Warsaw, Wawasee Slip A Little
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
DUNLAP - Regular season accomplishments are only indicators of what could happen in end-of-season tournaments, not always the norm.
Prime examples of that were the Warsaw boys and Wawasee girls teams at Saturday's Northern Lakes Conference cross country championship at Ox Bow Park.
Both entered the championship with high hopes after successful regular seasons, only to slip a little in the race. The Warsaw boys were 4-2 in the dual meets in the regular season, but fell to fifth place; while the Wawasee girls, who had a dual win against Plymouth, finished behind the Pilgrims for third place.
"You knew coming in that a lot of the teams in conference had a great opportunity to get us because our four wins were under 10 points - total," Warsaw boys' coach Jeff Grose said. "We knew it would be close."
Warsaw had the opportunity to finish as high as second in the race, capturing the 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th spots with its first four runners. But the Tigers' fifth runner was 34th, basically dropping them to fifth in the team standings.
"That group of four that we had did a really great job," Grose said. "But you have to have five guys in a meet like this. Our No. 5 guy was 34th, and you start to rack up a lot of points with that. That is what pushed us all the way back to No. 5 today.
"I am very proud of these kids," he said. "They have come a long way this year. I hope this won't bug them next week (in the sectional)."
With the dual meets and the NLC race figured in, Warsaw finished in fourth place in the conference.
Despite the previous win over Plymouth, the Warriors knew getting the Pilgrims in the NLC would be tough, especially throwing in the unpredictability of the other teams. Northridge won the girls' race, going away 36 points, Plymouth was next with 61 and Wawasee totaled 86.
"We beat Plymouth in the regular season, but we knew they had improved a lot, and we have improved," Wawasee coach Dave Stookey said. "We knew in a bigger meet like this, we would have to really be on top of it to beat them or Northridge. And we figured Northridge was another notch above Plymouth.
"Overall, we were pleased," he said. "Plymouth and Northridge are pretty representative of the top teams in the state. We have nothing to be ashamed of that way."
Wawasee's No. 1 runner, Aubrey Coy, was under the weather and finished back a little bit in 12th place. Coy is normally a top ten runner.
"Our pack was where we wanted it," Stookey said. "We just have to work on getting our first-place time down. Aubrey usually runs faster than what she ran today. She was sick today.
"We haven't had everybody on this team 100 percent (healthy) at the same time yet this year," he said. "We are still working on that."
With the dual meets and the NLC race figured in, Wawasee finished in a second place tie in the conference.
The Warsaw girls got a gutsy performance from freshman Summer Boyd, who moved into the top ten after a slow start and finished in ninth place.
"I wasn't sure, as frail as she is, how she could do," Warsaw girls' coach Paul Sibray said. "But she hung in there and beat some girls that she hadn't beaten all year."
Unfortunately, the Tigers finished in seventh place as a team.
"Everybody ran about as well as we have all year," Sibray said. "They might have been looking for faster times after running Manchester last week, but you just don't have those times at this course."
Running with only five healthy runners, the Wawasee boys had the same fate as the Warsaw girls, slipping to seventh place in the race.
"We started out with eight boys this year and lost two, including one of our best runners," Stookey said. "We had some injuries, and we were down to five runners today, and one of those had been sick all week.
"We felt like we had a shot to finish above last place, but with everything that happened, it didn't work out," he said.
Both Warsaw and Wawasee teams are back at Ox Bow Park on Saturday for the sectional.
NLC Championship Race
Boys
GOSHEN 34, CONCORD 72, NORTHRIDGE 82, PLYMOUTH 87, WARSAW 98, NORTHWOOD 129, WAWASEE 159
Top 15 - 1. Jeff Headrick (C) 16:28; 2. Adam Troyer (NR); 3. Jeff Payne (G); 4. J.D. Myers (C); 5. Kris Allen (G); 6. Andy McKalips (G); 7. Andrew Cook (P); 8. Eric Murto (P); 9. Brian Wray (P); 10. Christopher Davis (P); 11. Rob Cassidy (NR); 12. Jon McKalips (G); 13. John Hursh (Waw) 17:40; 14. David Hoffert (War) 17:40; 15. Greg Patrick (War) 17:40
Other Warsaw results - 17. Will Woodward 17:46; 18. Justin Rice 17:49; 34. Don Kennedy 18:46; 38. Chris Gackenheimer 18:55; 45. Jason Frazier 19:49
Other Wawasee results - 31. Matt Engelberth 18:30; 32. Jeff Moerchen 18:32; 37. Curtis Shoemaker 18:54; 46. Peter Wagoner 20:10
Girls
NORTHRIDGE 36, PLYMOUTH 61, WAWASEE 86, GOSHEN 104, CONCORD 117, NORTHWOOD 123, WARSAW 176
Top 15 - 1. Kimbery Snyder (P) 15:04; 2. Brooke Tobias (NW); 3. Val Taft (NR); 4. Audra Gaul (P); 5. Monica Spangle (NR); 6. Emily Mitchell (C); 7. Erin Toth (NR); 8. Joni Sheldon (G); 9. Summer Boyd (War) 15:56; 10. Tara Juntenen (NR); 11. Erin Payne (NR); 12. Aubrey Coy (Waw) 16:20; 13. Malinda Large (P); 14. Julie Latzke (C); 15. Alison Morgan (Waw) 16:36
Other Warsaw results - 41. Julie Wilhite 18:45; 47. Kim Fluke 19:14; 49. Ashley Blue 19:29; 57. Alicia Kingston 20:17; 60. Lynn Hudson 21:19; 62. Jenny Ellison 22:25; 63. Callie Edgington 22:33
Other Wawasee results - 18. Alisha Henderson 17:00; 20. Katie McGauley 17:08; 21. Megan Hoffman 17:13; 24. Kassie Biddle 17:16; 31. Heather Morgan 17:43; 32. Jennifer Szynal 17:45; 33. Krista Bestul 17:46; 42. Julie Blakeslee 18:46; 54. Heather Levernier 19:56
Junior Varsity Boys
Top ten - 1. Chris Miller (G) 18:18; 2. John Leatherman (G); 3. Troy Hogan (G); 4. David Young (NR); 5. Tony Sands (C); 6. Lonnie Lenox (C); 7. Nick Campanello (C); 8. Arturo Garcia (War) 19:17; 9. David Robertson (War) 19:18; 10. Darren Granger (War) 19:28
Other Warsaw results - 14. Jason Sibray 19:44; 18. Harold Hartwig 19:56; 22. Luke Chabot 20:09; 26. Evan Mock 20:35; 27. Adam Conley 20:43; 35. Jeremy Miller 21:12; 39. Kevin Kashuba 22:08; 41. Nate Ridderman 22:23; 42. Craig Lankford 22:26; 46. James Kennedy 27:42
All-Northern Lakes Conference selections
Boys - Headrick, Troyer, Payne, Myers, Allen, Cook, Murto, Wray, McKalips, Eric Chris (Concord)
Coach of the Year - Mike Wynn (Goshen)
Girls - Snyder, Tobias, Taft, Gaul, Spangle, Mitchell, Toth, Sheldon, Boyd, Payne, Coy
Coach of the Year - Ken Willems (Northridge) [[In-content Ad]]
DUNLAP - Regular season accomplishments are only indicators of what could happen in end-of-season tournaments, not always the norm.
Prime examples of that were the Warsaw boys and Wawasee girls teams at Saturday's Northern Lakes Conference cross country championship at Ox Bow Park.
Both entered the championship with high hopes after successful regular seasons, only to slip a little in the race. The Warsaw boys were 4-2 in the dual meets in the regular season, but fell to fifth place; while the Wawasee girls, who had a dual win against Plymouth, finished behind the Pilgrims for third place.
"You knew coming in that a lot of the teams in conference had a great opportunity to get us because our four wins were under 10 points - total," Warsaw boys' coach Jeff Grose said. "We knew it would be close."
Warsaw had the opportunity to finish as high as second in the race, capturing the 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th spots with its first four runners. But the Tigers' fifth runner was 34th, basically dropping them to fifth in the team standings.
"That group of four that we had did a really great job," Grose said. "But you have to have five guys in a meet like this. Our No. 5 guy was 34th, and you start to rack up a lot of points with that. That is what pushed us all the way back to No. 5 today.
"I am very proud of these kids," he said. "They have come a long way this year. I hope this won't bug them next week (in the sectional)."
With the dual meets and the NLC race figured in, Warsaw finished in fourth place in the conference.
Despite the previous win over Plymouth, the Warriors knew getting the Pilgrims in the NLC would be tough, especially throwing in the unpredictability of the other teams. Northridge won the girls' race, going away 36 points, Plymouth was next with 61 and Wawasee totaled 86.
"We beat Plymouth in the regular season, but we knew they had improved a lot, and we have improved," Wawasee coach Dave Stookey said. "We knew in a bigger meet like this, we would have to really be on top of it to beat them or Northridge. And we figured Northridge was another notch above Plymouth.
"Overall, we were pleased," he said. "Plymouth and Northridge are pretty representative of the top teams in the state. We have nothing to be ashamed of that way."
Wawasee's No. 1 runner, Aubrey Coy, was under the weather and finished back a little bit in 12th place. Coy is normally a top ten runner.
"Our pack was where we wanted it," Stookey said. "We just have to work on getting our first-place time down. Aubrey usually runs faster than what she ran today. She was sick today.
"We haven't had everybody on this team 100 percent (healthy) at the same time yet this year," he said. "We are still working on that."
With the dual meets and the NLC race figured in, Wawasee finished in a second place tie in the conference.
The Warsaw girls got a gutsy performance from freshman Summer Boyd, who moved into the top ten after a slow start and finished in ninth place.
"I wasn't sure, as frail as she is, how she could do," Warsaw girls' coach Paul Sibray said. "But she hung in there and beat some girls that she hadn't beaten all year."
Unfortunately, the Tigers finished in seventh place as a team.
"Everybody ran about as well as we have all year," Sibray said. "They might have been looking for faster times after running Manchester last week, but you just don't have those times at this course."
Running with only five healthy runners, the Wawasee boys had the same fate as the Warsaw girls, slipping to seventh place in the race.
"We started out with eight boys this year and lost two, including one of our best runners," Stookey said. "We had some injuries, and we were down to five runners today, and one of those had been sick all week.
"We felt like we had a shot to finish above last place, but with everything that happened, it didn't work out," he said.
Both Warsaw and Wawasee teams are back at Ox Bow Park on Saturday for the sectional.
NLC Championship Race
Boys
GOSHEN 34, CONCORD 72, NORTHRIDGE 82, PLYMOUTH 87, WARSAW 98, NORTHWOOD 129, WAWASEE 159
Top 15 - 1. Jeff Headrick (C) 16:28; 2. Adam Troyer (NR); 3. Jeff Payne (G); 4. J.D. Myers (C); 5. Kris Allen (G); 6. Andy McKalips (G); 7. Andrew Cook (P); 8. Eric Murto (P); 9. Brian Wray (P); 10. Christopher Davis (P); 11. Rob Cassidy (NR); 12. Jon McKalips (G); 13. John Hursh (Waw) 17:40; 14. David Hoffert (War) 17:40; 15. Greg Patrick (War) 17:40
Other Warsaw results - 17. Will Woodward 17:46; 18. Justin Rice 17:49; 34. Don Kennedy 18:46; 38. Chris Gackenheimer 18:55; 45. Jason Frazier 19:49
Other Wawasee results - 31. Matt Engelberth 18:30; 32. Jeff Moerchen 18:32; 37. Curtis Shoemaker 18:54; 46. Peter Wagoner 20:10
Girls
NORTHRIDGE 36, PLYMOUTH 61, WAWASEE 86, GOSHEN 104, CONCORD 117, NORTHWOOD 123, WARSAW 176
Top 15 - 1. Kimbery Snyder (P) 15:04; 2. Brooke Tobias (NW); 3. Val Taft (NR); 4. Audra Gaul (P); 5. Monica Spangle (NR); 6. Emily Mitchell (C); 7. Erin Toth (NR); 8. Joni Sheldon (G); 9. Summer Boyd (War) 15:56; 10. Tara Juntenen (NR); 11. Erin Payne (NR); 12. Aubrey Coy (Waw) 16:20; 13. Malinda Large (P); 14. Julie Latzke (C); 15. Alison Morgan (Waw) 16:36
Other Warsaw results - 41. Julie Wilhite 18:45; 47. Kim Fluke 19:14; 49. Ashley Blue 19:29; 57. Alicia Kingston 20:17; 60. Lynn Hudson 21:19; 62. Jenny Ellison 22:25; 63. Callie Edgington 22:33
Other Wawasee results - 18. Alisha Henderson 17:00; 20. Katie McGauley 17:08; 21. Megan Hoffman 17:13; 24. Kassie Biddle 17:16; 31. Heather Morgan 17:43; 32. Jennifer Szynal 17:45; 33. Krista Bestul 17:46; 42. Julie Blakeslee 18:46; 54. Heather Levernier 19:56
Junior Varsity Boys
Top ten - 1. Chris Miller (G) 18:18; 2. John Leatherman (G); 3. Troy Hogan (G); 4. David Young (NR); 5. Tony Sands (C); 6. Lonnie Lenox (C); 7. Nick Campanello (C); 8. Arturo Garcia (War) 19:17; 9. David Robertson (War) 19:18; 10. Darren Granger (War) 19:28
Other Warsaw results - 14. Jason Sibray 19:44; 18. Harold Hartwig 19:56; 22. Luke Chabot 20:09; 26. Evan Mock 20:35; 27. Adam Conley 20:43; 35. Jeremy Miller 21:12; 39. Kevin Kashuba 22:08; 41. Nate Ridderman 22:23; 42. Craig Lankford 22:26; 46. James Kennedy 27:42
All-Northern Lakes Conference selections
Boys - Headrick, Troyer, Payne, Myers, Allen, Cook, Murto, Wray, McKalips, Eric Chris (Concord)
Coach of the Year - Mike Wynn (Goshen)
Girls - Snyder, Tobias, Taft, Gaul, Spangle, Mitchell, Toth, Sheldon, Boyd, Payne, Coy
Coach of the Year - Ken Willems (Northridge) [[In-content Ad]]