NEW CARLISLE – The 14th-ranked Warsaw girls cross country team is headed back to the state finals. Finishing fifth at Saturday’s New Prairie Semistate, the Lady Tigers now prepare for their second-straight trip to Terre Haute’s LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. “Our first goal was to be in the top six to ensure us to get down to state,” Warsaw girls cross country coach Scott Erba said. “We had wanted to get up to third, and if you look at the results, there’s not a lot of difference in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth teams. We’re feeling good that we got into that fifth spot. We’re going down to state.” Second-ranked West Lafayette won the semistate championship with 38 points, while No. 5 Eastern (93), No. 15 Valparaiso (167), No. 13 Chesterton (172), Warsaw (180) and Portage (184) also advanced to the state finals. Individually, Warsaw senior Ashley Erba was the top performer, as the defending state champion placed first in 17:06.9. “Most of the course was in really good shape, although the downhill and uphill in the woods section was pretty slick,” Scott Erba said. “Even during warmup, we had trouble getting up the hill. There were a lot of boys and girls coming out of the woods with mud on their legs and knees, from taking a slip and landing on their knee. All things considered, she’s in a great spot right now. To run in those conditions and run that kind of time is pretty phenomenal.” That 17:06.9 broke her own state record time of 17:12.5, which she set one week earlier at the Culver Academies Regional. However, that 17:06 time was quickly eclipsed over in Fort Wayne, where Mishawaka sophomore Anna Rohrer won in 17:03.96. Erba and Rohrer have had a pretty good competition going this season and it will resume in the state finals. First, Rohrer handed Erba her first loss in a year-and-half at the Sept. 15 New Prairie Invitational, winning in 17:14 to Erba’s 17:25. Two weeks later, the two were on the same Ox Bow County Park course in Elkhart, with Rohrer competing in the Northern Indiana Conference meet and Erba in the Northern Lakes Conference meet. Running the NIC meet first, Rohrer set a new course record in 17:38.2, but Erba quickly erased it in the next race, when she won the NLC title in 17:17.4. “Ashley and Anna have kind of been throwing (punches) back and forth,” Scott Erba said. “It was head-to-head at times, they ran their conference meets at Ox Bow. It’s going to be a great race, and I don’t think there’s going to be a loser. There’s going to be two young ladies, and probably even more, who run amazingly fast times at the state course. Someone’s gonna finish first, and someone else has to finish second, third and fourth. Our goal is to get Ashley across that line first.” Another goal for the Lady Tigers will be getting a high placing for senior Sarah Ray, who finished 10th at the semistate in 19:05.1. Transferring to Warsaw from the Chicago area last year, Ray wasn’t a part of the Lady Tigers cross country team as a junior, but has been a big addition this season. “One thing we had talked about this week was her getting into the top 10, so she was pumped for that,” the Warsaw coach said of Ray. “Once she ran through her first couple of meets, and kind of saw where other runners were and what she could do, she’s been very accurate. Her personal expectations are where she finishes up at in a meet. During practice last week, we talked about the top 10 and she said, ‘You got it.’” Also for Warsaw, freshman Hannah Dawson was 30th (20:07), followed by junior Madeline Hooks (81st, 21:13), freshman Emma Hayward (83rd, 21:14), freshman Claire Kehler (113th, 22:02) and senior Cynthia Yoder (126th, 22:45). The girls state finals race is slated to begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, followed by the 1:45 p.m. boys race.
NEW PRAIRIE SEMISTATE Note – top six teams and top 15 individuals advance to state meet
Team Scores – West Lafayette 38, Eastern 93, Valparaiso 167, Chesterton 172, Warsaw 180, Portage 184, LaPorte 194, Rochester 238, New Prairie 256, Lake Central 267, Crown Point 286, Harrison 319, Hobart 341, Hebron 367, Culver Girls Academy 382, Munster 391, Twin Lakes 396, Seeger 407, Plymouth 424, Frankfort 572 Top 15 individuals – 1. Ashley Erba (Warsaw) 17:06.9, 2. Bobbie Burgess (West Lafayette) 17:38.0, 3. Bethany Neeley (Eastern) 18:18.3, 4. Elena Lancioni (LaPorte) 18:36.5, 5. Madeline Lilly (Twin Lakes) 18:51.1, 6. Anna Bearss (Rochester) 18:51.3, 7. Grace Lachmund (West Lafayette) 18:59.2, 8. Taylor Austin (Griffith) 19:00.0, 9. Lauren Johnson (West Lafayette) 19:05.0, 10. Sarah Ray (Warsaw) 19:05.1, 11. Kristen Johnson (West Lafayette) 19:08.3, 12. Cailey Daluga (West Lafayette) 19:11.13, 13. Rachel Thompson (New Prairie) 19:15.4, 14. Brittney Neeley (Eastern) 19:17.3, 15. Delaney Barber (West Lafayette) 19:18.9 Warsaw – 1. Erba 17:06.9, 10. Ray 19:05.1, 30. Hannah Dawson 20:07.8, 81. Madeline Hooks 21:13.0, 83. Emma Hayward 21:14.1, 113. Claire Kehler 22:02.7, 126. Cynthia Yoder 22:45.7
