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Once again, the Warsaw community will be represented at the IHSAA State Cross Country meet this Saturday. The Girls squad continues it’s streak of state meets, making their 6th consecutive team appearance. Their ticket was punched this past Saturday by placing 4th at the New Haven Regional.
Cross country is one of the few IHSAA sports that remains unclassed, pulling the best of the best through advancements over the sectional and regional rounds. The squad came in seeded 5th, knowing any day can be a great race, or a tough race for themselves as well as the competition, and that it would take a solid team effort across the lineup to advance to the state meet.
Aware of the challenge, and knowing Columbia City, East Noble, and Dwenger would be on the bubble as well, the team entered the race with the right mentality – leave every ounce of energy on the course and advance to run one more meet. Warsaw’s team score of 137 trailed only perennial powerhouses Concordia, Homestead, and Carroll.
The Tigers are performing at the perfect time. Statistics show this group of runners posted the best combined team time of 1:36.55. Six of the seven runners posted career bests on a challenging course. Senior Sammi Rastrelli, #3 all-time at Warsaw and DePaul University commit, used an aggressive start and then maintained an even pace to set the tone with her 6th place finish amongst a loaded field in a time of 18:17.9.
Like her sister, freshman Dani Rastrelli was aggressive from the gun, putting it all out on the course, finishing lucky 13th and breaking the 19-minute mark at 18:47.8. This moves the younger Rastrelli to #9 on the Warsaw all-time list.
Senior Eden Metz (IU Indy commit) was determined to do all she could to ensure team advancement. Metz had a tremendous close, finishing 23rd and setting a career-best time of 19:24.4 (moving to #21 all-time Warsaw).
Embracing the task at hand, senior Abi Marsh bested her previous time by over 1 minute, with a 20:00.4 performance (44th), moving up to 39th all-time) via a controlled race.
Senior Hannah Fisher rounded out the top 5 scorers for Warsaw, with an impressive PR at 20:25.4 (60th) and moving onto the all-time list at 49.
The depth of the squad was evident, as Junior Savanah Purdy continues to show significant reductions in time, running an excellent race and crushing the last mile, running sub-21 with a PR performance of 20:43.8.
Katie Robertson returned to the course after a three week race break putting forth the seventh sub-21 time for the team, clocking in at 20:52.0.
Coach Jason Fleming continues to be ecstatic about this year’s team. “I am very proud of how the girls ran this past weekend. Our regional race was by far the team’s best race of the season so far, but I don’t think they are done yet. I believe they have more to give and we will see their best performance this weekend at the state meet. They are truly an amazing group of ladies.”
On the boys front – Senior Jackson Gackenheimer, who will be running for IU next year, continued his dominance. Running on a mission, Gackenheimer backed up his sectional win from the previous week with his second regional championship. Focused on the task at hand, aware of the elite competition around him, Gackenheimer ran the course in a time of 15:14.2, winning by over 15 seconds. He came into the race ranked 3rd, but set the tone early hitting the 1K mark at 2:54.
Over the next kilometer, Gackenheimer and Lakewood Park standout Zander Ritenour had pulled away from the rest of the field. By the 2-mile mark, Gackenheimer had put on 5 seconds in front of Ritenour. Gackenheimer remains the school record holder at Warsaw. Gackenheimer’s run earns him advancement to the state meet where he is ranked within the Top 10.
The Warsaw boys team, after winning the sectional race the week prior, closed out their season with an 11th place finish. Saturday’s race was one of their strongest collective performances. Following Gackenheimer, Warsaw’s top 7 included Junior Nolan Stump (68th place, 17:16), freshman Eli Swinehart (97th, 17:43), senior Sam Allebach (100th, 17:45), sophomore Keenan Lyions (109th, 17:48), junior Jack Boggs (140th, 18:00), and junior Jaxon Lehman (228th, 19:39).
The Tigers will travel to Terre Haute on Friday to prepare for Saturday’s championship meet. With the girls team peaking at the right time and Gackenheimer chasing a podium finish, Warsaw’s presence at the state meet promises excitement and pride for the community.
