Warsaw Boys, Girls Claim NLC TitlesGOSHEN — The 2011 Northern Lakes Conference meet belonged to the Warsaw cross country program Saturday morning. Racing at Goshen's Ox Bow Park, the 20th-ranked Warsaw boys team won its first outright conference title since 1985, while the 17th-ranked girls were able to claim the crown for the first time since 2000. Along with winning the varsity boys and girls races, Warsaw also won each junior varsity race, and had an individual runner in all four races. Among the varsity champions were juniors Jacob Poyner and Ashley Erba. Poyner claimed the boys championship with a time of 15:52, while Erba set a course record in the girls race, running it in a time of 18:09. "What can you say about Jacob Poyner," Warsaw boys cross country coach Jim Mills said. "By himself, he's running 15:50s. That's crazy. It's one thing if you have competition pushing you, but to go out there like Jake did today, he's one-of-a-kind." As a sophomore Mills could see something special in Poyner, it just took a little time for it to develop. "Last year was his first year of running cross country, so it was kind of a learning experience for him," Mills said. "He was just feeling his way through the season. He was one of our best runners, but it's just clicked now. He's a special runner. I've told him many times I was fortunate enough to coach (1994 state champion) Amy Yoder at East Noble — one of the state's best ever — and Jacob is the male version of Amy Yoder. He does all the extra things on his own. We actually talke about practice. He's like a coach and a runner. He's just really committed and he brings the level of the whole team up." And Poyner is happy with the work he's put in to get to this level. "I think I've become more comfortable as a runner," Poyner said. "I learned a little bit more about the connection with my body, and that comes from training and putting in the miles. That's just what you have to do, and it pays off." Poyner's time was 33 seconds faster than second-place finisher James Bradberry from Northridge, while the gap was nearly as big in the girls race, as Ashley Erba's time was 27 seconds faster than Warsaw sophomore Anna Bearss, who finished second The win kept Ashley Erba undefeated on the season, a feat she also accomplished as a freshman, when she went undefeated all the way to the state finals, where she failed to finish the race due to illness. As a sophomore, she performed well, but not up to her freshman year, as she failed to make it out of the semistate, where she placed 30th. "My freshman year was really good, but I kind of enjoyed it blindly — if that makes any sense," she said. "I just didn't know what I could do. I struggled a little last year, but kind of regrouped and reprioritzed. I really came into this year feeling good, feeling motivated." Her coach, and father, Scott Erba has also noticed a change in her this season. “One thing is, she got healthy and got the training in,” he said. “Two, I think there was an attitude change. She’s not splitting her time with cheerleading. She’s really focused on running — going to a camp at Culver and getting to talk to some high-level runners, such as Waverly Neer and (Morgan) Ucency. I think she’s really taken that in, and been able to do the little things to make herself better.” She has cut cheerleading out from her fall schedule, which she did the previous two years. Without having to worry about cheering on the football team, she is back to dominating the northern part of the state in girls cross country. “Last year, it just got crazy,” Ashley Erba said. “I realized if running was what I really wanted to do, I couldn’t be cheerleading. I think it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s been incredible to be free to focus all my time and energy on running, and not being up until midnight before meets like this, cheering at cold football games.” Instead of cheering at cold football games, Ashley Erba and the rest of the Warsaw runners were preparing to run on a chilly Saturday morning. The first NLC race of the day was for the boys JV, which Warsaw won with 16 points, as six Tigers placed in the first seven, led by Michael Smolen. From there, the varsity boys were up, and like he’s done all season, Poyner set the pace. “I did what I set out to do,” Poyner said. “It was a really nice day, and I’m glad it didn’t rain like it has been. We came out here and just wanted to put it away. We did that.” Poyner wasn’t the only Tiger impressing, as five placed in the top 11, helping Warsaw finish first with 30 points, while Northridge was second with 54. In the win, sophomore Ellis Coon placed third (16:29), junior Robert Murphy was sixth (16:51), junior Brysten James finished ninth (16:55), freshman Michael Compton crossed the finish line in 11th (16:59), sophomore Ismael Calderon was 18th (17:12) and freshman Cameron Hoskins placed 24th (17:32). “They ran good today,” Warsaw boys cross country coach Jim Mills said. “We were a little worried about (freshman Cameron) Hoskins, because he’s had a couple bad races with his back bothering him. We may need to rest him, but now, we have 10 days until the sectional.” Making Warsaw’s achievement even more impressive is the fact the team is comprised of three juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. “It’s incredible and we’re all young and coming back,” Poyner said. “This is huge. We’re blessed to have the freshmen we have — that’s great. We can only keep shooting to go farther. We’re still kind of under the radar, until we pull something off.” And if Poyner’s excited about the prospects, you can only imagine how the coach is feeling. “We thought we had a good shot this year,” Mills said. “We don’t want to look ahead, but next year, the team’s going to be even stronger. We’re just enjoying it. It’s fun. It’s like I told the guys, ‘It’s more fun to win than lose.’ We’ve been second so many times, and to win it outright, it was huge for our program.” In the girls JV race, Warsaw won with 25 points, with freshmen Ellie Bearss and Kendra Paton finishing first and second, respectively, setting up the girls varsity race. Since winning the NLC championship in 2000, Warsaw has watched Northridge dominate the past decade, but that torch was passed this weekend. “We beat them in our dual meet and we’ve beaten them in some of the other meets we’ve run against them — such as at New Prairie, but they’re just such a quality program,” Scott Erba said about Northridge. “They are so well-coached and they run great in the postseason. So, we talked to the girls about how they were motivated. They didn’t want to be the first one in 10 years to not win a (conference) title. We knew their motivation level was going to be high.” Despite being motivated, Northridge finished second to Warsaw with 43 points to Warsaw’s 34. “We were really excited coming into today,” Ashley Erba said. “Winning this meet was incredible, because it’s the first time we’ve done it in a number of years.” As has been the case for most of the season, Anna Bearss finished second to Ashley Erba in 18:36, supplying plenty of competition in practice and at meets. “Our team is great,” Ashley Erba said. “Having Anna there is one of the coolest things. We work together and we have strong team, working on our four, five, six and seven (runners). Today, they ran great.” The Lady Tigers did have four girls finish in the top 10, as senior Brooke Kline was seventh (19:40) and junior Kristin Quick was 10th (20:05). Other finishers for Warsaw were senior Creigh Ogle in 14th (20:43), senior Lilly Fleming in 23rd (21:06) and sophomore Madeline Hooks in 26th (21:10). Both cross country teams return to Ox Bow on Oct. 11th for sectionals, been when speaking to the teams, they’re sights are set much higher than the opening round of postseason action. “We’re really looking to that semistate,” Mills said. “We have a good enough team that we should push on through the sectional and regional. Then, our semistate is real tough with lots of ranked teams. We’re really going to need to run our ‘A’ game to get out. We’ve been on the edge of making it to Terre Haute, and we just haven’t gotten there. We’re hoping this is the year.” And Ashley Erba was even more definitive on what she’s aiming for in postseason action. “I think I’ve run against everyone in our semistate, so I’m looking forward to that,” she said. “I ran that course (at New Haven) last weekend, so I’m looking forward to it. Going to state, I’m also excited about.” Until then, the teams are enjoying some long-awaited NLC championships. “To have the individual champions in the reserve races for boys and girls, and also the varsity races, that’s exciting,” Scott Erba said. “If you score out the reserve races, Warsaw wins those as well. So, I’d say four championships and four individual champions — that’s a good day.”
BOYS — WARSAW 30, NORTHRIDGE 54, GOSHEN 65, CONCORD 114, WAWASEE 117, NORTHWOOD 177, PLYMOUTH 187, ELKHART MEMORIAL 206 Top 5 — 1. Jacob Poyner (Warsaw) 15:52, 2. James Bradberry (Northridge) 16:25, 3. Ellis Coon (Warsaw) 16:29, 4. Blake O’Dell (Northridge) 16:32, 5. Collin Chupp (Concord) 16:45 Warsaw — 1. Poyner 15:52, 3. Coon 16:29, 6. Robert Murphy 16:51, 9. Brysten James 16:55, 11. Michael Compton 16:59, 18. Ismael Calderon 17:12, 24. Cameron Hoskins 17:32 Wawasee — 10. Reid Stichter 16:57, 16. Adam Doll 17:07, 29. Austin Yoder 17:52, 30. Zach Cockrill 17:54, 32. Troy Carolus 17:59, 38. Austin Krizman 18:17, 41. Joey Bornman 18:22 All-NLC — Collin Chupp (Concord), Luke Kaufman (Goshen), Reid Zimmerman (Goshen), Blake O’Dell (Northridge), James Bradberry (Northridge), Michael Compton (Warsaw), Ellis Coon (Warsaw), Brysten James (Warsaw), Robert Murphy (Warsaw), Jacob Poyner (Warsaw), Reid Stichter (Wawasee) All-NLC Honorable Mention — Josh Abbs (Goshen), Jacob Frost (Northridge), Cameron Hoskins (Warsaw), Adam Weeden (Goshen), Ismael Calderon (Warsaw), Adam Doll (Wawasee) Coach-of-the-Year — Jim Mills (Warsaw) Overall NLC Standings — Warsaw 16, Northridge 13, Goshen 13, Concord 10, Wawasee 7, NorthWood 7, Plymouth 4, Elkhart Memorial 2 JV — Warsaw 16, Goshen 46, Wawasee 90, NorthWood 123, Concord 131, Elkhart Memorial 166, Plymouth 220 Warsaw JV — 1. Michael Smolen 17:13, 2. Daniel Messenger 17:15, 3. Tyler Houvener 17:39, 4. Nate Haller 17:45, 6. Jacob DeBoest 17:48, 7. Dominic Kurosky 17:50, 10. Ryan Goon 18:12, 11. Nolan Haines 18:16, 14. Nick Adams 18:31, 20. Justin Oberlin 18:44, 23. Ricky Ochoa 18:49, 25. Brandon Lee 18:51, 26. Duncan McCammack 18:54, 33. Jacob Addley 19:23, 35. Chris Hollopeter 19:26, 36. Aaron Haller 19:30, 38. Evan Hansen 19:43, 39. Taylor Pletcher 19:44, 42. Cameron Hershberger 19:47, 45. Nick Bergen 20:04, 52. Eric Cusick 20:23, 57. Luis Cervantes 20:50, 63. Nate Mills 21:06, 66. Nick Light 21:25, 67. Brenden Bement 21:29, 69. Gibson Heckert 21:35, 71. Jose Garcia 21:39, 72. Landon Newsome 21:40, 76. Dillon Hand 21:48, 84. Nick Downton 22:50, 87. Andrew Thrasher 23:04, 88. Jesse Boal 23:31, 95. Blake Winters 26:23 Wawasee JV — 13. Garrett Freel 18:26, 16. Jacob Tucco 18:34, 27. Adam Baker 18:55, 30. Bailey Yoder 19:04, 37. Sebastian List 19:31, 46. Devan Courter 20:06, 74. Dylan deSomer 21:44
