ELKHART - Even in a sport that appears to be as individual-oriented as cross country, depth can play a big part.

The Wawasee girls' squad has been living with that theme all season and proved it to be a big factor once again at the Elkhart Central Cross Country Sectional Saturday at Ox Bow Park.

Despite having their No. 1 runner, Aubrey Coy, battling illness all season and No. 2 runner Mary Cockburn out of action with an injury, the Warriors still had enough good, healthy runners to finish as runners-up to powerhouse Northridge in the girls' portion of the sectional.

"We knew there were some good girls teams here," Wawasee co-coach Dave Stookey said. "Northridge is head and shoulders above everybody else, but looking at the rest of the teams, we thought we had a good shot at finishing second."

Northridge ran away with the team title with 30 points. Wawasee was second with 94.

Coy, who has been the Warriors No. 1 runner for two years, finished in 18th place, which isn't bad, but is far less than what she is capable of.

"We had some girls that had better times than last week," Stookey said. "Aubrey Coy has just been battling something all year, so she has been struggling. The last couple weeks have been worse. She probably ran the slowest time since she started running today. Aubrey has not come close to what she has done in previous years.

But Wawasee had Alisha Henderson in 12th, Alison Morgan in 20th, Katie McCauley in 21st and Megan Hoffman in 23rd to make up the difference.

"That has been one of our strengths," Stookey said. "We have a pretty good pack. This squad is eight or nine deep. The rest of them just brought it up, and that will get us out of the regional. They will have to run a little faster, though. Our big goal is to get out of the regional. It has been several years since either squad has been out of the regional."We have our work cut out for us. If they run as they are capable of running, they can get out."

Also advancing to next week's regional, back at Ox Bow, will be Warsaw freshman Summer Boyd. Boyd finished in the No. 10 position, and the top 15 runners move on.

"I told her coming in here that she needed to stay with the two Northridge girls (Erin Payne and Tara Juntunen)," Warsaw girls' coach Paul Sibray said. "Summer was right where she needed to be the whole time. She just did it. She ran a great race.

"We knew there would be competition," he said. "Some of the teams coming in, you just don't know about like Elkhart Central and Memorial. You just don't know what everybody else has got. We were really uncertain if top 15 was even possible."

Warsaw finished ninth out of 10 teams.

"Time-wise, there is no comparison because they change the course from conference to sectional," Sibray said of running on Ox Bow Park two weeks in a row. "Heart-wise, the girls did a great job. They were running hard, and the pack was right where we wanted it. We had the heart, and that is what we have been running on all year."

On the boys' side, Warsaw coach Jeff Grose saw the needed improvement out of his Tigers after a disappointing finish at last week's Northern Lakes Conference meet.

Warsaw had a strong pack of four last week, but its fifth runner finish back aways, and the Tigers slipped to fifth in the conference race (after going 4-2 in the NLC dual season). It was a different story at the sectional, where Warsaw once again got the nice finishes from its top four runners (Greg Patrick 16th, Justin Rice 17th, Will Woodward 21st and David Hoffert 22nd), but also had Don Kennedy in 31st and that was enough to put Warsaw in fifth place and into the regional round.

"We were concerned after the conference," Grose said. "I talked to them, and they did it. They just went after it today. All seven guys had good performances. We had to have it from one of our 5, 6 or 7 runners, and one came through for us today.

"You can see the improvements, and that makes it nice," he said. "Not just for me, but for the kids. They can see that they have a chance to do better."

It was nice for Grose, in his first year as the boys' coach and his first year in any cross country program, to be able to get the Tigers turned around in a week's time.

"Here we are once again," Grose said. "We were 4-2 in the conference, and we can't even nominate anybody for the all-conference. Then here, we are fifth and we don't have anybody in the top 15. That tells you a lot about this team. A lot of good runners that are competing.

"Next week I just want to see continued improvement," he said. "I just want to help them stay at this level. It is near the end of the season, and it is always tough. I just want to try to keep them mentally focused, so we can have another good meet next week."

The Wawasee boys finished in eighth place, three spots away from advancing.

"With the guys, we knew there were about three schools that we were expecting to get out, there were two places up for grabs," Stookey said. "We have just been battling this year with five or six guys, one being sick and one being injured. It has been difficult. They have been doing well considering everything that has happened."

The regional starts at 11 a.m. Saturday at Ox Bow Park.

Elkhart Central Sectional

BOYS - GOSHEN 35, ELKHART CENTRAL 63, CONCORD 75, NORTHRIDGE 104, WARSAW 107, FAIRFIELD 152, ELKHART MEMORIAL 179, WAWASEE 214, NORTHWOOD 236, JIMTOWN 283, BETHANY CHRISTIAN 318

Top 15 - 1. Damian Sherck (EC) 16:16; 2. Jeff Headrick (C); 3. Adam Troyer (NR); 4. Andrew McKalips (G); 5. Kris Allen (G); 6. James Myers (C); 7. Jeff Payne (G); 8. Jon McKalips (G); 9. Charles Queen (EC); 10. Matthew Westlake (EC); 11. Eric Murto (G); 12. Michael Fizer (J); 13. Martin Bohlmann (C); 14. Rob Cassidy (NR); 15. Jacob Wolfe (F)

Warsaw results - 16. Greg Patrick 17:51; 17. Justin Rice 17:52; 21. Will Woodward 17:59; 22. David Hoffert 17:59; 31. Don Kennedy 18:17; 50. Chris Gackenheimer 19:15; 59. Jason Frazier 19:49

Wawasee results - 19. John Hursh 17:55; 45. Jeff Moerchen 18:54; 53. Peter Wagoner 19:22; 55. Curtis Shoemaker 19:28; 60. Brad Andrews 20:14

GIRLS - NORTHRIDGE 30, WAWASEE 94, GOSHEN 113, ELKHART CENTRAL 117, FAIRFIELD 126, ELKHART MEMORIAL 145, CONCORD 152, NORTHWOOD 172, WARSAW 238, JIMTOWN 249

Top 15 - 1. Kelli Lipps (EC) 15:32; 2. Brooke Tobias (NW); 3. Val Taft (NR); 4. Erin Payne (NR); 5. Monica Spangle (NR); 6. Emily Mitchell (C); 7. Erin Toth (NR); 8. Kimberly Ellis (F); 9. Joni Sheldon (G); 10. Summer Boyd (WR) 16:24; 11. Tara Juntunen (NR); 12. Alisha Henderson (WW) 16:34; 13. Elizabeth Sadler (EC); 14. Julie Latzke (C); 15. Rachel Hrynewycz (G)

Other Wawasee results - 18. Aubrey Coy 17:01; 20. Alison Morgan 17:06; 21. Katie McCauley 17:09; 23. Megan Hoffman 17:12; 33. Kassie Biddle 17:44; 36. Jennifer Szynal 17:49

Other Warsaw results - 53. Jill Sibray 19:26; 57. Kim Fluke 20:06; 58. Julie Wilhite 20:12; 60. Ashley Blue 20:17; 62. Alicia Kingston 20:46; 67. Lynn Hudson 22:49

The top five teams and top 15 runners advance to the regional. [[In-content Ad]]