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NAPPANEE - It is the ideal situation in winning a cross country match. But that doesn't mean it always happens.
The "pack running" as they call it can actually be very rare for a team. But when it is accomplished, it looks very good.
The Warsaw boys and the Northridge girls did it to perfection Tuesday in a three-way meet at NorthWood High School.
The Tigers won both parts of the three way, beating NorthWood 19-42 and Northridge 15-42. The Raiders girls also dominated, taking Warsaw 15-49 and NorthWood 20-43. In the third meets, Northridge beat NorthWood 22-37 for the boys and NorthWood beat Warsaw 22-33 for the girls.
It was the closeness of the runners that helped Warsaw and Northridge.
The Tigers' David Hoffert won the boys race in 16:22 and his teammates were right behind as Justin Rice took third, Will Woodward fourth, Don Kennedy fifth and Greg Patrick in sixth. It was something that Warsaw coach Jeff Grose has been pushing his team to do all year.
"We haven't done this as much this season," Grose said. "We have worked on it. It is easier to see that (pack) with only two other teams on the course. We preach about it, but the difficult thing is doing it. I really thought there would be more competition from some of the other runners and spread our guys out a little bit."
Hoffert, consistently Warsaw's No. 1 runner, got the individual victory despite taking a wrong turn on the course. It didn't seem to hurt him as he still managed to pull away from NorthWood's Aaron Hoover.
"I was hoping David would respond well mentally," Grose said of Hoffert's miscue. "He recovered nicely. It was a great effort on his part. It was for nice for him because he always finishes high for us, but he doesn't always win the race overall."
NorthWood's Brooke Tobias won the girls race going away, but Northridge took the next six places before Warsaw's Summer Boyd was the Tigers' first finisher in eighth place. Northridge's No. 7 runner finished only one second behind Boyd in ninth.
The Raider girls are always one of the top cross country programs in the area and have won over 100 straight regular-season dual meets.
For the Tigers, Kim Love came in 13th, Amy Robertson 14th, Rachel Cullison 17th and Julie Wilhite 20th.
"We have some goals in mind, and we fell short of a few of them," Warsaw girls coach Paul Sibray said. "We are not quite where we want to be. But we are ready to turn the corner and make our move for the rest of the season. We probably ran our best team race of the season. We were ready for it. We did good against that kind of competition."
The Tiger boys, now 4-1 in the Northern Lakes Conference this year, are looking down the road with big races coming against Wawasee on Tuesday and the NLC race Oct. 11 at Ox Bow Park in Elkhart.
"Wawasee will certainly be a big hurdle for us," Grose said. "And Goshen, the only team in the NLC to beat us so far, had one of their top runners break his collarbone."
Warsaw is at the Fort Wayne Snider Classic Saturday at 9 a.m., while NorthWood will run at the CMA Invite Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Boys
Warsaw 19, NorthWood 42; Warsaw 15, Northridge 42; Northridge 22, NorthWood 37
Top 20 - 1. D.Hoffert (W) 16:22; 2. A.Hoover (NW) 16:46; 3. J.Rice (W) 16:50; 4. W.Woodward (W) 16:51; 5. D.Kennedy (W) 16:54; 6. G.Patrick (W); 7. T.Heiman (NR); 8. J.Arko (NR); 9. D.Young (NR); 10. M.Davidhizar (NW); 11. R.Toth (NR) 17:38; 12. C.Gackenheimer (W) 17:42; 13. K.Yoder (NR) 17:50; 14. J.Sibray (W) 17:54; 15. J.Holderman (NR) 17:55; 16. J.Meyers (NW); 17. A.Rummel (NW); 18. M.Janks (W) 18:12; 19. D.Granger (W) 18:13; 20. D.Robertson (W)
Girls
NorthWood 22, Warsaw 33; Northridge 15, Warsaw 49; Northridge 20, NorthWood 43
Top 20 - 1. Brooke Tobias (NW) 15:51; 2. Val Taft (NR) 16:09; 3. Mandy Hanje (NR) 16:29; 4. Monica Spangle (NR) 16:37; 5. Erin Toth (NR) 16:38; 6. Tara Juntunen (NR) 16:44; 7. Erin Payne (NR) 16:50; 8. Summer Boyd (W) 17:02; 9. Betsy App (NR) 17:03; 10. Angie Lallender (NW) 17:27; 11. Angie Woods (NW) 17:28; 12. Terri Schuller (NW) 17:48; 13. Kim Love (W) 17:51; 14. Amy Robertson (W) 17:53; 15. Jenny Slalter (NR) 17:54; 16. Danielle Blea (NR) 18:03; 17. Rachel Cullison (W); 18. Kari Yoder (NR) 18:17; 19. Anne Zell (NW) 18:47; 20. Julie Wilhite (W) 18:58
