Start Of Class System Tops Local Sports Stories
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
It was a year that brought near state championships, program turnarounds, outstanding individual efforts and long overdue sectional championships.
All in all, it was another exciting calendar year for area athletes.
It is almost impossible to single out accomplishments and rank them, but we as a sports staff gave it our best shot. We came up with the top 10 sports stories of the year among our seven area high schools (Warsaw, Wawasee, Valley, Manchester, Whitko, Triton, NorthWood) from January 1997 to December 1997.
1. Class sports comes to area/state.
The top story of the year was not only an area story, but a story that affected the entire state. Class sports, especially basketball, has been a topic of conversation for the past two seasons, but the big story this year was the first use of it in IHSAA history.
Because of the realignment among the four classes, Wawasee was the biggest school in the state in Class 3A and Triton was the biggest school in Class A. The realignment also helped area schools like Warsaw, Wawasee, NorthWood and Triton have tournament sites on the sectional, regional and semistate level.
At the beginning of the year, the fight wasn't totally gone for class basketball with Warsaw boys basketball coach Al Rhodes calling for a public referendum in response to a bill sponsored by state Rep. Lawrence Buell. But, at least for the next two years, class basketball is here. In the first look at class sports, NorthWood and Warsaw won volleyball tourney titles in the fall.
2. Wawasee wrestling wins semistate/Darrell Carr state runner-up.
Wawasee's wrestling season came full bore when the Warriors upset the No. 2-ranked team in the state, Bellmont, in the semistate. The 31-30 win over the Braves propelled No. 12 Wawasee to the state championship round, where it lost to No. 3 Carmel. The team finished with a 14-4 record that season and would find itself climbing up the ladder early this season for a ranking of No. 8.
In the individual portion of the wrestling state championships, Wawasee senior Darrell Carr just missed out on a state title when he lost to an old nemesis, East Chicago Central's Billy Maldonaldo 3-2 at 135 pounds. Carr, who had wrestled Maldonaldo six times since the seventh grade, had a record of 113-10 over his last three seasons in high school wrestling.
3. Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball team wins first sectional since 1988.
With a thrilling 33-32 overtime win over Columbia City in March, the Viking boys basketball team captured its first sectional title in nine years. The drought included playing at Warsaw and Columbia City in those eight seasons. The title was the first for Valley at Columbia City.
Valley's season ended just one week later at the Huntington North Regional when the Vikings lost a TRC rematch with Northfield for the right to play in the championship game. Jeff Brown was the main man for the Vikings, leading the team in scoring (17.3) and rebounds (7.9).
4. Wawasee swim teams combined to go 21-1/boys undefeated first time in school history.
It was the first time in the IHSAA that the boys and girls swim seasons were being combined and done at the same time. And Wawasee made the most of it. The Warriors went out and captured both the boys and girls portions of the Northern Lakes Conference tourney and sectional.
Along the way, the boys team went undefeated (11-0) for the first time in school history, achieving a No. 10 ranking in the state. The girls team went 10-1. Once again, both teams sent several swimmers to the state meet.
5. Warsaw boys basketball team sets state record with 75 free throw attempts vs. Gary Wallace.
A game that will be long remembered, the Tigers set what is believed to be an IHSAA record when they attempted 75 free throws against Gary Wallace in a regular-season game. According to the National Federation of High School Association record book, the 75 free throw attempts would tie for the second-most all-time among all 50 states. The record is 89. Warsaw is the only Indiana school mentioned among the top schools, but the IHSAA does not officially have a record for the category.
6. Triton boys and Manchester girls turn around basketball fortunes in 1996-97 season.
After years of being perenial losers, two area basketball programs enjoyed rebirths - the Triton boys and the Manchester girls.
Kevin O'Rourke guided the Tritons to a 16-6 season, losing to Warsaw in the second round of the sectional. After suffering through a few down years, O'Rourke guided Triton to a 27-17 record over his first two seasons. Before O'Rourke arrived, the Trojans were 22-62 from 1991 through 1995.
First-year coach Jody Shewman might have done an even better job with the Squires girls basketball team. After going 7-32 the two years before Shewman, Manchester went 14-5 in her first season as coach and is off to another good start in 1997-98 with a potential All-Star in Megan Eckert.
7. Wawasee's Kari Wortinger wins golf sectional, NLC and second at regional.
Despite not having much team success, the Warriors' top girls golfer this season made things count by herself, capturing medalist honors in the Northern Lakes Conference, the Warsaw Sectional and then finishing second at the Huntington Regional. The last finish earned her a trip to the state golf meet, where she finished in 10th place.
Wortinger shot a career-best 81 to win the NLC match and then beat that two weeks later in the regional with an 80.
8. Warsaw's Stephanie Ellis runner-up in state diving; Valley's Scott Whetstone participates in fourth state swim meet.
So close, yet so far. Warsaw senior diver Stephanie Ellis came oh, so close to a state championship, but fell short and lost to Valparaiso's Amy Shurr by only 1.7 points. En route to the state meet, Ellis won sectional and regional titles as well as not losing a dual meet for the final three years of her high school career.
Joining Ellis at the state meet was Tippecanoe Valley's Scott Whetstone. Although not as successful as Ellis, Whetstone was consistent, swimming in four straight state meets. This past year, he swam in the 100 and 200 freestyle events.
9. Warsaw boys soccer team wins school's first sectional title, goes to semistate.
After starting off the season a little slow (0-5-1), the Tigers picked things up and were peaking at the end of the campaign. Warsaw got its first sectional title in school history and decided to go one further with a regional title as well, winning in a shootout over Angola.
It all came to an end one step later when the Tigers lost to Fort Wayne Canterbury 5-0 in the South Bend Semistate. But there was no reason for Warsaw to hang its head because Canterbury went on to win the state title after beating the Tigers.
10. NorthWood volleyball team goes to semistate, losing to No. 1 Delta.
The Panthers certainly capitalized on the new class sports system. Already a good volleyball program, NorthWood accomplished several firsts in winning sectional and regional titles en route to a school-best 30-5 season as well as the school's first NLC volleyball title in a decade.
The end came with a 14-16, 15-5, 15-8 loss to No. 1 (3A) Delta in the first game of the Peru Semistate. Delta would go on to win the semistate title before losing in the state finals. [[In-content Ad]]
It was a year that brought near state championships, program turnarounds, outstanding individual efforts and long overdue sectional championships.
All in all, it was another exciting calendar year for area athletes.
It is almost impossible to single out accomplishments and rank them, but we as a sports staff gave it our best shot. We came up with the top 10 sports stories of the year among our seven area high schools (Warsaw, Wawasee, Valley, Manchester, Whitko, Triton, NorthWood) from January 1997 to December 1997.
1. Class sports comes to area/state.
The top story of the year was not only an area story, but a story that affected the entire state. Class sports, especially basketball, has been a topic of conversation for the past two seasons, but the big story this year was the first use of it in IHSAA history.
Because of the realignment among the four classes, Wawasee was the biggest school in the state in Class 3A and Triton was the biggest school in Class A. The realignment also helped area schools like Warsaw, Wawasee, NorthWood and Triton have tournament sites on the sectional, regional and semistate level.
At the beginning of the year, the fight wasn't totally gone for class basketball with Warsaw boys basketball coach Al Rhodes calling for a public referendum in response to a bill sponsored by state Rep. Lawrence Buell. But, at least for the next two years, class basketball is here. In the first look at class sports, NorthWood and Warsaw won volleyball tourney titles in the fall.
2. Wawasee wrestling wins semistate/Darrell Carr state runner-up.
Wawasee's wrestling season came full bore when the Warriors upset the No. 2-ranked team in the state, Bellmont, in the semistate. The 31-30 win over the Braves propelled No. 12 Wawasee to the state championship round, where it lost to No. 3 Carmel. The team finished with a 14-4 record that season and would find itself climbing up the ladder early this season for a ranking of No. 8.
In the individual portion of the wrestling state championships, Wawasee senior Darrell Carr just missed out on a state title when he lost to an old nemesis, East Chicago Central's Billy Maldonaldo 3-2 at 135 pounds. Carr, who had wrestled Maldonaldo six times since the seventh grade, had a record of 113-10 over his last three seasons in high school wrestling.
3. Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball team wins first sectional since 1988.
With a thrilling 33-32 overtime win over Columbia City in March, the Viking boys basketball team captured its first sectional title in nine years. The drought included playing at Warsaw and Columbia City in those eight seasons. The title was the first for Valley at Columbia City.
Valley's season ended just one week later at the Huntington North Regional when the Vikings lost a TRC rematch with Northfield for the right to play in the championship game. Jeff Brown was the main man for the Vikings, leading the team in scoring (17.3) and rebounds (7.9).
4. Wawasee swim teams combined to go 21-1/boys undefeated first time in school history.
It was the first time in the IHSAA that the boys and girls swim seasons were being combined and done at the same time. And Wawasee made the most of it. The Warriors went out and captured both the boys and girls portions of the Northern Lakes Conference tourney and sectional.
Along the way, the boys team went undefeated (11-0) for the first time in school history, achieving a No. 10 ranking in the state. The girls team went 10-1. Once again, both teams sent several swimmers to the state meet.
5. Warsaw boys basketball team sets state record with 75 free throw attempts vs. Gary Wallace.
A game that will be long remembered, the Tigers set what is believed to be an IHSAA record when they attempted 75 free throws against Gary Wallace in a regular-season game. According to the National Federation of High School Association record book, the 75 free throw attempts would tie for the second-most all-time among all 50 states. The record is 89. Warsaw is the only Indiana school mentioned among the top schools, but the IHSAA does not officially have a record for the category.
6. Triton boys and Manchester girls turn around basketball fortunes in 1996-97 season.
After years of being perenial losers, two area basketball programs enjoyed rebirths - the Triton boys and the Manchester girls.
Kevin O'Rourke guided the Tritons to a 16-6 season, losing to Warsaw in the second round of the sectional. After suffering through a few down years, O'Rourke guided Triton to a 27-17 record over his first two seasons. Before O'Rourke arrived, the Trojans were 22-62 from 1991 through 1995.
First-year coach Jody Shewman might have done an even better job with the Squires girls basketball team. After going 7-32 the two years before Shewman, Manchester went 14-5 in her first season as coach and is off to another good start in 1997-98 with a potential All-Star in Megan Eckert.
7. Wawasee's Kari Wortinger wins golf sectional, NLC and second at regional.
Despite not having much team success, the Warriors' top girls golfer this season made things count by herself, capturing medalist honors in the Northern Lakes Conference, the Warsaw Sectional and then finishing second at the Huntington Regional. The last finish earned her a trip to the state golf meet, where she finished in 10th place.
Wortinger shot a career-best 81 to win the NLC match and then beat that two weeks later in the regional with an 80.
8. Warsaw's Stephanie Ellis runner-up in state diving; Valley's Scott Whetstone participates in fourth state swim meet.
So close, yet so far. Warsaw senior diver Stephanie Ellis came oh, so close to a state championship, but fell short and lost to Valparaiso's Amy Shurr by only 1.7 points. En route to the state meet, Ellis won sectional and regional titles as well as not losing a dual meet for the final three years of her high school career.
Joining Ellis at the state meet was Tippecanoe Valley's Scott Whetstone. Although not as successful as Ellis, Whetstone was consistent, swimming in four straight state meets. This past year, he swam in the 100 and 200 freestyle events.
9. Warsaw boys soccer team wins school's first sectional title, goes to semistate.
After starting off the season a little slow (0-5-1), the Tigers picked things up and were peaking at the end of the campaign. Warsaw got its first sectional title in school history and decided to go one further with a regional title as well, winning in a shootout over Angola.
It all came to an end one step later when the Tigers lost to Fort Wayne Canterbury 5-0 in the South Bend Semistate. But there was no reason for Warsaw to hang its head because Canterbury went on to win the state title after beating the Tigers.
10. NorthWood volleyball team goes to semistate, losing to No. 1 Delta.
The Panthers certainly capitalized on the new class sports system. Already a good volleyball program, NorthWood accomplished several firsts in winning sectional and regional titles en route to a school-best 30-5 season as well as the school's first NLC volleyball title in a decade.
The end came with a 14-16, 15-5, 15-8 loss to No. 1 (3A) Delta in the first game of the Peru Semistate. Delta would go on to win the semistate title before losing in the state finals. [[In-content Ad]]