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Paul Sibray knows his cross country team may not be the most talented in the world. But his team showed him something Tuesday afternoon he values much more than talent.
Twenty yards from the finish line,
Warsaw's Kim Fluke collapsed. The sophomore tried to stand, but she couldn't. Her tired legs buckled. So she did the next best thing. She crawled. And crawled some more, until she was finally able to stand and walk across the finish line.
Teammate Summer Boyd turned in Warsaw's best performance, matching Northfield's Natalie Guenin stride for stride most of the way in the race for first place. Guenin, who won last year's Warsaw Classic, pulled away again. Boyd, a petite freshman who doesn't come close to weighing 100 pounds, settled for second out of 53 runners, tears streaming down her face as she crossed the finish line.
What Sibray's girls showed him that he valued so much was heart.
"That's typical of these girls," Sibray said. "They have the desire to run. Julie Wilhite has been our fifth or sixth girl all along, and tonight she's our second girl. She had a fabulous race."
Warsaw finished last as a team. Northfield won with a score of 37 and was followed by Tippecanoe Valley with 48, Oak Hill with 52, Peru with 110 and Warsaw with 115. Guenin won with a time of 15:44, while Boyd finished in 16:13.
"That was a great performance, considering this is only her second race at the high school level," Sibray said of Boyd. "Like I told her, the girl that beat her is a year older and has that experience, and it showed. Hopefully she can get her next time.
"She's a freshman. Her conditioning, she's not as strong as she can be yet. We've been lifting weights and getting in a lot of miles. By the end of the year, I think Summer can give her a good battle."
Wilhite finished 20th, while Fluke finished 43rd. Also for Warsaw, Jill Sibray finished 26th, Ashley Blue 33rd and Alicia Kingston 34th.
Valley would win a lot of races, if Northfield wasn't around. Northfield won the Three Rivers Conference last year, while Valley finished second. The two figure to again compete for the top spot.
The Vikings had three in the top 10 at the Warsaw Classic, including Jenny Day, Kelly Walters and Aura Strohschein. Day was fifth with a time of 17:19, while Walters was sixth with a time of 17:30. Stroschein placed ninth with a time of 17:38.
"I was real proud of our girls," Valley coach Terry Screeton said. "We ran strong, we ran a nice tight pack from one all the way down through seven. We were close to Northfield, which was our goal. That says a lot.
"It's something to build on since it's our first meet. Jenny Day was our first, Kelly Walters second and Aura Strohschein third. Any one of the three, depending on the night, can win. They're that close. All three were in the top 10. Corrine Law was 13th. Tamar Strohschein was 15th.
"We were tight. Just not quite tight enough. We need that one runner who's just out a little bit. We don't have that."
What the Warsaw boys' cross country team has is a new head coach with a familiar name. Jeff Grose coaches them.
He watched his team finish third with a score of 61. Northfield won with a 29 and was followed by Peru with 58 and Oak Hill with 73. Tippecanoe Valley had only three runners and did not qualify for a team score.
Grose was pleased because most of Warsaw's times dropped from the first race Saturday at DeKalb. David Hoffert led Warsaw with a sixth place at the Warsaw Classic. He finished in 17:56. Teammates Will Woodward and Greg Patrick finished 10th and 11th respectively. Northfield took the top two spots.
"The kids did a great job today," Grose said. "Saturday they met some very good teams at DeKalb. They've improved here today.
"We really have three guys - David Hoffert, Will Woodward and Greg Patrick. They've been the leaders. All three are juniors. They've taken on the leadership role. Who knows by the end of the season who's going to be coming in first. Will finished ahead of David Saturday, but then David came in ahead of him tonight. I'm just hoping the three can travel together and cause some damage as we compete throughout the season."
Sibray said as the season goes on, times should go down.
"The heart's there," he said. "We just have to work on the conditioning. Hopefully the abilities come along."
