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Tapping Into The Fountain Of Youth: Ressler Stays In Overdrive

He's not an easy man to get in touch with.Try at the wrong time and he could be at the local YMCA keeping his basketball skills sharp. Or maybe he'll be out in the sun golfing the afternoon away. Or maybe, if you catch him in the wrong season, he'll be playing softball in Florida. He is so active it would wear most people out in a short time.But for 71-year-old Hugh Ressler, the activities only act as a way to stay in shape. "At my age, you can't lay off," Ressler says."It's tough to get back into shape after taking time off." Ressler just competed with a team from Florida in 3-on-3 basketball at the U.S.National Senior Sports Classic in Tucson, Arizona in late May.His team won a gold medal in the men's 70-and-over class.Twelve teams from across the country competed at the biennial event as well as more than 10,000 athletes in 18 sports from four countries.
Jason Knavel, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Warsaw Golfers Remain Unbeaten In Dual Matches

It's only August and the scores aren't where they'll be at the end of the year, but Warsaw coach Chris Lalonde and her golfers will take the results so far. Led by last year's state champion Emily Johnson and a solid effort by the other four golfers, the Tigers earned another victory in match play.Monday's victim came in the form of the Columbia City Eagles.Warsaw cruised at Stonehenge Golf Club clipping the Eagles' wings, 179-194. Johnson, who finished the day with a 41, scuffled at times in the first group out alongside Columbia City's Brittany Thylr.On the fifth hole, a par three, Johnson pushed a par putt and was forced to settle for bogey.Then she bogeyed again on the eighth hole to sit at 36 going to the ninth and final hole.After a good up and down, Johnson made par while Thylr was wide on her par attempt to give the Columbia City junior a 43 for the day.
DANIEL RIORDAN, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Sox Steal First-Half Show

The All-Star break is not the official midpoint of the baseball season, but it's as good a time as any to look back on the first half. The first half saw Sammy Sosa and his 129 homers over the last two years fall from grace in Chicago after he asked the Cubs to either work on a new contract or trade him, even though his current contract doesn't run out until the end of next season. While Sosa was shooting off his mouth on the north side, the south side of Chicago featured a team playing the best baseball in the majors.The surprising White Sox, a year ahead of schedule, posted the best record (55-32) in the majors and bolted out to a 10-1/2 game lead over former powerhouse Cleveland.
Inside Pitch Column By Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

Fifth-Ranked Munster Blanks Tigers In Tennis Semistate

LAPORTE - He wasn't wearing one, but Warsaw girls tennis coach Rick Orban could have used a 10-gallon hat Saturday. After his ninth-ranked Tigers won the Concord Regional last week, advancing to the semistate for the fourth consecutive year, Orban said if his team lost to a better team in Saturday's LaPorte Semistate he would tip his cap. If they lost to a team he thought they should have beat, he said it would be a huge disappointment. Saturday he was tipping his cap, and it was if he needed a big one. After blanking most of its opponents this year, it was Warsaw that was on the short end Saturday in the semifinal round of the LaPorte Semistate, falling 5-0 to fifth-ranked Munster at Kesling Middle School.
DALE HUBLER, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Warsaw Girls Second In NLC Tennis Match

DUNLAP - For the first time in six years, Warsaw was bested by Plymouth in the Northern Lakes Conference Girls Tennis Championship.The Pilgrims won with a score of 16 to Warsaw's 14.Wawasee came in third with a score of 12. Rain wrecked havoc on the event, which was originally scheduled for Saturday at Goshen Middle School.After a three-hour delay, all the matches that weren't completed were moved to Monday at Concord High School. Warsaw picked up its only first-place finish with Milagros Ridoutt in No.2 singles action.Ridoutt was able to upend Wawasee's Kendra Ganz 6-4, 6-2.It's the second time this season that Ridoutt has defeated Ganz. Wawasee's Carly Murphy fell to Plymouth's Ali Nedlinger 6-4, 6-1 in the No.1 singles championship Saturday.Murphy was able to sneak past Warsaw's Ashley Harrison to get to the championship round.
DANIEL RIORDAN, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Tiger Spikers Take A Pair Of Matches

There is only one thing bad about Warsaw's preseason volleyball workouts and practice.They are in the offseason. The Tiger veterans were itching to get the season under way, while the coaches wanted to get a look at the younger players.Both happened in a successful way as Warsaw opened the 1998 season with wins over Churubusco (15-5, 15-13) and Northfield (15-5, 15-7) in a three-way match Tuesday at the Tiger Den. In the other match, Churubusco beat Northfield 15-13, 15-2. With tough invitationals at Mishawaka, Ben Davis and Clinton Prairie on the horizon, depth and experience is going to be big for the Tigers this season.And Warsaw coach Jamie Byron is well aware of that fact, working different combinations in the season opener and giving significant playing time to the entire roster.
Greg Jones, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

Squires Fall In Weather-Shortened Game

NORTH MANCHESTER - The Manchester Squires' home opener against ranked Heritage was a wash, literally.The Squires fell behind 28-6 with 5:15 left in the second quarter and that's how the contest would end.Thunderstorms accompanied by torrential rains forced officials to call the contest nearly two hours after play was suspended. Until play was stopped the rushing attack of Heritage was causing much of the fireworks.Senior standout Doug Wasylik led the way for the Patriots with 111 yards rushing on just 10 carries. Wasylik opened up the scoring for Heritage with a 15-yard scamper to put the Patriots ahead 7-0.Heritage had a short field to work with after Manchester attempted an onside kick to start the game that failed giving the Patriots the ball at midfield.
DANIEL RIORDAN, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Warsaw Tennis Season Ends At Portage Semistate

PORTAGE -ÊWhen the Warsaw tennis team finished last season with a loss in the semistate, the girls set a goal for this season - to make it back there this year.Only this time they wanted a different outcome -Êa win and a trip to the state meet. Like last year, the Tigers faced off against Penn in the opening match of the Portage Semistate.And like last year, the Kingsmen topped the Tigers 3-2. However, the weather conditions were a bit different from last year.Winds were gusting from 25 to 50 miles per hour and wind chills made the temperature feel like 30 degrees.Despite the unseemly contitions, the Portage athletic director refused to move the matches inside. "This was not tennis weather," said Warsaw coach Rick Orban."Do I think we should have gone inside? Yeah. "At this level of tennis, it was not fair to the girls to play in this weather.But both teams had to play in the same conditions.
JEN GIBSON, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

Triton Names New Boys BB Coach

BOURBON - The Triton school board voted 5-0 to name NorthWood junior varsity coach Joe Bennett as the next head coach of the boys high school basketball team, but not without a bit of controversy. The search committee, consisting of principal Kelly Simpson, vice principal Glenn Weidner, athletic director Mike Byron, guidance director Hugh Rettinger, girls basketball coach Mark Heeter and Ken Blackford, actually put two candidates in front of the board for consideration. According to Roth, Bennett was a close second choice by the committee, but the first choice by the board. "We felt we got the best guy for the job," Roth said."And it also filled a much-needed teaching position at the school." Bennett will replace Kevin O'Rourke, who guided the Trojans to a 36-30 record in three years at the school.Bennett will teach math at the high school.
Jason Knavel, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Warsaw's Baseball Season Ends In 17-Inning Loss

!photoN060201.jpg photo by Gary Nieter, Times-Union Warsaw sophomore Humberto Nunez grits as he takes aim at his target in Friday's sectional game with Elkhart Central.After the game was suspended after 11 innings Thursday, Central won the game 3-2 Friday.The 17 innings is the fifth-longest game in IHSAA history. ELKHART -ÊNearly 24 hours after Warsaw's sectional baseball game against Elkhart Central started, the Blue Blazers took home a 17-inning 3-2 win. However, the Elkhart Central squad will not have much time to sit back and enjoy the hard-earned victory because it will turn around and play Concord in the sectional final today at 1 p.m. The Tigers and Blue Blazers began their epic battle just after 8 p.m.Thursday at Elkhart Memorial's Charger Field.Warsaw and Elkhart Central played to a 2-all tie after 11 innings when the game was suspended around 11:30 p.m.
Jen Gibson, Times-Union Sportswriter- | July 28, 2016

NORTH MANCHESTER - While it was called the Manchester Invitational, it was Triton that made itself right at home Saturday.

"Triton is a really strong team," Manchester coach Mike West said."They pass the ball very well, they're just a really strong program." Said first-year Valley coach Jon Hutton: "Gayle Perry is a very respected coach.They're a neat team to play because you know they're gonna bring the ball at you." Valley finished second, losing only to Triton, while Caston finished 1-2 and Manchester 0-3. The first round of the tournament saw Caston top the host Squires 15-12, 15-7 and Triton defeat Valley 15-5, 15-10. "I thought we could have beaten Triton," Hutton said."We didn't serve very aggressively.We just didn't capitalize on some things." In the second round of games, Triton cruised to a 15-4 win over Caston in the first set and then came back to win the second 16-14.In the other game, Valley got past Manchester 15-8, 15-10.
Trojans won the four-team invitational with a 3-0 record, defeating Caston and Three Rivers Conference rivals Manchester and Tippecanoe Valley.- | July 28, 2016

Area Golf Teams Have Experience

When coaches of the local girls golf teams had a chance to look toward the future after last season, most of them had to be smiling from ear to ear.If there are two things that those coaches seem to have plenty of this year, it may well be experience and talent. Wawasee's Kari Wortinger, Manchester's Katie Parker and Warsaw's Brooke Westover all had good seasons.Wortinger advanced to the state meet, and Parker advanced to the regional, both as individuals.Westover played in the No.1 spot for the Tigers and went to the regional with her team. But those three are gone.What remains is a large group of experienced golfers and golf teams.Valley, Whitko and NorthWood return every letterwinner from last year.Wawasee and Warsaw lost just one letterwinner each, and Manchester has a strong nucleus back. Valley head coach Roger Moriarty can look forward to this season while still concentrating on the future.He returns senior Brenda Rose and four juniors behind her.
Jason Knavel, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Lafayette Jeff Ends Warsaw's Softball Season

COLUMBIA CITY - Warsaw, a girls softball team that started the season 0-4, saw its season end at 21-12 with a 3-2 regional loss to No.3 Lafayette Jeff, a 28-3 team. "I don't care what anybody says," Warsaw coach Craig Helfrich said."Playing this No.3 team in the state to 3-2, that shows a lot about our program.We showed up.We're not ranked, but we should be." Said seventh-year Lafayette Jeff coach Lamar Simmons: "People are into this ranking thing.There are a lot of good teams that aren't ranked.They've won 21 games.When you've won 21 games, you can play.When you get to this level, you are always expecting a close game.I was hoping it wouldn't be, but it was." The Columbia City 3A Regional championship game was played Monday afternoon after Saturday's rainout.The postponement allowed Warsaw coach Craig Helfrich to pitch his ace, right-hander Michelle Liebsch. But Liebsch could not outduel Lafayette Jeff left-handed starter Leighanne Burke.
Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Valley Left Searching For Ground Game

ROCHESTER - Count Tippecanoe Valley football coach Scott Bibler in as one who will miss the now defunct jamborees. His team competed in Saturday's Rochester Jamboree.Next season an extra regular season game takes the place of the jamboree. Bibler liked the idea of watching his team in this tune-up one week before the regular season.If he saw a weakness at the jamboree, he and his assistants could work on that weakness in practice. "We have the controlled scrimmage now, but it's not the same," Bibler said.Valley competed in a Saturday morning scrimmage at Prairie Heights two weeks ago."It's not the environment you have here with the fans, under the lights." No one player stood out for Valley Saturday, but the team turned in a solid if not spectacular effort.Valley defeated Plymouth 8-6 in the second quarter.
Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Triton Hitters Crush Culver Pitching

BOURBON - Rule No.1 when playing the Triton Trojans: Don't throw a fastball down the middle.The Culver Cavaliers learned that the hard way. Triton battered Culver pitching for eight runs in four innings in Wednesday's 8-5 win.The Trojans hit the ball hard all afternoon with a home run over the center-field wall and numerous rips to the gaps.Even when Triton grounded out, the Cavaliers just seemed to be in the right place at the right time. However, Culver (1-12) played much better than a team with just one win, scoring five runs on Cory Monesmith, including a three-run homer over the left-field fence in the first inning that surprised the Trojans. In the top of the first, Culver jumped on Triton.After Dave Noel and Paul Keller walked, Morty Floherty got a ball into the wind that carried over the fence to put Culver ahead 3-0.Monesmith settled down and got the next two batters in order to end the inning.
JASON KNAVEL, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Warsaw Golfers Finish Second In Invitational

WINONA LAKE - They keeping coming close but haven't gotten over the hump yet. The Warsaw Tigers boys golf team keeps finishing toward the top of the heap in invitationals this year but have just second and third place-finishes to show for it. Saturday at Stonehenge Golf Club, Warsaw hosted the Tiger Invitational and finished second with a 324 while Indianapolis Cathedral won with a 320 on a blustery spring day. And while second place out of 12 teams is acceptable for most teams, it's not for the defending state champions. "We're not pleased with second," said senior golfer #Jared Nifong. Nifong, who transfered to Warsaw from Triton over the summer, has been impressive thus far as a member of the Tiger squad. Satuday, Nifong, along with junior Grant Slater, shot an 80. Nifong struggled on the front nine, shooting a 43, but came back to shoot a 37, 1-over par, on the back nine.
Daniel Riordan, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

Efficient Augustine Deals NorthWood 1-0 Loss

The chart offered numbers, cold, hard statistics. And the numbers put up by Warsaw junior left-hander Adam Augustine were off the chart. He had no way of knowing it before Monday's baseball game against NorthWood, but fellow Warsaw starter Craig Lankford, from his spot in the dugout, was about to keep one of the easiest pitching charts of his life. Augustine, who last week blanked Wawasee 1-0, needed just 79 pitches in shutting out NorthWood 1-0 in a Northern Lakes Conference game.NorthWood dropped to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the NLC, while Warsaw improved to 5-4 overall and 3-0 in the NLC. That the teams played a 1-0 game wasn't surprising as the pitchers were aided by a 20-mph wind blowing in from center field. Augustine's impressive numbers didn't end at 79.He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 23 hitters.He threw 60 strikes and only 19 balls in his complete-game win.
Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016

Tigers Defend Homestead, Win At Fisher Field

The word of the week for his football team was challenge, and Troy Akers' Warsaw Tigers certainly overcame one Friday night. After trailing 10-0 at the end of the third quarter, and after enduring a one-hour weather delay as lightning and dark skies moved in over Winona Lake, Warsaw treated what few fans stuck around to a thrilling fourth quarter and a 14-10 win over the visiting Homestead Spartans. "Our word of the week was challenge," said Akers."And we more than met one tonight.These kids refused to lay down and quit." After struggling to put together any sort of offensive highlights, the Tigers got some from senior speedster Antonio Castillo. On the last play of the third quarter, with Warsaw facing a second down on Homestead's 48, Castillo went up in traffic and caught a 42-yard pass from senior quarterback Michael Wienhorst that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Dale Hubler, Times-Union Sports Editor- | July 28, 2016

Hire Park, BMX Racing A Family Affair

On a day when campers, tents and grills color the landscape at Hire Park, it's easy to see why Dan Rumple Jr.says BMX racing is a family affair. Of all people, Rumple, of Warsaw, would know. Along with his duties as Hire Park track director, he also races.His 13-year-old son Dan III races, as does 10-year-old daughter Mariah, who is ranked fourth in the world in her division. His 4-year-old daughter sells raffle tickets, while his wife Kari works the concession stand. While the Rumples answered questions about their family's involvement Saturday, off in the distance brothers and sisters, fathers and sons from seven different states competed in the Hire Park Regional Nationals.
DALE HUBLER, Times-Union Sports Writer- | July 28, 2016

Pickett Resigns As Whitko Basketball Coach

SOUTH WHITLEY - Claiming he will "never be a head coach again," Steve Pickett resigned this week as Whitko's varsity boys basketball coach. Pickett resigned at Whitko after learning he was accepted as a teacher at Carroll (Allen) High School at the school's Monday board meeting. "This was totally initiated by me," Pickett said."It was about me not wanting to be a head coach anymore.I will never be a [varsity] head coach again, because of the time factor and stress involved.The amount of stress involved in being a head basketball coach caused me to think about the future." Whitko was 16-29 (.356) under Pickett the last two years.The Wildcats went 4-17 (.190) during Pickett's first year then followed that with a 12-12 record last season.Pickett's resignation follows a season that saw Whitko, at the time 11-11, beat No.3 Plymouth (19-3) to win the Plymouth Sectional title.The sectional title was Whitko's first since 1996.
Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer- | July 28, 2016
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