northridge 9:38.84, 2. Plymouth 9:43.06, 3. Mishawaka Marian 9:46.25, 7. Warsaw 10:13.70, 14. Triton 10:48.00; 100 Hurdles – 1. Jessica O’Connell (Concord) 15.76, 2. Dezha Moore (SB Adams) 15.83, 3. Alexys Harper (Mishawaka) 16.20, 6. Bekah Brunn (Manchester) 16.83, 7. Hailey Nieveen (LCA) 17.30; 100 – 1. Michelle Adeniyi (SB Clay) 12.54, 2. Denisha Brown (Culver) 12.78, 3. Chelsey Wakes (Mishawaka) 12.88, 4. Caylie Teel (Tippy Valley) 12.89; 1600 – 1. Amanda Farrough (SB Clay) 4:58.43*, 2. Abigail Hostetler (Fremont) 4:59.30*, 3. Sierra Moore (Elkhart Memorial) 5:01.60*, 4. Anna Rohrer (Mishawaka) 5:02.06*, 5. Sarah Ray (Warsaw) 5:02.69; 400 Relay – 1. Mishawaka 48.90, 2. South Bend St. Joe’s 49.83, 3. Concord 49.99, 6. Warsaw 50.73, 8. Tippy Valley 51.20, 13. Manchester 52.67; 400 – 1. Ayinna Gaines (SB Riley) 56.68!*, 2. Allie Wright (Plymouth) 58.24*, 3. Kendall Kelley (DeKalb) 58.40, 4. Tennie Worrell (Warsaw) 58.90, 6. Breanna Lemler (Triton) 1:00.44, 8. Megan Kratzsch (Warsaw) 1:01.72; 300 Hurdles – 1. Jessica O’Connell (Concord) 45.32, 2. Ashley Spence (Mishawaka) 45.99, 3. Jackie Ferguson (Warsaw) 47.30, 6. Nicole Eckert (Warsaw) 48.34, 9. Elena Schnieders (Manchester) 48.88, 12. Catherine Leadford (Tippy Valley) 50.28
800 – 1. Brittany Beard (Angola) 2:14.17*, 2. Meagan Fisher (Plymouth) 2:15.98*, 3. Moore (Elkhart Memorial) 2:17.03*, 5. Hannah Dawson (Warsaw) 2:19.88, 7. Kelsi Custer (Manchester) 2:27.71; 200 – 1. Adeniyi (SB Clay) 26.06, 2. Mariah DeFreese (Concord) 26.31, 3. Sam Kambol (SB St. Joe’s) 26.36; 3200 – 1. Rohrer (Mishawaka) 10:45.36*, 2. Farrough (SB Clay) 10:58.35*, 3. Ray (Warsaw) 11:01.50*, 4. Anna Aldrich (Fremont) 11:01.66*, 5. Madison Woods (Penn) 11:02.42*; 1600 Relay – 1. Warsaw 4:03.17, 2. Concord 4:04.79, 3. SB Riley 4:08.06, 12. Tippy Valley 4:15.30, 14. Manchester 4:21.25; High Jump – 1. Adeniyi (SB Clay) 5-5*, 2. Azariah Stahl (Elkhart Central) 5-4.25*, 3. Jamie Lacheta (Warsaw) 5-3, 6. Lindsey Dierks (Manchester) 5-1, 9. Jazzmine Brown (Tippy Valley) 5-0; Long Jump – 1. Katelyn Sawyer (Rochester) 17-3.75, 2. Harper (Mishawaka) 17-0.5, 3. Mikaylah Woods (Penn) 16-11.5, 4. Samantha Alexander (Warsaw) 16-6, 6. Courtney Farling (Warsaw) 16-4.75; Discus – 1. Leah Heckaman (CGA) 128-3, 2. Hannah Bright (West Noble) 120-11, 3. Margaret Reisdorf (Mishawaka) 120-1, 4. Samantha Jensen (Warsaw) 118-11; Shot Put – 1. Heckaman (CGA) 40-10.75*, 2. Kara Eck (DeKalb) 39-.5-25, 3. Madison Stewart (Northridge) 39-1.5; Pole Vault – 1. Kennedy Trine (Angola) 12-0*, 2. Sophie Brown (Fairfield) 11-9*, 3. Elizabeth Eversole (Mishawaka Marian) 11-3, 4. Megan Dearlove (Warsaw) 10-9, 8. Claire Hickerson (Warsaw) 9-6
* – State Standard
! – Meet Record[[In-content Ad]]
Hosting the regional for the second-straight year, the Lady Tigers won for the second-straight time, albeit barely.
Trailing Mishawaka 61-59 going into the last event of the night, Warsaw’s 1600 relay finished first, garnering 10 points, while Mishawaka earned five with its fourth-place finish, handing the regional crown to the host team.
Warsaw won the championship with 69 points, followed by Mishawaka’s 66 and South Bend Clay’s 48.
Following last week’s dominating sectional championship, which it won by 93 points, Warsaw looked primed to claim the regional title, but some weekend mishaps dampered the optimism.
First, senior Brittney Rhodes, who was a member of the sectional champion 400 relay, suffered a broken toe during Saturday’s prom.
While that hurt, it wasn’t as painful as losing junior Ann Harvuot Sunday, when she was injured while horseback riding.
The loss of Harvuot meant the absence of a three-time sectional champion in the 100, as well as a two-time sectional champ in the 200, not to mention the anchor leg of the 400 relay.
“She’s a No. 1 seed in the 200, a No. 2 seed in the 100 and we had a great chance in the 4x100 to get (to state),” Warsaw girls track and field coach Scott Erba said.
“She wanted to run,” Erba said of Harvuot. “Had I thought she could have run at all, I think she would have. She’s just still hobbled when she walked. To expect she’d come out and run 25 seconds (in the 200) or 12-and-a-half seconds (in the 100) on a bum leg – it just wasn’t going to happen.”
Hampered by injuries, things looked even bleaker when junior Jackie Ferguson was disqualified for a false start in the 100 hurdles, an event she was seeded second in.
“We didn’t start the meet off in the best of ways, but other events picked up just a little bit, a little bit,” Erba said. “I talked to the girls today about who was going to step up, who was going to lift up their teammates.”
Erba pointed to his 3200 relay, which was seeded 12th, but finished seventh to get two points.
Also, senior Megan Dearlove improved her sixth seed at pole vault, finishing fourth and garnering five points, and freshman Courtney Farling also came up big on her last attempt at long jump.
“Going into the last jump, we had Courtney Farling PR, to go from ninth place with zero points, to going to sixth to get three points,” Erba said. “In hindsight, that’s huge.”
The gradual chipping allowed Warsaw to sneak back into the meet, taking the crown in shocking fashion.
“It’s one of those things, like, how did that happen?,” Erba said. “With all the different things we just had thrown at us in the last 48 hours, how did that happen?”
Along with winners qualifying for the June 1 state finals at Indiana University, the top three finishers from each event also qualify, as does any athlete that met the state standard time, height or distance.
Joining the 1600 relay at the state meet will be Ferguson, who rebounded from her DQ to finish third in the 300 hurdles, as well as senior Sarah Ray, who met the state standard in the 1600 and finished third in the 3200, and senior Jamie Lacheta, who finished third at high jump.
Taking the relay and the three individuals is nice, but Erba had hoped for a lot more.
Fortunately, winning the championship took the sting away from the diminished state qualifiers.
“This makes it a little more palatable,” he said of the title, Warsaw’s fourth overall. “I would much rather learn a lesson this way, then saying, ‘Hey we missed out on winning a championship,’ which is a great thing to achieve.”
Even though the team was in better spirits after the title, it was still a bit of a downer for the individuals who had misfortune ruin a chance at state.
“Short term, yeah this is a bummer, it’s the pits,” Erba said. “It’s disappointing. It affects the team, it affects individuals, relays. But in the big picture, nobody died, nobody’s in a coma, nobody’s paralyzed.”
WARSAW REGIONAL
Team Scores (Top 10 and Local) – 1. Warsaw 69, 2. Mishawaka 66, 3. S.B. Clay 48, 4. Concord 42, 5. Penn 35, 6. Angola 32, 7. (tie) Elkhart Central 29, Plymouth 29, 9. (tie) DeKalb 28, Elkhart Memorial 28, 22. Manchester 7.5, 25. Tippecanoe Valley 6, 27. Triton 3, 28. Lakeland Christian Academy 2
(Top 3 Advance To State,
Local Results)
3200 Relay – 1. Northridge 9:38.84, 2. Plymouth 9:43.06, 3. Mishawaka Marian 9:46.25, 7. Warsaw 10:13.70, 14. Triton 10:48.00; 100 Hurdles – 1. Jessica O’Connell (Concord) 15.76, 2. Dezha Moore (SB Adams) 15.83, 3. Alexys Harper (Mishawaka) 16.20, 6. Bekah Brunn (Manchester) 16.83, 7. Hailey Nieveen (LCA) 17.30; 100 – 1. Michelle Adeniyi (SB Clay) 12.54, 2. Denisha Brown (Culver) 12.78, 3. Chelsey Wakes (Mishawaka) 12.88, 4. Caylie Teel (Tippy Valley) 12.89; 1600 – 1. Amanda Farrough (SB Clay) 4:58.43*, 2. Abigail Hostetler (Fremont) 4:59.30*, 3. Sierra Moore (Elkhart Memorial) 5:01.60*, 4. Anna Rohrer (Mishawaka) 5:02.06*, 5. Sarah Ray (Warsaw) 5:02.69; 400 Relay – 1. Mishawaka 48.90, 2. South Bend St. Joe’s 49.83, 3. Concord 49.99, 6. Warsaw 50.73, 8. Tippy Valley 51.20, 13. Manchester 52.67; 400 – 1. Ayinna Gaines (SB Riley) 56.68!*, 2. Allie Wright (Plymouth) 58.24*, 3. Kendall Kelley (DeKalb) 58.40, 4. Tennie Worrell (Warsaw) 58.90, 6. Breanna Lemler (Triton) 1:00.44, 8. Megan Kratzsch (Warsaw) 1:01.72; 300 Hurdles – 1. Jessica O’Connell (Concord) 45.32, 2. Ashley Spence (Mishawaka) 45.99, 3. Jackie Ferguson (Warsaw) 47.30, 6. Nicole Eckert (Warsaw) 48.34, 9. Elena Schnieders (Manchester) 48.88, 12. Catherine Leadford (Tippy Valley) 50.28
800 – 1. Brittany Beard (Angola) 2:14.17*, 2. Meagan Fisher (Plymouth) 2:15.98*, 3. Moore (Elkhart Memorial) 2:17.03*, 5. Hannah Dawson (Warsaw) 2:19.88, 7. Kelsi Custer (Manchester) 2:27.71; 200 – 1. Adeniyi (SB Clay) 26.06, 2. Mariah DeFreese (Concord) 26.31, 3. Sam Kambol (SB St. Joe’s) 26.36; 3200 – 1. Rohrer (Mishawaka) 10:45.36*, 2. Farrough (SB Clay) 10:58.35*, 3. Ray (Warsaw) 11:01.50*, 4. Anna Aldrich (Fremont) 11:01.66*, 5. Madison Woods (Penn) 11:02.42*; 1600 Relay – 1. Warsaw 4:03.17, 2. Concord 4:04.79, 3. SB Riley 4:08.06, 12. Tippy Valley 4:15.30, 14. Manchester 4:21.25; High Jump – 1. Adeniyi (SB Clay) 5-5*, 2. Azariah Stahl (Elkhart Central) 5-4.25*, 3. Jamie Lacheta (Warsaw) 5-3, 6. Lindsey Dierks (Manchester) 5-1, 9. Jazzmine Brown (Tippy Valley) 5-0; Long Jump – 1. Katelyn Sawyer (Rochester) 17-3.75, 2. Harper (Mishawaka) 17-0.5, 3. Mikaylah Woods (Penn) 16-11.5, 4. Samantha Alexander (Warsaw) 16-6, 6. Courtney Farling (Warsaw) 16-4.75; Discus – 1. Leah Heckaman (CGA) 128-3, 2. Hannah Bright (West Noble) 120-11, 3. Margaret Reisdorf (Mishawaka) 120-1, 4. Samantha Jensen (Warsaw) 118-11; Shot Put – 1. Heckaman (CGA) 40-10.75*, 2. Kara Eck (DeKalb) 39-.5-25, 3. Madison Stewart (Northridge) 39-1.5; Pole Vault – 1. Kennedy Trine (Angola) 12-0*, 2. Sophie Brown (Fairfield) 11-9*, 3. Elizabeth Eversole (Mishawaka Marian) 11-3, 4. Megan Dearlove (Warsaw) 10-9, 8. Claire Hickerson (Warsaw) 9-6
* – State Standard
! – Meet Record[[In-content Ad]]
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