Warsaw Girls Complete One State To State
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
When the starter's pistol sounds at Saturday's Elkhart Girls Cross Country Regional, the race will have a local flavor.
Girls teams from Warsaw and NorthWood as well as an individual from Wawasee (Brittany Winchester) will converge on Elkhart's Ox Bow Park for the Elkhart Central Regional. However, the race will not be easy for any team involved.
"Last year we had confidence going into the regional," said Warsaw coach Paul Sibray. "This year the competition is going to be a lot stiffer."
"It will be a real challenge for us," said NorthWood coach Kirt Hunsberger. "We will need to run our best race to advance. If you run a bad race at this point, you are done. I have talked to the girls all week about how there are no second chances at this level. We will definitely need to put everyone's best races together to have a chance.
"I hope our times will be consistent with last week. We had hoped for fourth last week. We figured the top three were taken by Northridge, Warsaw and Goshen, but we hoped to get in there at fourth. But we placed fifth. At least we lived to run another week."
Both Hunsberger and Sibray agree that the competition will be stiff. They also agree on who some of the leaders in the regional will be.
"DeKalb is coming in from the East Noble Sectional, and they are pretty strong," said Hunsberger. "They will probably push Northridge for every point Saturday. Basically I think the same teams that placed well last week will do well this week. I think the top four teams will be DeKalb, Northridge, Goshen and Warsaw. West Noble, Memorial and Garrett will be right in there as well."
"DeKalb is pretty strong, we have gone back and forth with them in some invitationals this season," said Sibray. "West Noble is improving, and East Noble is starting to move up as well. Those teams will be fighting for the top. Then you have Northridge in there also."
Sibray also feels that there will be another factor affecting all runners in the regional.
"I think it will come down to weather as a factor," said Sibray. "That's something that everybody has to deal with. The regional course is also a bit longer than the sectional course, but it will come down to weather and preparation.
"We have been running well this year, and we've had good times. But everyone else seems to be doing very well this season also."
Warsaw and Northridge face teams from DeKalb, West Noble, Garrett, East Noble, Fremont, Northridge, Goshen and Elkhart Memorial Saturday at 11 a.m. in Elkhart. Individuals from Angola, Bethany Christian, Eastside and Hamilton will compete as well.
Triton's girls will travel just down the road to Culver and the Culver Military Academy Regional. The Trojans will also face a challenge when Saturday morning rolls around.
"I am hoping we run better at the regional than we did at the sectional," said Triton coach Curt Kreft. "We got out of the sectional, which is good, but we did not run as well as we could have. I hope we can run a good race at the regional. That way, we can end the season on a good note."
Triton has a goal similar to that of Warsaw and NorthWood.
"Our goal is to run well," said Kreft. "It will be hard to advance. Individually, we had one girl, Carrie Kauffman, who placed 10th at the sectional. It will probably be hard for her to get out because the runners coming in from Plymouth and South Bend are very strong."
Kreft also knows that the competition at CMA will be stiff.
"I think you have to look at Maconaquah, who ran very well at the sectional, and the Penn and St. Joe girls who were ranked 17th and 18th coming in. Plymouth is always strong also. Those four teams look like they will move on, and there may be an opening at the end. We will definitely have to run very well to take that spot."
Along with Triton, teams from Maconaquah, Plymouth, Cass, Pioneer, Penn, South Bend St. Joseph's, South Bend Clay, South Bend Adams and South Bend Riley will compete in the regional.
About an hour away in North Manchester, two more individuals will be competing in the Macnhester Regional.
Manchester's Lydia Flora, who placed 10th in the sectional a week ago, will be running on her home course, and Tippecanoe Valley's Laura Lash will be competing on familiar ground as well.
Not including last week's sectional, Lash ran on the course three other times this year -Êthe regular season meet with Manchester, the Manchester Invitational and the Three Rivers Conference meet.
"Laura has improved by 10 seconds in each of her last three meets," said Valley coach Terry Screeton. "I hope to see her do that again this week. I am looking for a top five finish for her this week."
But Lash will face one challenge that Screeton can do nothing about -Êinexperience. Lash, a freshman, has never competed in the regional. She has, however, competed in other big meets.
"This is a new experience for her," said Screeton. "She has run in other big meets like the Junior Olympics and USA meets, but this is her first time at the high school regional level.
But Screeton is trying to keep things fairly consistent in Lash's preparation for the regional.
"Her workouts have been pretty much the same as they have been in the last few weeks," said Screeton. "The big thing now is to keep her positive and tell her she can do it. I believe she can move out of the regional. I think she'll be ready."
Along with Flora and Lash, teams from Carroll, Kokomo, Northfield, Southwood, Columbia City, Marion, Northwestern, Western, Huntington and Oak Hill will compete in the regional. Individuals from Madison-Grant, Mississinewa, Tipton and Wabash will compete as well.
MANCHESTER REGIONAL
Teams competing -ÊCarroll, Columbia City, Huntington, Kokomo, Marion, Northfield, Northwestern, Oak Hill, Southwood, Western
Individuals competing
Shawn Barkdull, Madison-Grant
Lydia Flora, Manchester
Brandy Denney, Mississinewa
Laura Lash, Tippecanoe Valley
Casey Bulter, Tipton
Mary Compton-Craig, Tipton
Amber Copeland, Wabash
Sherry George, Wabash
ELKHART REGIONAL
Teams competing - DeKalb, West Noble, Garrett, East Noble, Fremont, Northridge, Warsaw, Goshen, Elkhart Memorial, NorthWood
Individuals competing
Jenny Furge, Angola
Sarah Thompson, Bethany Christian
Ashley Keener, Eastside
Erin VanVuren, Hamilton
Brittany Winchester, Wawasee
CULVER MILITARY ACADEMY REGIONAL
Teams competing -ÊMaconaquah, Plymouth, Cass, Pioneer, Triton, Penn, South Bend St. Joseph's, South Bend Clay, South Bend Adams, South Bend Riley
Individual competing - Andrea Webb, Peru [[In-content Ad]]
When the starter's pistol sounds at Saturday's Elkhart Girls Cross Country Regional, the race will have a local flavor.
Girls teams from Warsaw and NorthWood as well as an individual from Wawasee (Brittany Winchester) will converge on Elkhart's Ox Bow Park for the Elkhart Central Regional. However, the race will not be easy for any team involved.
"Last year we had confidence going into the regional," said Warsaw coach Paul Sibray. "This year the competition is going to be a lot stiffer."
"It will be a real challenge for us," said NorthWood coach Kirt Hunsberger. "We will need to run our best race to advance. If you run a bad race at this point, you are done. I have talked to the girls all week about how there are no second chances at this level. We will definitely need to put everyone's best races together to have a chance.
"I hope our times will be consistent with last week. We had hoped for fourth last week. We figured the top three were taken by Northridge, Warsaw and Goshen, but we hoped to get in there at fourth. But we placed fifth. At least we lived to run another week."
Both Hunsberger and Sibray agree that the competition will be stiff. They also agree on who some of the leaders in the regional will be.
"DeKalb is coming in from the East Noble Sectional, and they are pretty strong," said Hunsberger. "They will probably push Northridge for every point Saturday. Basically I think the same teams that placed well last week will do well this week. I think the top four teams will be DeKalb, Northridge, Goshen and Warsaw. West Noble, Memorial and Garrett will be right in there as well."
"DeKalb is pretty strong, we have gone back and forth with them in some invitationals this season," said Sibray. "West Noble is improving, and East Noble is starting to move up as well. Those teams will be fighting for the top. Then you have Northridge in there also."
Sibray also feels that there will be another factor affecting all runners in the regional.
"I think it will come down to weather as a factor," said Sibray. "That's something that everybody has to deal with. The regional course is also a bit longer than the sectional course, but it will come down to weather and preparation.
"We have been running well this year, and we've had good times. But everyone else seems to be doing very well this season also."
Warsaw and Northridge face teams from DeKalb, West Noble, Garrett, East Noble, Fremont, Northridge, Goshen and Elkhart Memorial Saturday at 11 a.m. in Elkhart. Individuals from Angola, Bethany Christian, Eastside and Hamilton will compete as well.
Triton's girls will travel just down the road to Culver and the Culver Military Academy Regional. The Trojans will also face a challenge when Saturday morning rolls around.
"I am hoping we run better at the regional than we did at the sectional," said Triton coach Curt Kreft. "We got out of the sectional, which is good, but we did not run as well as we could have. I hope we can run a good race at the regional. That way, we can end the season on a good note."
Triton has a goal similar to that of Warsaw and NorthWood.
"Our goal is to run well," said Kreft. "It will be hard to advance. Individually, we had one girl, Carrie Kauffman, who placed 10th at the sectional. It will probably be hard for her to get out because the runners coming in from Plymouth and South Bend are very strong."
Kreft also knows that the competition at CMA will be stiff.
"I think you have to look at Maconaquah, who ran very well at the sectional, and the Penn and St. Joe girls who were ranked 17th and 18th coming in. Plymouth is always strong also. Those four teams look like they will move on, and there may be an opening at the end. We will definitely have to run very well to take that spot."
Along with Triton, teams from Maconaquah, Plymouth, Cass, Pioneer, Penn, South Bend St. Joseph's, South Bend Clay, South Bend Adams and South Bend Riley will compete in the regional.
About an hour away in North Manchester, two more individuals will be competing in the Macnhester Regional.
Manchester's Lydia Flora, who placed 10th in the sectional a week ago, will be running on her home course, and Tippecanoe Valley's Laura Lash will be competing on familiar ground as well.
Not including last week's sectional, Lash ran on the course three other times this year -Êthe regular season meet with Manchester, the Manchester Invitational and the Three Rivers Conference meet.
"Laura has improved by 10 seconds in each of her last three meets," said Valley coach Terry Screeton. "I hope to see her do that again this week. I am looking for a top five finish for her this week."
But Lash will face one challenge that Screeton can do nothing about -Êinexperience. Lash, a freshman, has never competed in the regional. She has, however, competed in other big meets.
"This is a new experience for her," said Screeton. "She has run in other big meets like the Junior Olympics and USA meets, but this is her first time at the high school regional level.
But Screeton is trying to keep things fairly consistent in Lash's preparation for the regional.
"Her workouts have been pretty much the same as they have been in the last few weeks," said Screeton. "The big thing now is to keep her positive and tell her she can do it. I believe she can move out of the regional. I think she'll be ready."
Along with Flora and Lash, teams from Carroll, Kokomo, Northfield, Southwood, Columbia City, Marion, Northwestern, Western, Huntington and Oak Hill will compete in the regional. Individuals from Madison-Grant, Mississinewa, Tipton and Wabash will compete as well.
MANCHESTER REGIONAL
Teams competing -ÊCarroll, Columbia City, Huntington, Kokomo, Marion, Northfield, Northwestern, Oak Hill, Southwood, Western
Individuals competing
Shawn Barkdull, Madison-Grant
Lydia Flora, Manchester
Brandy Denney, Mississinewa
Laura Lash, Tippecanoe Valley
Casey Bulter, Tipton
Mary Compton-Craig, Tipton
Amber Copeland, Wabash
Sherry George, Wabash
ELKHART REGIONAL
Teams competing - DeKalb, West Noble, Garrett, East Noble, Fremont, Northridge, Warsaw, Goshen, Elkhart Memorial, NorthWood
Individuals competing
Jenny Furge, Angola
Sarah Thompson, Bethany Christian
Ashley Keener, Eastside
Erin VanVuren, Hamilton
Brittany Winchester, Wawasee
CULVER MILITARY ACADEMY REGIONAL
Teams competing -ÊMaconaquah, Plymouth, Cass, Pioneer, Triton, Penn, South Bend St. Joseph's, South Bend Clay, South Bend Adams, South Bend Riley
Individual competing - Andrea Webb, Peru [[In-content Ad]]