Local Teams Running At Semistate
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
For the Warsaw boys program it's been even longer - 1990, when Chuck DeFord's Tigers finished 14th and Jay Hicks was sixth individually.[[In-content Ad]]Both Tiger teams, as well as the Whitko boys team, have a chance to advance Saturday, as they will compete in the New Haven Semistate at IPFW.
The boys race is scheduled to start at 1 p.m, with the girls race scheduled for 1:45 p.m.
There are 20 teams in each race, and the top six teams, as well as the top 15 individuals, advance to the Oct. 31 state finals in Terre Haute.
Erica Ridderman, a 2009 Warsaw graduate, and Cendall Ogle, a current Warsaw senior, advanced to last season's state finals, where Ridderman finished 18th and Ogle finished 63rd out of 196 runners.
As a team, however, Warsaw's girls were 12th out of 20 teams in the semistate.
They're hoping for a different outcome this time around.
Though the Lady Tigers are young, with a freshman and three sophomores in their top five runners, the goal all season has been to advance to the state finals as a team.
"It's going to take a good effort by every body," said eighth-year Warsaw girls coach Jerry Gackenheimer, whose team advanced to the semistate by finishing third in last week's Elkhart Central Regional at Ox Bow Park. "If you look at the results in the past, I think we're going to have to be around 170 points."
For Warsaw to be in the 170-point range, Gackenheimer said he thinks his top two runners, freshman Ashley Erba and Ogle, will have finish in the top 10, sophomore Brooke Kline in the low 30s and his No. 4 and No. 5 runners, sophomores Lilly Flemming and Creigh Ogle, no worse than 70th.
"Our goal all season long has been to advance to state," said Gackenhemier. "It's going to take our best effort, but I think the girls have a strong attitude. Physically, we can't do much more. We've been working on being agressive and finishing strong."
Being agressive and finishing strong is exactly what Erba and Ogle have done for the Lady Tigers this season.
The talented one-two punch finished first and second, respectively, in the Northern Lakes Conference Meet, the sectional and the regional.
Erba has won all 12 races - dual meets, invitationals and state tournament events - she has competed in this season.
"I definitely think Ashley can take the top spot," said Gackenheimer. "Cendall is going to have to have a great race to finish second again, there's some really, really talented runners at the semistate, but I can definitely see her finishing in the top five."
Saturday's girls race will feature seven of the top 25 teams in the state - No. 5 Carroll, No. 9 Huntington North, No. 17 West Noble, No. 18 Northridge, No. 19 Penn, No. 20 DeKalb and No. 22 Columbia City.
Warsaw's boys team competed in last year's semistate and finished 16th.
The Tigers advanced to Saturday's semistate by finishing fourth in last week's regional at Ox Bow Park.
"We took the kids up to the (semistate) course (Wednesday) night," said 11th-year Warsaw boys coach Jim Mills. "We didn't go really hard, we spent a lot of time working on finishing. If we're gonna make it to state, we're gonna have to do better than we did last year."
Jordan Scroggs led Warsaw in last year's semistate with a 53rd-place finish.
To finish among the top six teams and advance to the state finals, the Tigers' top finisher can't finish that far back.
If Warsaw's boys run the way they did in the sectional and regional, they stand a legitimate chance of advancing.
"The last two races have been the best team races, top to bottom, we've ran all year," said Mills. "We're going to need that effort Saturday. We've got to step it up another notch."
"Saturday's boys semistate race features six teams ranked in the top 25 - No. 6 Huntington North, No. 7 Concord, No. 8 St. Joe, No. 16 Dwenger and No. 19 Snider.
Whitko's boys team advanced to the semistate by finishing fourth in the Marion Regional.
Warsaw advanced from the same regional as Concord and St. Joe, as well as always-tough Northridge.
Mills said he believes the course at Ox Bow Park is the toughest among the four regional sites that feed into the New Haven Semistate.
"Of the four regionals that feed into the semistate, I'd say Ox Bow is the toughest of the four," said Mills. "I think Marion is probably the easiest, and the other two (Delta, West Noble) are in somewhere in between. If you look at the times from the regional, I think it shows in the times. Ox Bow is pretty tough."
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For the Warsaw boys program it's been even longer - 1990, when Chuck DeFord's Tigers finished 14th and Jay Hicks was sixth individually.[[In-content Ad]]Both Tiger teams, as well as the Whitko boys team, have a chance to advance Saturday, as they will compete in the New Haven Semistate at IPFW.
The boys race is scheduled to start at 1 p.m, with the girls race scheduled for 1:45 p.m.
There are 20 teams in each race, and the top six teams, as well as the top 15 individuals, advance to the Oct. 31 state finals in Terre Haute.
Erica Ridderman, a 2009 Warsaw graduate, and Cendall Ogle, a current Warsaw senior, advanced to last season's state finals, where Ridderman finished 18th and Ogle finished 63rd out of 196 runners.
As a team, however, Warsaw's girls were 12th out of 20 teams in the semistate.
They're hoping for a different outcome this time around.
Though the Lady Tigers are young, with a freshman and three sophomores in their top five runners, the goal all season has been to advance to the state finals as a team.
"It's going to take a good effort by every body," said eighth-year Warsaw girls coach Jerry Gackenheimer, whose team advanced to the semistate by finishing third in last week's Elkhart Central Regional at Ox Bow Park. "If you look at the results in the past, I think we're going to have to be around 170 points."
For Warsaw to be in the 170-point range, Gackenheimer said he thinks his top two runners, freshman Ashley Erba and Ogle, will have finish in the top 10, sophomore Brooke Kline in the low 30s and his No. 4 and No. 5 runners, sophomores Lilly Flemming and Creigh Ogle, no worse than 70th.
"Our goal all season long has been to advance to state," said Gackenhemier. "It's going to take our best effort, but I think the girls have a strong attitude. Physically, we can't do much more. We've been working on being agressive and finishing strong."
Being agressive and finishing strong is exactly what Erba and Ogle have done for the Lady Tigers this season.
The talented one-two punch finished first and second, respectively, in the Northern Lakes Conference Meet, the sectional and the regional.
Erba has won all 12 races - dual meets, invitationals and state tournament events - she has competed in this season.
"I definitely think Ashley can take the top spot," said Gackenheimer. "Cendall is going to have to have a great race to finish second again, there's some really, really talented runners at the semistate, but I can definitely see her finishing in the top five."
Saturday's girls race will feature seven of the top 25 teams in the state - No. 5 Carroll, No. 9 Huntington North, No. 17 West Noble, No. 18 Northridge, No. 19 Penn, No. 20 DeKalb and No. 22 Columbia City.
Warsaw's boys team competed in last year's semistate and finished 16th.
The Tigers advanced to Saturday's semistate by finishing fourth in last week's regional at Ox Bow Park.
"We took the kids up to the (semistate) course (Wednesday) night," said 11th-year Warsaw boys coach Jim Mills. "We didn't go really hard, we spent a lot of time working on finishing. If we're gonna make it to state, we're gonna have to do better than we did last year."
Jordan Scroggs led Warsaw in last year's semistate with a 53rd-place finish.
To finish among the top six teams and advance to the state finals, the Tigers' top finisher can't finish that far back.
If Warsaw's boys run the way they did in the sectional and regional, they stand a legitimate chance of advancing.
"The last two races have been the best team races, top to bottom, we've ran all year," said Mills. "We're going to need that effort Saturday. We've got to step it up another notch."
"Saturday's boys semistate race features six teams ranked in the top 25 - No. 6 Huntington North, No. 7 Concord, No. 8 St. Joe, No. 16 Dwenger and No. 19 Snider.
Whitko's boys team advanced to the semistate by finishing fourth in the Marion Regional.
Warsaw advanced from the same regional as Concord and St. Joe, as well as always-tough Northridge.
Mills said he believes the course at Ox Bow Park is the toughest among the four regional sites that feed into the New Haven Semistate.
"Of the four regionals that feed into the semistate, I'd say Ox Bow is the toughest of the four," said Mills. "I think Marion is probably the easiest, and the other two (Delta, West Noble) are in somewhere in between. If you look at the times from the regional, I think it shows in the times. Ox Bow is pretty tough."
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