CULVER – There were 10 teams that competed in the girls’ 5K race at the Culver Academies Regional Saturday morning. One of them was in a league of its own, even while resting two of its top runners. Led by the pair of sophomore Mia Beckham (18:53) and junior Anna Craig (19:17), who finished first and second, the Warsaw Lady Tigers had all five of their scoring runners finish among the top 10 in the 89-person race. Warsaw won the team title with 25 points, cruising to their third-consecutive regional championship and the program’s fourth overall. Manchester was a distant second in the team standings with 92 points. “We rested Anna Craig, Hannah Dawson and Mia last week during the sectional, and they ran this week,” said Warsaw coach Scott Erba. “And then, Brooke Rhodes and Allison Miller, who ran last week, rested today. “We want to give girls opportunities to be successful, and I think that when girls get a chance to run in places that are important, they’re not just sitting back, that’s a good situation for them to be in. “We had our final four runners, Claire Kehler, Charlene Orr, Mallory Hooks and Lauren Orr, for the second week in a row they were racing for a spot for next week at the semistate. They all ran incredible races.” The top five teams, as well as the top 10 individuals not on an advancing team, qualified for Saturday’s New Prairie Semistate. Joining Warsaw and Manchester will be Western (119), Northwestern (141) and Maconaquah (157). The host Lady Eagles finished sixth with 157 points, followed by Logansport (164), Plymouth (187), Winamac (187) and Rochester (208). Just as Warsaw dominated as a team, so did Beckham individually. Running with what Erba called “pent-up emotions”, Beckham crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of her runner-up teammate Craig, who finished 14 seconds ahead of third-place runner Miah Martin of Lewis Cass. “The Beckhams, their home burned down Tuesday night, and they wake up early in the morning and they lost practically everything,” said Erba. “Mia went to a half-day of school, and then didn’t go to practice, so there were a lot of home emotions for her. For her to come out today and have the race she did is a huge release of all that pent-up emotion.” Senior Hannah Dawson (19:43) finished seventh for Warsaw, while senior Claire Kehler (20:09) and junior Charlene Orr (20:12) rounded out the Lady Tigers’ scoring runners. Juniors Mallory Hooks (20:14) and Lauren Orr (20:14) completed Warsaw’s seven-runner lineup, finishing 12th and 27th, respectively. “Something we were working on this week was how we were approaching our race strategy, compared to how we were training,” said Erba. “I was really pleased to see how the girls’ performances changed from last week, and how much better they felt and how much faster they ran. “Obviously, a major team goal was to win regional, so that’s another nice one to have.” Junior Rae Bedke led Manchester’s runner-up team with a fourth-place time of 19:36. Other Lady Squires competing Saturday included junior Clara Burdette (16th, 20:35), junior Tahnee Fuentes (18th, 20:44), senior Emily Lynn (34th, 21:28), freshman Sarah Rohr (41st, 21:33), freshman Jaelyn Webb (44th, 21:37) and senior Natasha Niccum (63rd, 22:22). Sophomore Baylee McIntire and freshman Abigail Powell competed as individuals for Triton. McIntire finished 22nd in a time of 21:49 and advanced to the semistate, while Powell was 86th in 25:32. Tippecanoe Valley had three seniors compete as individuals, Karly Kitch (48th, 21:49), Breelyn Conley (81st, 24:13) and Brooklyn Conley (84th, 25:08).
