GOSHEN - Highlighted by Eria Ridderman's individual sectional championship, three area cross country teams advanced to Saturday's Elkhart Central Regional at Ox Bow Park.
Ridderman, a senior, won the 5,000-meter girls race at Tuesday's sectional at Ox Bow Park in a time of 18:52, leading the Warsaw girls team to a fourt-place finish.Both Warsaw and Fairfield tied with 87 points, but Fairfield was awarded the third-place team finish based on a sixth-runner tiebreaker situation.
"I don't really know how to describe, but Erica is just a really focused runner right now," said Warsaw girls coach Jerry Gackenheimer. "Her goal was to advance in the state tournament, and she's doing that. She's a very knowledgable runner. She know where she's at on the course and she knows when to make moves. She's a senior, she has four years of experience, and it's showing."
Warsaw's boys team advanced to the regional by finishing third with 113 points, while Wawasee's boys team finished fourth with 119 points.
The top five teams and top 15 individuals advanced to the regional.
The five advancing boys and five advancing girls teams from Tuesday's Elkhart Central Sectional will be joined Saturday by advancing teams from the South Bend Riley Sectional.
Saturday's regional will get underway with the girls race at 9:30 a.m., followed by the boys race at 10 a.m.
Northridge's girls teams finished with 41 points Tuesday, winning the sectional championship for the 18th-consecutive year.
Goshen finished second with 83 points, followed by Fairfield (87), Warsaw (87), Bethany Christian (158), Concord (181), Elkhart Memorial (189), Elkhart Central (208), Wawasee (221), Jimtown (243), NorthWood (268) and Elkhart Christian Academy (362).
Junior Cendall Ogle was the second Warsaw girl to cross the finish line, scoring a fifth-place finish in a time of 19:23.
"Erica is focused and running really well, and that's rubbing off on Cendall," said Gackenheimer. "Erica and Cendall have been our one-two runners in track the last couple years, and now it's carrying over to cross country. This is Cendall's first year on the cross country team, and she's doing very well. Her and Erica are good friends, and they both love to compete."
Freshman Brooke Kline finished 11th for Warsaw in a time of 20:09, while the Tigers' other two scoring runners, Lilly Fleming and Katie McNulty, finished 28th and 42nd, respectively.
There were 83 competitors in both the boys and girls race.
Ellie Gilbert led the Wawasee girls with a 30th-place finish in a time of 21:31, while Stephanie Rhodes was 39th in a time of 22:10.
In the boys race, Northridge's Andrew Albert was the individual champion, covering the 5,000-meter course in a time of 16:00.
His performance led the Raiders to their sixth-straight sectional championship, as they finished the meet with 49 points.
Concord finished second with 72 points, followed by Warsaw (113), Wawasee (119), Elkhart Memorial (121), Goshen (121), Elkhart Central (173), Fairfield (224), NorthWood (238), Elkhart Christian Academy (258), Bethany Christian (309) and Jimtown (372).
While he was glad his team advanced to the regional, Warsaw boys coach Jim Mills felt the Tigers could have done better Tuesday.
"I'm happy that we're going to the regional, but that was the worst race we've run all year," said Mills. "We were lucky to get third. I can't explain it, I know we can do much better than this. We're a team good enough to get to the semistate, and we're gonna have to run better Saturday to get out of the regional."
Nate West led the Tigers with a 10th-place time of 16:50, while Jordan Scroggs finished 20th (17:12), Jeremiah Stichter finished 21st (17:12), Trevor Callahan finished 30th (17:25) and Brian Donovan finished 32nd (17:27).
Jose Mejia led the Wawasee boys with a sixth-place time of 16:34, while Daniil Gardner finished 19th (17:11), Matt Rensberger finished 26th (17:23), Luke Thompson finished 29th (17:25) and Adam Glandon finished 39th (17:48).
Wawasee's top three boys finishes turned in personal-record times.
"It was an exciting, close meet," said Wawasee coach Jerid Stoffel. "The guys stepped up and ran their best race of the year when it mattered most. The top three ran PRs and Luke and Adam had good races. They earned the right to run at the regional on Saturday and for a chance to reach their goal of running at semistate."
(GIRLS)
Team scores - Northridge 41, Goshen 83, Fairfield 87, Warsaw 87, Bethany Christian 158, Concord 181, Elkhart Memorial 189, Elkhart Central 208, Wawasee 221, Jimtown 243, NorthWood 268, Elkhart Christian 362
