A white-hot start to the season for the Warsaw boys and girls cross country teams got even better on Tuesday evening, as both teams were able to secure victories in the annual Tiger Invitational race. The Tigers weren’t the only local team competing however, as Manchester and Tippecanoe Valley were in attendance as well.
On the boys side, Warsaw finished nearly 50 points ahead of second-place finisher NorthWood, compiling just 28 points to the Panthers’ 79. Manchester finished in third place with 119 points, while Tippecanoe Valley finished in sixth with a score of 265.
The Tigers were well represented at the top of the leaderboard, boasting three top five finishers and having six athletes finish in the top 10. Pacing his teammates was Jackson Gackenheimer, who finished second overall with a time of 17:16.32. Warsaw’s two Tylers, Swartz and Mimnaugh, rounded out the top five with fourth and fifth place finishes. Noah McPhail, Alex Schrock and Gabe Klien finished eighth, ninth and tenth.

    Warsaw's Josefina Rastrelli finds herself crossing the finish line well ahead rest of the field of runners. Photo by Gary Nieter
  
Manchester found itself well represented in the top 20 as well. The Squires’ top finisher was Kyler Dale, who finished in third place with a time of 17:18.02, just narrowly missing out on second place. The trio of Caleb Smith, Oliver Fitzpatrick and Clark Showalter came across the finish line in sequence to round out the race’s top 20.
Tippecanoe Valley’s highest finisher was Isaac Whetstone, whose time of 20:15.13 was good enough for 28th place. Christopher Marquez was just over 20 seconds behind at 20:39.33. Luis Nunez finished in 21 and a half minutes, just barely missing out on the top 50.
In the girls race, the Lady Tigers shared a similar margin of victory. Warsaw’s 27 points were just over 50 points less than runner-up Manchester’s 79. Tippecanoe Valley did not have enough runners to qualify for scoring.
A trifecta of local athletes led the way, none more impressive than Warsaw’s Joey Rastrelli. One of the top runners in the entire state, Rastrelli made it look easy, winning her race by nearly 30 seconds en route to leading Warsaw to victory. Coming in second place was Manchester’s Kadence Fox, who was closely followed by Tippecanoe Valley’s Chesnee Miller. Both the Lady Tigers and Lady Squires contributed another top-five finisher in Manchester’s Ayla Cashdollar in fourth and Warsaw’s Sammi Rastrelli in fifth.    Manchester's Kadence Fox (right) and Tippecanoe Valley's Chesnee Miller finish second and third in the girls race. Photo by Gary Nieter  

Three more Warsaw runners finished in the top ten, with Eden Metz taking sixth, Marissa Howett in seventh and Elizabeth Vander Bie finishing eighth. Tippecanoe Valley’ Bailey Bussard earned a second top-25 finish for the Lady Vikings, coming in 23rd.
Tippecanoe Valley and Manchester will compete at the Northfield Invitational on Saturday, while Warsaw competes in the Northern Lakes Conference Invitational on Tuesday.