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For Wawasee and Triton's boys cross country teams, the regional round of the state tournament is a familiar place - Wawasee has been there three consecutive years, while Triton was there two years ago.
It's what happened in their last regional appearances that these teams don't want to become familiar with again Saturday.
Wawasee and Warsaw will compete in Saturday's Elkhart Central Regional at Ox Bow Park while Triton will compete in the Culver Military Regional.
The top five teams and 15 individuals advance to the semistate.
Two years ago Triton won the sectional but failed to advance past the regional as a team, the same thing happened to Wawasee last year.
"Two years ago we won the sectional and then bombed out," Triton coach Curt Kreft said. "We had a lot of injuries. If we make it to semistate it will be the farthest we've ever been."
Junior Nathan Gephart advanced to the state finals a year ago as an individual, as did Wawasee senior Rob Chalfant.
Triton advanced to tommorrow's regional by winning the Logansport Sectional, finishing 16 points ahead of Winamac and 19 points ahead of Culver Military Academy. Kreft said he was a little surprised his team put 16 points between first and second places.
"I thought it would come down to us, Winamac and CMA, but I was a little surprised we won by 16," Kreft said. "I thought we could win, but not by 16."
At tommorrow's regional, the Trojans will run into Winamac, CMA, Pioneer, Maconaquah, Penn, South Bend Riley, Mishawaka, Mishawaka Marian and South Bend Adams.
Only one of those teams finished last week's sectional with a better score than Triton - Penn with a 33. Penn, which is ranked No. 5 in the state, won the sectional by 46 points.
The Trojans, who have been led all year by juniors Gephart, Christopher Kauffman and Errik Lemler, have finished no worse than third at any multiple team meet they've been in this year.
Another performance like that and Triton will be in the semistate for the first time in school history.
Wawasee and Warsaw advanced to tommorrow's Elkhart Central Regional by finishing first and fifth, respectively, at last week's Elkhart Central Sectional, run on a course both teams have seen numerous times this year.
While Wawasee has had two or three runners at the front of the pack all year, Warsaw got out of the sectional by what cross country coaches call packing.
Warsaw's Rob Peters, not normally the Tigers' No. 1 runner, crossed the line in 24th at the sectional. Warsaw's fifth runner came in with a 35th-place finish.
"Our main goal was to get to regional, which we accomplished by not running nearly as well as we could," Warsaw coach Jim Mills said.
Mills said this because senior Jake Sweatland, Warsaw's No. 1 runner, had leg problems and finished third for the Tigers.
Mills said Sweatland hasn't done much running this week as he is in the healing process.
Mills said if his Tigers are to advance to semistate, they will probably finish in the fourth or fifth spot to get there.
"DeKalb, Northridge and Wawasee are locks to get out," Mills said. "The four and five spots are open, whoever comes to run will get out. It would be nice to make the semistate, we'll find out Saturday if we have the horses to do it."
Wawasee cross country coach Dave Stookey, who has been involved with the Warriors for 36 years, also called DeKalb the team to beat.
"DeKalb has been ranked as high as third this year," Stookey said. "They definitely have to be considered the favorite on paper. I'd like to think we have a long shot at it."
Wawasee won last week's sectional by nine points. Four Warrior runners finished in the top 15, with Flaco Perales and Rob Chalfant finishing third and fourth, respectively.
At least four Warriors ran personal bests at last week's sectional.
Wawasee went to state as a team in 1988, and it's been no secret this year that Stookey and his Warriors have had Nov. 4 and the state finals on their mind. If Wawasee turns in a repeat performance of last year's regional, it won't be going to Bloomington in November.
"Last year we won the sectional but didn't get out of the regional," Stookey said. "We had a couple individuals who had terrible races, we do not want that to happen again this year. Our ultimate goal is to get to state, but I guess we better just worry about the regional."
The complete field for Saturday's Elkhart Central Regional reads DeKalb, Angola, Garrett, Central Noble, East Noble, Wawasee, Northridge, Elkhart Memorial, Elkhart Central and Warsaw.
Comparing last week's sectional scores, DeKalb won the East Noble sectional with a 42, Wawasee won the sectional with a 45.
The boys race at the CMA Regional will be run at 11 a.m., while Warsaw and Wawasee will start at 11:30 a.m. at Ox Bow Park.
ELKHART CENTRAL REGIONAL
When - 11:30 a.m. Saturday
Where - Ox Bow Park
Who - Elkhart Memorial, Northridge, Angola, Elkhart Central, Central Noble, East Noble, DeKalb, Warsaw, Wawasee, Garrett
CULVER MILITARY REGIONAL
When - 11 a.m. Saturday
Where - Culver Military Academy
Who - Triton, Winamac, Culver Military Academy, Pioneer, Maconaquah, Penn, South Bend Riley, Mishawaka, Mishawaka Marian, South Bend Adams
