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SYRACUSE - The Wawasee Warriors will host the gymnastics sectional at Wawasee High School Saturday at 2 p.m.
Manchester, Warsaw and Wawasee will compete in this sectional. The Warriors, at 11-1, are favored to move into the regionals on March 14, also at Wawasee.
Ten teams will compete at the sectional tournament this year and the top three will qualify for the regional tournament.
Even though the Warriors defeated every one of the other nine teams during the regular season, they know that all is not decided.
"There are some very good teams here," Wawasee coach Nika Prather said. "Elkhart Central and Elkhart Memorial are tough, and Plymouth could also be close."
Wawasee set out to meet a few goals at the beginning of the season and has reached most of them. However, one they did not reach was an undefeated season. The Warriors dropped just one meet this year. That loss was against DeKalb, but you can put an asterisk beside that one. Wawasee had to compete through injuries all season long, and that one loss did not ruin its season.
"We had a really good year," Prather said. "Even though we quite often had injuries. With a full squad we usually scored around 100, which is pretty good."
Prather's squad is a veteran team, but with only one senior, they have many good seasons to look forward to.
Tierny Prather, the lone senior, has fought through injuries this year and has been the leading scorer in most of the meets that she has competed in. Angie Beer, Darcie Replogle, Christa Olson, and Jean Allen are all juniors.
Coach Prather hopes that four of her girls, Beer, Replogle, Olson and Prather, can finish in the top six in the all-around at sectionals to compete at regionals on March 14.
Alternatives for Wawasee include freshmen Katie Brown and Lisa Ummel. Rounding out the Wawasee team is Sarah Mason and Becky Phillips.
"This would be our 20th sectional title," Coach Prather said. "We have everyone healthy and that is really encouraging. But we can't get overconfident. All of the other teams are really working hard and will be in top form at the sectional. We have to perform exceptionally well to win."
As for the Warsaw Tigers, they are looking to improve on last season's finish. At 4-8, Warsaw could be the darkhorse in the sectional. They lost a number of meets by just one point, and have young athletes. The Tigers consist of no seniors and just one junior.
"Kari Lipply and Callie Edgington are our top two athletes," head coach Amanda Campbell said. "They have been very consistent. Mandy Rice and Christy Bassford are competing very well."
Sophomore Bethany Young will be competing in the vault at sectionals. Beth Dawson will compete in the balance beam for the Tigers. Rounding out the team is Shyloh Hoy, Krista Johnson, and Amanda Anglin.
If any of the teams qualify for regionals, they will have their work cut out for them. This regional includes some of the best teams in the state, including defending state champion, Valparaiso.
"It will help for us to host the regional," coach Prather said. "The best athletes in the state are competing in this regional. We are excited about it."
