Warsaw advances to Kokomo Regional in 15 of 16 events
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
After extending two impressive postseason streaks, Warsaw Community High School’s girls track and field team is now focused on another. A week after winning their 11th straight Northern Lakes Conference championship, the Lady Tigers cruised to a 10th consecutive sectional title Tuesday. Next on the Lady Tigers’ to-do list is winning a fifth straight regional championship, which they can do Tuesday in Kokomo. Heavily favored to win the sectional, Warsaw not only backed that up, but dominated the rest of the field. The Lady Tigers won 10 of 16 events and scored 173 points as a team, more than runner-up Concord and third-place Northridge combined to score. Concord finished the evening with 74 points, followed in the top five by Northridge (70), NorthWood (67) and Fairfield (67). Goshen finished sixth with 41 points, followed by Wawasee (40), Elkhart Central (29), Columbia City (19), Jimtown (17), Elkhart Memorial (12), Elkhart Christian Academy (9) and Bethany Christian. “It’s exciting, and very similar to what happened last week,” said 13th-year Warsaw coach Scott Erba. “We had girls stepping in and knowing what’s at stake, having to be in the top three to automatically qualify for the regional. “We had a couple little hiccups on the night, but we had a lot of bright spots. Natalie Nichols PRed and finished third in the discus after being seeded 12th I think. That was huge, and now she gets to compete for another week, and gets to compete at the regional level. “Our relays did what we expected them to do. Our sprinters did what we expected them to do. It was a nice thing across the board to see girls step up and perform like they’re supposed to to give us a chance to compete well next week.” Warsaw advanced to the Kokomo Regional in 15 of 16 events. In seven events at the regional, the Lady Tigers will have two competitors. Audrey Rich won both the 100 and 200 for Warsaw, with her time of 25.44 seconds in the 200 setting a new school record. Mia Beckham was a winner in the 1,600 and 3,200. Samantha Alexander (long jump), Alexie Day (high jump) and Anna Craig (800) were also individual winners for the Lady Tigers. In the relay events, Maygan Bellamy, Alexander, Abbi Curtis and Rich won the 4x100. Bellamy, Remi Beckham, Brooke Rhodes and Rich won the 4x400. Hannah Dawson, Rhodes, Dayton Groninger and Allison Miller won the 4x800. Other regional qualifiers for Warsaw included Emma Bohnenkamper (800), Angie Sanchez-Vigil (400), Claire Kehler (1,600), Morgan Bruner (high jump), Natalie Nichols (discus), Emily Bailey (shot put), Joelle Messenger (pole vault), Miller (3,200), Alexander (100), Curtis (200) and Remi Beckham (400). Feeding into the Kokomo Regional will be competitors from sectionals at Warsaw, Penn, Rochester and Western. “Our big goal next week is to get girls to finish in the top three spots, that advances you to the state meet,” said Erba. “Penn had a great conference meet last week, and I’m sure they had a great sectional tonight. It’s going to be a real battle. It’s going to come down to who performs that night. It doesn’t matter what’s on paper, it matters what happens on Tuesday at the regional. “I’ve always said, we’re going to go out and compete, and if somebody is better than us then we take our hats off to them. I wanna go down there and give our best effort, and if you can beat our best effort, then congratulations to you.” The Wawasee Lady Warriors advanced to the regional in three events, as Alexis Manges finished second in the discus and Hannah-Marie Lamle was third in both the long jump and 300 hurdles. NorthWood won four events, highlighted by freshman Riley Hershberger. Hershberger won both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, with her time of 14.90 seconds in the shorter event breaking the previous sectional record of 15.20 that was set in 2007. Hershberger also advanced in the long jump with a third-place finish. NorthWood’s Erica Stutsman won the 400, while teammate Andrea Tuttle was the pole vault champion. The other two individual sectional winners were Elkhart Central’s Emily Decker (shot put) and Fairfield’s Andrea Hagar (discus).
WARSAW SECTIONAL Note – listed are the top five finishers in each event. The top three automatically qualify for next week's Kokomo Regional. Team Scores – Warsaw 173, Concord 74, Northridge 70, NorthWood 67, Fairfield 67, Goshen 41, Wawasee 40, Elkhart Central 29, Columbia City 19, Jimtown 17, Elkhart Memorial 12, Elkhart Christian Academy 9, Bethany Christian 6 4x800 – 1. Warsaw (Hannah Dawson, Brooke Rhodes, Dayton Groninger, Allison Miller) 9:38.77, 2. Concord 9:39.89, 3. Goshen 9:41.28, 4. Northridge 9:47.77, 5. Wawasee 10:11.29; 100 Hurdles – 1. Riley Hershberger (NW) 14.90 (new record), 2. Jessica Miller (FF) 14.98, 3. Emily Wargo (NR) 16.18, 4. Hannah-Marie Lamle (Wawa) 16.21, 5. Jasmine Riffell (Con) 16.56; 100 – 1. Audrey Rich (War) 12.62, 2. Samantha Alexander (War) 12.63, 3. Riley Miller (FF) 12.72, 4. Oniste Thomas (Con) 12.73, 5. Precious Swen (ECA) 13.15; 1600 – 1. Mia Beckham (War) 5:16.75, 2. Vanessa Steiner (Con) 5:25.56, 3. Claire Kehler (War) 5:26.97, 4. Elizabeth Zorn (Wawa) 5:29.07; 5. Molly Campbell (NR) 5:30.08; 4x100 – 1. Warsaw (Maygan Bellamy, Alexander, Abbi Curtis, Rich) 49.64, 2. Fairfield 49.69, 3. Concord 50.58, 4. Northridge 51.14, 5. Elkhart Central 52.30; 400 – 1. Erica Stutsman (NW) 58.88, 2. Jasmine Hudson (Con) 1:00.25, 3. Remi Beckham (War) 1:01.06, 4. Felicity Bontrager (FF) 1:02.00, 5. Angie Sanchez-Vijil (War) 1:02.63; 300 Hurdles – 1. Hershberger (NW) 47.00, 2. Jill Kissinger (Gosh) 47.63, 3. Lamle (Wawa) 48.45, 4. Bellamy (War) 48.64, 5. Riffell (Con) 50.00; 800 – 1. Anna Craig (War) 2:21.95, 2. Emma Bohnenkamper 2:24.73, 3. Hannah Wappes (CC) 2:26.23, 4. Maddie Morehead (ECA) 2:28.08, 5. Grace Eichelberger (Con) 2:30.28; 200 – 1. Rich (War) 25.44, 2. Lexie Blankenship (NR) 26.02, 3. Alayna Bailey (EM) 26.12, 4. Chloe Armbruster (FF) 26.18, 5. Curtis (War) 26.53; 3200 – 1. Mia Beckham (War) 11:16.14, 2. Morgan Blyly (NR) 11:20.41, 3. Hannah Yeakey (BC) 11:21.82, 4. Allison Miller (War) 11:45.01, 5. Allyse Smith (Con) 11:49.24; 4x400 – 1. Warsaw (Bellamy, R. Beckham, Rhodes, Rich) 4:05.26, 2. Northridge 4:07.47, 3. NorthWood 4:08.59, 4. Columbia City 4:11.43, 5. Concord 4:18.64; High Jump – 1. Alexie Day (War) 5-4, 2. Chloe Bontrager (FF) 5-4, 3. Morgan Bruner (War) 5-3, 4. Stephanie Hartpence (Con) 5-2; 5. Kyrie Potter (Gosh) 5-0; Long Jump – 1. Alexander (War) 17-0.75, 2. Jessica Miller (FF) 16-8.5, 3. Lamle (Wawa) 16-1.5, 4. Shawntel James (Jim) 16-0, 5. Hershberger (NW) 14-11.75; Discus – 1. Andrea Hagar (FF) 116-11, 2. Alexis Manges (Wawa) 109-4, 3. Natalie Nichols (War) 100-4, 4. Andrew Tuttle (NW) 98-7, 5. Mallory Fletcher (NR) 96-5; Shot Put – 1. Emily Decker (EC) 36-4.5, 2. Hagar (FF) 35-7, 3. Emily Bailey (War) 34-7.5, 4. Kassandra Rodriguez (Gosh) 34-1, 5. Suzette Rodriguez (Gosh) 33-10; Pole Vault – 1. Tuttle (NW) 9-6, 2. Cassidy Stose (Jim) 9-0, 3. Joelle Messenger (War) 9-0, 4. Rylee Dahlman (NR) 9-0, 5. Kim Grounds (Gosh) 8-6
