Tigers End Another Title Drought

Another week, another title.

After going seven years without a Northern Lakes Conference title, Warsaw's girls track and field team ended its drought last week by winning its first NLC title since 1992.

Now Warsaw has won two titles in two weeks.

Warsaw won Tuesday's Warsaw Sectional, the first time the Tigers have won that title since 1992. Warsaw scored 115 points, while Elkhart Central finished a distant second with 96 points.

The top four finishers in each event advance to next week's Bremen Regional.

"We're not done," Warsaw coach Paul Boyd said. "I want to see some relay teams go to the state meet and see individuals go to the state meet. Our girls have worked really hard, but they have to realize they aren't done."

The Tigers won four of 15 events, setting one record.

If the event was a relay, Warsaw owned it. There were three relays, and Warsaw won them all. The Tigers had top three seeds in all three relays.

The 3200 relay team of Rachel Rondeau, Kim Kurosky, Hillary Barlow and Summer Boyd finished first in a Warsaw Sectional record time of 9:48.59, eclipsing the mark of 9:48.73 set by Elkhart Central in 1998.

Warsaw's 1600 relay team of Chelsea Boyd, Amy Robertson, Brittney Raber and Summer Boyd took first with a time of 4:09.35. The 400 relay team of Jartu Schulterbrandt, Kim Love, Amy Robertson and Claire Beckett won with a season-best time of 50.90 seconds.

Ginny Gardonio, seeded fourth in the shot put, jumped up to first place for Warsaw with her throw of 38 feet, 6 inches.

The meet featured three athletes who won two or more events.

Elkhart Central's Alicia Miller won the 200 (25.93 seconds), 400 (58.71 seconds) and 100 (12.52 seconds). Northridge's Natalie Ewing wrapped up the distance runs, winning the 3200 (11:28.87) and 1600 (5:17.96). Wawasee's Staci Weisser, who finished third in the high jump at last year's state finals with a leap of 5-5, won the sectional with a height of 5-1. Seeded third in the long jump, she won that event with a distance of 16-5 1/4.

"I won both last year, so I'm relieved I could do it again this year," Weisser said. "I don't know what happened in the high jump. It just didn't work tonight. I'm pleased I get to keep going on.

"The winning long jump was my very last. Everything worked together. I ran really hard and exploded off the boards. My best before that tonight had been 16-3/4."

As they did last week, the Tigers finished strong. Warsaw trailed Elkhart Central 90-81 with three events left. In those three events -Ê3200, 1600 relay and shot put - Warsaw outscored Elkhart Central 34-6 to win going away. Warsaw didn't win the 3200, but Barlow placed second and Rondeau third to earn the Tigers 14 points in that event.

Other top finishes for Warsaw included Summer Boyd taking second in the 800, Rondeau taking second in the 1600 and Jana Knisley taking third in the discus.

Led by Miller, Elkhart Central scored 49 points in the 100, 200 and 400. Whereas Elkhart Central scored only six points in the 1600 and 3200, Warsaw scored 23 in the three sprint events. While 23 points was nowhere near Elkhart Central's 49, Paul Boyd thought Warsaw coming up with as many as 23 points helped Warsaw stay close to first so the distance runners could close the meet out in the end.

In the 200, Warsaw's Claire Beckett placed fourth and Amy Robertson sixth. In the 400, Raber placed fifth and Chelsea Boyd seventh. In the 100, Schulterbrandt took fourth and Love fifth.

The top eight finishers in each event score team points.

"Our sprinters surprised me," Paul Boyd said. "They were the difference in the meet. They put us over the edge by holding their own at the beginning of the meet.

"You look at our 300 hurdles. Mackenzie Scheetz came out of the slow heat to place fifth overall. Those were big points."

The points added up to Warsaw's second title in two weeks.

2000 WARSAW TRACK SECTIONAL

Team scores -Ê1. Warsaw 115, 2. Elkhart Central 96, 3. Northridge 80.5, 4. NorthWood 72.5, 5. Concord 59, 6. Wawasee 52, 7. Elkhart Memorial 51, 8. Fairfield 36, 9. Goshen 21, 10. Jimtown 2

Abbreviations - Warsaw=WAR, Elkhart Central=EC, Northridge=NR, NorthWood=NW, Concord=C, Wawasee=WAW, Elkhart Memorial=EM, Fairfield=F, Goshen=G, Jimtown=J

Scoring: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1

The top four places in each event advance to the Bremen Regional.

Listed next to the event is the state standard time or distance.

*=Warsaw Sectional record

3200 relay (9:43.43) - 1. Warsaw (Rachel Rondeau, Hillary Barlow, Kim Kurosky, Summer Boyd) 9:48.59*, 2. Elkhart Central 9:56.00, 3. Northridge 10:05.81, 4. Goshen 10:15.66, 5. Concord 10:24.96, 6. NorthWood 10:58.24, 7. Elkhart Memorial 11:19.76, 8. Fairfield 11:49.99

100 hurdles (N/A) - 1. Melissa Lunetto (EM) :15.25, 2. Crystal Key (C) :16.74, 3. Erica Auker (WAW) :17.01, 4. Leah Hoover (EM) :17.08, 5. Farrah Fleischman (NR) :17.19, 6. DeeAnn Whitehead (F) :17.21, 7. Santina Cedrame (NW) :17.24, 8. Nikki Twedt (C) :17.57

discus (124-11) -Ê1. Stacey Garber (F) 109-4, 2. Natalie Nunemaker (NW) 98-9, 3. Jana Knisley (WAR) 96-10, 4. Melanie Chupp (NR) 95-11, 5. Amy Elliott (WAR) 94-6, 6. Jen Hale (C) 93-10, 7. Latoya Crockett (EC) 92-7, 8. Ashley Crane (EM) 92-4

100 (:12.55) -Ê1. Alicia Miller (EC) :12.52, 2. Courtnee Falconer (C) :12.84, 3. Latasha Clark (EC) :12.85, 4. Jartu Schulterbrandt (WAR) :13.38,

5. Kim Love (WAR) :13.40, 6. Cassie Bjurstrom (NR) :13.57, 7. Gail DeWilde (NR) :13.72, 8. Colette Berkel (EM) :13.88

high jump (5-3) - 1. Staci Weisser (WAW) 5-1, 2. Leah Hoover (EM) 5-1, 3. Carol Duncan (NW) 5-0, 4. Gail DeWilde (NR) 4-10, 4. Michelle Stichter (NW) 4-10, 6. Erin Cook (WAR) 4-10, 7. Kim Kurosky (WAR) 4-10, 8. Heather Kramer (G) 4-10

long jump (17-0) - 1. Staci Weisser (WAW) 16-5 1/4, 2. Latasha Clark (EC) 16-1 3/4, 3. Cassie Bjurstrom (NR) 16-1, 4. Shaun McAllister (EM) 15-8 1/4, 5. Angie Beer (WAW) 15-5 3/4, 6. Santina Cerame (NW) 15-1 1/4, 7. Monica Larimer (G) 14-10, 8. Carrie Seifert (EM) 14-9 3/4

1600 (5:13.18) -Ê1. Natalie Ewing (NR) 5:17.96, 2. Rachel Rondeau (WAR) 5:23.45, 3. Kelli Lipps (EC) 5:26.27, 4. Monica Spangle (NR) 5:30.51, 5.

Cortnie Sandy (NW) 5:34.50, 6. Rashelle Simpson (EM) 5:34.90, 7. Catherine Bowen (C) 5:39.32, 8. Jennifer Finch (WAR) 5:44.04

400 relay (:49.75) - 1. Warsaw (Jartu Schulterbrandt, Kim Love, Amy Robertson, Claire Beckett) :50.90, 2. Elkhart Central :51.59, 3. NorthWood :53.36, 4. Concord :53.49, 5. Wawasee :53.65, 6. Fairfield :53.83, 7. Northridge :54.01, 8. Goshen :54.39

400 (:58.63) - 1. Alicia Miller (EC) :58.71, 2. Courtnee Falconer (C) :59.09, 3. Cassie Bjurstrom (NR) 1:01.78, 4. Kely Dooley (EC) 1:02.62, 5.

Brittney Raber (WAR) 1:02.89, 6. Kelly Easton (NW) 1:03.48, 7. Chelsea Boyd (WAR) 1:04.20, 8. Rachel Snyder (NR) 1:04.84

300 hurdles (:46.36) -Ê1. Santina Cerame (NW) :48.53, 2. Erica Auker (WAW) :48.58, 3. Melissa Lunetto (EM) :49.94, 4. Monica Larimer (G) :50.23, 5. DeeAnn Whitehead (F) :51.28, 6. Mackenzie Scheetz (WAR) :51.78, 7. Liz Wiggins (WAR) :52.08, 8. Jenny Russell (G) :52.13

800 (2:19.37) - 1. Renee Schlabach (F) 2:19.78, 2. Summer Boyd (WAR) 2:24.40, 3. Betsy App (NR) 2:24.91, 4. Dominique Carmer (EC) 2:27.37, 5. Lindsay Banks (EC) 2:29.26, 6. Tiffany Brenneman (NR) 2:30.93, 7. Catherine Bowen (C) 2:31.66, 8. Kim Kurosky (WAR) 2:33.16

200 (:25.77) -Ê1. Alicia Miller (EC) :25.93, 2. Latasha Clark (EC) :26.47, 3. Courtnee Falconer (C) :26.71, 4. Claire Beckett (WAR) :27.52, 5. Danielle Baker (EM) :27.73, 6. Amy Robertson (WAR) :27.81, 7. Brooke Clark (J) :28.91, 8. Colette Berkel (EM) :28.95

3200 (11:13.40) - 1. Natalie Ewing (NR) 11:28.87, 2. Hillary Barlow (WAR) 11:45.62, 3. Rachel Rondeau (WAR) 12:03.47, 4. Lynn Gruenewald (G) 12:22.33, 5. Kara Flemming (NR) 12:31.48, 6. Cortnie Sandy (F) 12:34.74, 7. Laura Carpenter (F) 12:43.13, 8. Nina Bearss (NW) 12:51.54

1600 relay (4:03.55) -Ê1. Warsaw (Chelsea Boyd, Amy Robertson, Brittney Raber, Summer Boyd) 4:09.35, 2. Wawasee 4:12.30, 3. Elkhart Central 4:18.31, 4. NorthWood 4:20.88, 5. Conocrd 4:21.69, 6. Fairfield 4:22.60, 7. Northridge 4:23.04, 8. Goshen 4:29.91

shot put (40-0) -Ê1. Ginny Gardonio (WAR) 38-6, 2. Carol Duncan (NW) 36-11, 3. Natalie Nunemaker (NW) 36-7 1/2, 4. Jen Hale (C) 35-4 1/2, 5. Francesa Anderson (EM) 33-0, 6. Dynisha Jones (C) 32-9 1/2, 7. Angie Beer (WAW) 32-8 1/2, 8. Faith Fleischman (NR) 32-4