The team shirts say 'Best Season Ever' and the Warsaw girls track and field team opened its season in a pretty good way Monday night. Kicking the season off at home against Columbia City, the Warsaw Lady Tigers claimed an 83-49 victory on a day when some established runners were able to take it easy. Junior Ashley Erba, who won the girls cross country state title in the fall, ran just one event, winning the 1600 in 5:09.62, a new track record. "We don't want to over run," Warsaw coach Scott Erba said. "There will be meets when we ask her to do a lot more than she did tonight. But tonight, that's all we needed her to do. There's no reason to have her jog a 3200 just to get the points." Sophomore Anna Bearss is also a key component of the Warsaw squad, but an upper leg strain left her out of the season opener. "We're just giving her a little more rest," Erba said. "She'll rest it the rest of this week and maybe even into next week. She may not make her debut until after spring break. We'll wait and see how her leg feels." While some girls were out or going light, others, such as sophomore Ann Harvuot, shined. On the day, Harvuot won the 100 (13.13) and 200 (26.89), while also joining freshman Vicki Harris, freshman Mariah Harter and junior Brittany Rhodes on the winning 400 relay (52.75). Sophomore Jackie Ferguson was a part of two first-place finishes, winning the 300 hurdles in 49.38 then being a part of the victorious 1600 relay with junior Kristin Quick, senior Lilly Fleming and senior Brooke Kline, which won in 4:19.49. Fleming, Quick and Kline also teamed up with freshman Ellie Bearss to win the 3200 relay (10:08.25). In all, Warsaw won 10 of 16 events, taking all three relays, while also winning three field events, two sprints, one distance event and one hurdling event. "In terms of high-performing girls, I think there's more this year than we've had in a long time," Erba said about his team's balance. "We can really rely on a lot of girls, not only in dual meets but also in bigger meets. Now, we have more depth in different events. That's always a good thing." Along with sophomore Claire Hickerson setting a school record in the pole vault by clearing 10-6, seniors Sarah Heagy and Lauren Burish, as well as junior Samantha Jensen, finished one, two, three in the discus and shot put. At discus, Burish took first with a Tiger Athletic Complex-record distance of 120-9, followed by Jensen's 113-8 and Heagy's 105-11. After finishing that competition, the girls moved over to shot, where Heagy's distance of 34-0.5 was followed by Burish's 32-8.5 and Jensen's 29-2. The Lady Tigers now sit at 1-0 going into Wednesday meet at Penn, but the team actually had some experience going into the Columbia City meet. While it was their official season opener, the Lady Tigers have been competing in the Hoosier State Relays each of the previous three Saturdays at Indiana Wesleyan University. The girls finished the competition with an eighth-place finish, but according to Erba, the transition from the indoor to outdoor competition is big. "When we were going to indoor meets, we were dealing with a small group of girls - most of them experienced," he said. "Now, we get the whole 70-some girls out there at once. We had a lot of learning pains tonight about where to go, how to get there and when to get there. All in all, it worked out well."
