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WINONA LAKE - In baseball terms, Warsaw's Matt Campbell hit a home run and Erica Ridderman broke up a perfect game.
Warsaw Community High School's boys and girls cross country teams hosted Northern Lakes Conference foe and state-ranked Northridge Tuesday evening at Grace College's Miller Field.
While the Raiders were dominant as a team in both the boys and girls race, they couldn't overshadow the strong individual performances by Campbell and Ridderman.
Campbell, a senior, won the boys 5,000-meter race in a time of 16:45.
Campbell finished 42 seconds ahead of second-place runner Garan Galbreath of Northridge.
The fifth-ranked Raiders, who beat Warsaw's boys team 20-39, had runners finish in spots second through seventh.
"He's running with a lot of confidence," Warsaw boys coach Jim Mills said of Campbell, who, along with the rest of the seniors, was honored before Tuesday's race. "To be out there in front by himself is impressive. Northridge was doing some pack running. He ran a good time. This is not a fast course, there's a lot of tight turns. It's flat but there's a lot of turns. There's a lot of slowing down and speeding up."
The loss dropped Warsaw's boys NLC record to 3-4 while Northridge improved to 7-0.
"This is the best team that we've had here and it's going to be the worst finish we've had in the conference," said Mills. "The quality of the conference is unbelievable."
The Tigers will see how they stack up against the rest of the conference Saturday when they compete in the NLC Meet at Ox Bow Park near Goshen.
The rest of Warsaw's five scoring runners finished eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th, respectively.
Alex Kurosky finished eighth in a time of 17:44, followed by teammates Brian Donovan (17:46), Nathaniel West (17:50) and John Tabor (17:54).
In the girls 4,000-meter race, the fourth-ranked Raiders turned in a team score of 16 to Warsaw's 47.
A perfect score in cross country is 15, resulting when a team claims the top five spots.
Ridderman stopped the Raiders from doing that with her fifth-place time of 15:34
Jessie Lafree won the girls race in a time of 15:29, followed by teammates Aimee Gingerich, Hannah Miller and Karissa Cominator.
"That was our goal, to break up the top five," Warsaw girls coach Jerry Gackenheimer said. "She ran a good time. We wanted her (Ridderman) to run with Northridge's front pack as long as they'd let her. She was there the whole race."
Gackenheimer said Ridderman's time was 30 seconds faster than her previous race.
Warsaw's girls team now owns a 4-3 record in NLC action while Northridge improved to 7-0.
"They have a lot of tradition," Gackenheimer said when asked why Northridge is so dominant year in and year out. "They get them to run when they're young. They have an excellent middle school program. They have running clubs and they run all summer."
Despite the loss, Gackenheimer was pleased with his team's effort.
"I was very impressed," Gackenheimer said. "Everybody ran hard and focused. The last meet we were not as focused as we need to be. Today, we were focused and ran real hard."
Val Leek was Warsaw's second girls finisher, crossing the line 12th in a time of 16:41.
The rest of Warsaw's scoring runners in the girls race finished 13th, 14th and 15th.
Ashley Henry finished 13th for Warsaw in a time of 16:42, followed by teammates Sarah Espinoza (16:59) and Lindsay Houvener (17:09).
BOYS
NORTHRIDGE 20, WARSAW 39
Warsaw finishers - 1. Matt Campbell 16:45, 8. Alex Kurosky 17:44, 9. Brian Donovan 17:46, 10. Nathaniel West 17:50, 11. John Tabor 17:54, 12. Cody Goshert 18:18, 15. Kyle Stamm 18:49, 16. Jeremiah Stichter 18:55, 19. Alph Eherenman 19:45, 22. Spencer Swanson 20:11, 23. Trevor Hanson 20:37, 24. Matt Stamm 20:39, 25. Gavin Heckaman 20:48, 26. Nick Missos 21:55, 28. Lawney Francis 23:10
GIRLS
NORTHRIDGE 16, WARSAW 47
Warsaw finishers - 5. Erica Ridderman 15:34, 12. Val Leek 16:41, 13. Ashley Henry 16;42, 14. Sarah Espinosa 16:59, 15. Lindsay Houvener 17:09, 19. Katie McNulty 17:57, 20. Lauren Smolen 17:58, 21. Hilary Shepherd 18:18, 22. Laura McNulty 18:18, 23. Megan Schlichey 18:31, 24. Sena Muta 18:34, 26. Emily Tuggle 18:43, 27. Karrie Burch 18:49, 29. Johanna Gymrek 18:59, 30. Shelby Warner 20:02, 31. Ashley Timmons 20:11, 32. Alysia Yero 20:15, 34. Rachel Voorhorst 20:23, 35. Brittany Garver 20:23, 36. Hope Lauster 21:14, 37. Nicole Kuhn 21:17, 38. Megan Davis 21;18, 39. Katie Furnivall 22:13, 40. Allie Finch 23:28, 41. Whitney Ousley 23:49, 43. Morgan Ousley 27:53
