Warsaw, Wawasee CC Teams Meet Expectations
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
DUNLAP - Wawasee coach Dave Stookey's worst fear was repeating 1999.
Last year his boys cross country team won the sectional but failed to crack the top five to get out of regional, even though both rounds were held at Ox Bow Park.
"After last year, it was in the back of my mind," Stookey said. "I was wondering how bad we would have to run to not get out of here."
He would not find out.
Wawasee met expectations and placed second to DeKalb in Saturday's Elkhart Regional at Ox Bow Park. DeKalb owned the regional and the day, as its girls team also finished first.
The DeKalb boys won with 47 points and were followed by Wawasee with 71, Northridge with 74, Central Noble with 123 and Angola with 128. Warsaw's boys team advanced to the regional but its season ended with an eighth-place finish.
The top 15 individuals and top five teams advance to Saturday's Manchester Semistate.
DeKalb did not run away with the girls meet, as the Barons won with a score of 68, two points better than second-place Northridge. Warsaw's girls team, which finished 16 points behind Northridge for second place at the sectional, finished 44 points behind Northridge at the regional and took third with 114 points. Goshen was fourth with 116, and West Noble was fifth with 124.
DeKalb runners took three of the top five places in the boys race. Ryan Johnson placed first with a time of 16:01, Kaleb VanOrt placed second with a time of 16:09, and Josh Wolfe placed fifth with a time of 16:36.
For Wawasee, Flaco Perales finished sixth (16:46), Rob Chalfant placed seventh (16:48), Ryan Stichter placed 16th (17:32), Luke Stoffel placed 26th (17:45), and Curtis Farrell placed 31st (18:00).
Chalfant, who placed second at last year's regional at Ox Bow and competed at the state finals, was still battling the after-effects of illness that slowed him at sectional. The year has been a battle for Chalfant, as I-T Band Syndrome, a problem some runners develop in their legs, slowed him at the beginning of the season.
"I felt achy this whole last week, but I don't want to use that as an excuse," Chalfant said. "I ran what I could. I just wanted to make sure I didn't get outkicked at the end."
On paper, second place was where Wawasee was expected to finish.
"I thought we could finish anywhere in the top three," Stookey said. "We knew beating DeKalb could be a struggle.
"I'm not trying to make excuses, and Rob hates hearing this, but he's not 100 percent. He's been injured, and now he's coming back from an illness.
"He's not in top form, not running the way he is capable of running.
"But I wish I could run injured or sick and finish where he does."
While Chalfant is banged up, Perales is getting stronger with each meet near the end of the season.
"Flaco is just starting to know what he's doing out there," Chalfant said of his sophomore teammate. "He's awesome."
"Flaco is what you would call a pure runner," Stookey said. "I don't want to say he floats, but he has something that can never be taught. He hasn't begun to reach his potential yet. He needs more experience running in a crowd, and he's getting that this year."
It may seem like it's not possible for Northridge's Natalie Ewing to get better, but she does. Two Saturdays ago she placed first and set an Ox Bow course record with a time of 15:12; she bettered that and won Saturday's regional with a record time of 14:56.
Warsaw had three girls, Jennifer Finch, Rachel Rondeau and Hillary Barlow, finish in the top 15, but their order was different than usual. Typically Barlow is Warsaw's top runner while Rondeau and Finch jostle for second place, but not on this day.
Finch finished third overall with a time of 15:40, 10 seconds better than her sectional time. Rondeau placed eighth with a time of 15:53, eight seconds better than her sectional time. Barlow finished second at the sectional, but she finished 13th at regional with a time of 16:01, 22 seconds worse than her sectional time.
Last year Warsaw placed fourth at regional.
"Hillary had an incident where her legs locked up on her from the two-mile mark on in," Warsaw coach Paul Sibray said. "She kind of blacked out and doesn't remember being passed by some runners. She didn't remember finishing the last 100 meters. We're not sure what it was. She was OK afterward. She has had it happen one other time.
"Jennifer Finch had a really good race, and Rachel Rondeau did a good job. We were the only team with three in the top 15, so that shows how strong we are up front."
Also scoring for Warsaw were Jessica Wehrly, who placed 49th with a time of 17:25, and Amy Robertson, who placed 55th with a time of 17:38. Warsaw's Jill Wehrly placed 57th and Melonie Albert 64th, but only the top five figure in team scores. Like Barlow, Albert had a subpar meet. Albert typically is Warsaw's fourth- or fifth-place runner, but like Barlow, she had a good reason for her day.
"Melonie Albert was involved in a car wreck on her way to the bus today," Sibray said. "She was hit by a grain truck. Then she had the (stomach) cramps in the race that she hadn't had in a while. So she was running under a lot of stress. I didn't even find out about her wreck until after the race."
The Warsaw boys did not advance to semistate, but unlike the Warsaw girls, they weren't expected to. Only five teams made the cut from sectional to regional, and the Warsaw boys placed fifth at the sectional.
For Warsaw at the regional, Jake Sweatland placed 34th (18:06), Zach Woodward 49th (18:25), Matt Krallman 51st (18:32), Michael Jenks 56th (18:47) and Robert Peters 58th (18:48).
The trip to regional was the first since 1997 for the Warsaw boys and came in Jim Mills' first year as coach.
"I think our major goal was just to get here (to regional), and we did it," Mills said. "The guys are disappointed, but they have no reason to be disappointed. Our team came a long way from the beginning of the year. Individually, they came a long way.
"Jake had healed up pretty well, and then we had Zach Woodward step in and run No. 2 for us today. He is a sophomore who came a long way."
The Warsaw girls and Wawasee boys compete at Saturday's Manchester Semistate, and both coaches had similar takes on the upcoming meet. Warsaw finished fourth at last year's regional but then had its best meet of the season to place second at semistate.
"There were six to eight teams I thought could beat us at semistate last year," Sibray said. "This year, there's about 10. Some of the teams we beat there last year are a lot stronger this year. Last year we had by far our best meet of the year, and we will need that again this year."
Said Stookey, whose Wawasee team advanced to semistate two years ago: "I told our guys after the meet they ran well today, but it will take each of the top five running their personal-best times next week. If one of those guys has a bad race, we may not get out.
"I think you have eight teams capable of getting out of semistate. Here you have DeKalb, Northridge and us, and that's just out of one of the four regionals that feeds into that semistate."
2000 ELKHART CENTRAL
CROSS COUNTRY REGIONAL
Saturday at Ox Bow Park in Dunlap
Boys - 1. DeKalb 47, 2. Wawasee 71, 3. Northridge 74, 4. Central Noble 123, 5. Angola 128, 6. Elkhart Memorial 146, 7. Garrett 148, 8. East Noble 203, 9. Warsaw 220, 10. Elkhart Central 236
#competing as individual only (team not represented)
*does not count toward team score
Top 15 individual results - 1. Ryan Johnson (DEK) 16:01, 2. Kaleb VanOrt (DEK) 16:09, 3. #Thomas Wolfe (FAIRFIELD) 16:29, 4. Cody Brown (CN) 16:34, 5. Josh Wolfe (DEK) 16:36, 6. Paul Perales (WAW) 16:46, 7. Rob Chalfant (WAW) 16:48, 8. Kevin Yoder (NR) 16:54, 9. Tim Heiman (EN) 16:58, 10. Ryan Nord (NR) 17:01, 11. Matthew Cummins (EM) 17:03, 12. Dan Grill (ANG) 17:09, 13. #Ryan Woolwine (JIMTOWN) 17:11, 14. #Rob Whirledge (FAIRFIELD) 17:20, 15. Jeremy Truelove (CN) 17:21
Other local results - 16. Ryan Stichter (WAW) 17:32, 26. Luke Stoffel (WAW) 17:45, 31. Curtis Farrell (WAW) 18:00, 33. *Matt Dunithan (WAW) 18:05, 34. Jake Sweatland (WAR) 18:06, 49. Zach Woodward (WAR) 18:25, 51. Matt Krallman (WAR) 18:32, 56. Michael Jenks (WAR) 18:47, 58. Robert Peters (WAR) 18:48, 65. *Matt Lankford (WAR) 19:26, 66. *Eric Gingerich (WAW) 19:34, 74. *Ryan
Holbrook (WAR) 21:07
Girls - 1. DeKalb 68, 2. Northridge 70, 3. Warsaw 114, 4. Goshen 116, 5. West Noble 124, 6. Elkhart Memorial 171, 7. Fremont 178, 8. NorthWood 179,
9. East Noble 182, 10. Garrett 186
#competing as individual only (team not represented)
*does not count toward team score
Top 15 individual results - 1. Natalie Ewing (NR) 14:56, 2. Megan Hardenbrook (GAR) 15:31, 3. Jennifer Finch (WAR) 15:40, 4. Karly VanOrt (DEK) 15:44, 5. #Jenny Furge (ANGOLA) 15:45, 6. Megan Hawkins (DEK) 15:46, 7. Rebekah Liechty (EN) 15:52, 8. Rachel Rondeau (WAR) 15:53, 9. Lacy Rex (WN) 15:53, 10. #Sarah Thompson (BETHANY CHRISTIAN) 15:58, 11. #Ashley Keener (EASTSIDE) 16:00, 12. Stacy Matteson (EM) 16:00, 13. Hillary Barlow (WAR) 16:01, 14. Josie Caton (GOS) 16:02, 15. Brittany Fearnow (NR) 16:06
Other local results - 28. Cortnie Sandy (NW) 16:45, 34. #Brittany Winchester (WAWASEE) 16:53, 41. Nina Bearss (NW) 17:11, 42. Leslie Hawkins (NW) 17:11, 44. Kara Huff (NW) 17:12, 47. Heide Schneider (NW) 17:21, 49. Jessica Wehrly (WAR) 17:25, 55. Amy Robertson (WAR) 17:38, 57. *Jill Wehrly (WAR) 17:44, 63. *Andrea Jenkins (NW) 18:10, 64. *Melonie Albert (WAR) 18:15, 69. *Kimberly Yoder (NW) 18:31 [[In-content Ad]]
DUNLAP - Wawasee coach Dave Stookey's worst fear was repeating 1999.
Last year his boys cross country team won the sectional but failed to crack the top five to get out of regional, even though both rounds were held at Ox Bow Park.
"After last year, it was in the back of my mind," Stookey said. "I was wondering how bad we would have to run to not get out of here."
He would not find out.
Wawasee met expectations and placed second to DeKalb in Saturday's Elkhart Regional at Ox Bow Park. DeKalb owned the regional and the day, as its girls team also finished first.
The DeKalb boys won with 47 points and were followed by Wawasee with 71, Northridge with 74, Central Noble with 123 and Angola with 128. Warsaw's boys team advanced to the regional but its season ended with an eighth-place finish.
The top 15 individuals and top five teams advance to Saturday's Manchester Semistate.
DeKalb did not run away with the girls meet, as the Barons won with a score of 68, two points better than second-place Northridge. Warsaw's girls team, which finished 16 points behind Northridge for second place at the sectional, finished 44 points behind Northridge at the regional and took third with 114 points. Goshen was fourth with 116, and West Noble was fifth with 124.
DeKalb runners took three of the top five places in the boys race. Ryan Johnson placed first with a time of 16:01, Kaleb VanOrt placed second with a time of 16:09, and Josh Wolfe placed fifth with a time of 16:36.
For Wawasee, Flaco Perales finished sixth (16:46), Rob Chalfant placed seventh (16:48), Ryan Stichter placed 16th (17:32), Luke Stoffel placed 26th (17:45), and Curtis Farrell placed 31st (18:00).
Chalfant, who placed second at last year's regional at Ox Bow and competed at the state finals, was still battling the after-effects of illness that slowed him at sectional. The year has been a battle for Chalfant, as I-T Band Syndrome, a problem some runners develop in their legs, slowed him at the beginning of the season.
"I felt achy this whole last week, but I don't want to use that as an excuse," Chalfant said. "I ran what I could. I just wanted to make sure I didn't get outkicked at the end."
On paper, second place was where Wawasee was expected to finish.
"I thought we could finish anywhere in the top three," Stookey said. "We knew beating DeKalb could be a struggle.
"I'm not trying to make excuses, and Rob hates hearing this, but he's not 100 percent. He's been injured, and now he's coming back from an illness.
"He's not in top form, not running the way he is capable of running.
"But I wish I could run injured or sick and finish where he does."
While Chalfant is banged up, Perales is getting stronger with each meet near the end of the season.
"Flaco is just starting to know what he's doing out there," Chalfant said of his sophomore teammate. "He's awesome."
"Flaco is what you would call a pure runner," Stookey said. "I don't want to say he floats, but he has something that can never be taught. He hasn't begun to reach his potential yet. He needs more experience running in a crowd, and he's getting that this year."
It may seem like it's not possible for Northridge's Natalie Ewing to get better, but she does. Two Saturdays ago she placed first and set an Ox Bow course record with a time of 15:12; she bettered that and won Saturday's regional with a record time of 14:56.
Warsaw had three girls, Jennifer Finch, Rachel Rondeau and Hillary Barlow, finish in the top 15, but their order was different than usual. Typically Barlow is Warsaw's top runner while Rondeau and Finch jostle for second place, but not on this day.
Finch finished third overall with a time of 15:40, 10 seconds better than her sectional time. Rondeau placed eighth with a time of 15:53, eight seconds better than her sectional time. Barlow finished second at the sectional, but she finished 13th at regional with a time of 16:01, 22 seconds worse than her sectional time.
Last year Warsaw placed fourth at regional.
"Hillary had an incident where her legs locked up on her from the two-mile mark on in," Warsaw coach Paul Sibray said. "She kind of blacked out and doesn't remember being passed by some runners. She didn't remember finishing the last 100 meters. We're not sure what it was. She was OK afterward. She has had it happen one other time.
"Jennifer Finch had a really good race, and Rachel Rondeau did a good job. We were the only team with three in the top 15, so that shows how strong we are up front."
Also scoring for Warsaw were Jessica Wehrly, who placed 49th with a time of 17:25, and Amy Robertson, who placed 55th with a time of 17:38. Warsaw's Jill Wehrly placed 57th and Melonie Albert 64th, but only the top five figure in team scores. Like Barlow, Albert had a subpar meet. Albert typically is Warsaw's fourth- or fifth-place runner, but like Barlow, she had a good reason for her day.
"Melonie Albert was involved in a car wreck on her way to the bus today," Sibray said. "She was hit by a grain truck. Then she had the (stomach) cramps in the race that she hadn't had in a while. So she was running under a lot of stress. I didn't even find out about her wreck until after the race."
The Warsaw boys did not advance to semistate, but unlike the Warsaw girls, they weren't expected to. Only five teams made the cut from sectional to regional, and the Warsaw boys placed fifth at the sectional.
For Warsaw at the regional, Jake Sweatland placed 34th (18:06), Zach Woodward 49th (18:25), Matt Krallman 51st (18:32), Michael Jenks 56th (18:47) and Robert Peters 58th (18:48).
The trip to regional was the first since 1997 for the Warsaw boys and came in Jim Mills' first year as coach.
"I think our major goal was just to get here (to regional), and we did it," Mills said. "The guys are disappointed, but they have no reason to be disappointed. Our team came a long way from the beginning of the year. Individually, they came a long way.
"Jake had healed up pretty well, and then we had Zach Woodward step in and run No. 2 for us today. He is a sophomore who came a long way."
The Warsaw girls and Wawasee boys compete at Saturday's Manchester Semistate, and both coaches had similar takes on the upcoming meet. Warsaw finished fourth at last year's regional but then had its best meet of the season to place second at semistate.
"There were six to eight teams I thought could beat us at semistate last year," Sibray said. "This year, there's about 10. Some of the teams we beat there last year are a lot stronger this year. Last year we had by far our best meet of the year, and we will need that again this year."
Said Stookey, whose Wawasee team advanced to semistate two years ago: "I told our guys after the meet they ran well today, but it will take each of the top five running their personal-best times next week. If one of those guys has a bad race, we may not get out.
"I think you have eight teams capable of getting out of semistate. Here you have DeKalb, Northridge and us, and that's just out of one of the four regionals that feeds into that semistate."
2000 ELKHART CENTRAL
CROSS COUNTRY REGIONAL
Saturday at Ox Bow Park in Dunlap
Boys - 1. DeKalb 47, 2. Wawasee 71, 3. Northridge 74, 4. Central Noble 123, 5. Angola 128, 6. Elkhart Memorial 146, 7. Garrett 148, 8. East Noble 203, 9. Warsaw 220, 10. Elkhart Central 236
#competing as individual only (team not represented)
*does not count toward team score
Top 15 individual results - 1. Ryan Johnson (DEK) 16:01, 2. Kaleb VanOrt (DEK) 16:09, 3. #Thomas Wolfe (FAIRFIELD) 16:29, 4. Cody Brown (CN) 16:34, 5. Josh Wolfe (DEK) 16:36, 6. Paul Perales (WAW) 16:46, 7. Rob Chalfant (WAW) 16:48, 8. Kevin Yoder (NR) 16:54, 9. Tim Heiman (EN) 16:58, 10. Ryan Nord (NR) 17:01, 11. Matthew Cummins (EM) 17:03, 12. Dan Grill (ANG) 17:09, 13. #Ryan Woolwine (JIMTOWN) 17:11, 14. #Rob Whirledge (FAIRFIELD) 17:20, 15. Jeremy Truelove (CN) 17:21
Other local results - 16. Ryan Stichter (WAW) 17:32, 26. Luke Stoffel (WAW) 17:45, 31. Curtis Farrell (WAW) 18:00, 33. *Matt Dunithan (WAW) 18:05, 34. Jake Sweatland (WAR) 18:06, 49. Zach Woodward (WAR) 18:25, 51. Matt Krallman (WAR) 18:32, 56. Michael Jenks (WAR) 18:47, 58. Robert Peters (WAR) 18:48, 65. *Matt Lankford (WAR) 19:26, 66. *Eric Gingerich (WAW) 19:34, 74. *Ryan
Holbrook (WAR) 21:07
Girls - 1. DeKalb 68, 2. Northridge 70, 3. Warsaw 114, 4. Goshen 116, 5. West Noble 124, 6. Elkhart Memorial 171, 7. Fremont 178, 8. NorthWood 179,
9. East Noble 182, 10. Garrett 186
#competing as individual only (team not represented)
*does not count toward team score
Top 15 individual results - 1. Natalie Ewing (NR) 14:56, 2. Megan Hardenbrook (GAR) 15:31, 3. Jennifer Finch (WAR) 15:40, 4. Karly VanOrt (DEK) 15:44, 5. #Jenny Furge (ANGOLA) 15:45, 6. Megan Hawkins (DEK) 15:46, 7. Rebekah Liechty (EN) 15:52, 8. Rachel Rondeau (WAR) 15:53, 9. Lacy Rex (WN) 15:53, 10. #Sarah Thompson (BETHANY CHRISTIAN) 15:58, 11. #Ashley Keener (EASTSIDE) 16:00, 12. Stacy Matteson (EM) 16:00, 13. Hillary Barlow (WAR) 16:01, 14. Josie Caton (GOS) 16:02, 15. Brittany Fearnow (NR) 16:06
Other local results - 28. Cortnie Sandy (NW) 16:45, 34. #Brittany Winchester (WAWASEE) 16:53, 41. Nina Bearss (NW) 17:11, 42. Leslie Hawkins (NW) 17:11, 44. Kara Huff (NW) 17:12, 47. Heide Schneider (NW) 17:21, 49. Jessica Wehrly (WAR) 17:25, 55. Amy Robertson (WAR) 17:38, 57. *Jill Wehrly (WAR) 17:44, 63. *Andrea Jenkins (NW) 18:10, 64. *Melonie Albert (WAR) 18:15, 69. *Kimberly Yoder (NW) 18:31 [[In-content Ad]]