Warsaw Girls First, Boys Third At CC InvitationalA summer’s worth of miles logged, the first meet of the 2019 cross country season came for Warsaw Community High School runners Tuesday.
Led by Wini Barnett (third overall in 20 minutes 26.9 seconds for 5,000 meters), WCHS girls came in first out of seven teams while Jacob Kissling (17:01.1) paced the boys to third out of 12 squads in the Warsaw Tiger Paul Sibray Invitational.
Barnett said that her coach, Jason Fleming, encouraged a “pack mentality” in such a large field. The Tigers placed six runners in the top 11 and seven in the first 15 finishers in scoring 31 points.
“That was exactly what we wanted to do,” said Barnett of the Warsaw pack. “They don’t want us spread out throughout the course. It’s better to run behind each other and help each other with wind and the turns.”
Warsaw’s Adree Beckham (20:33.2) placed fourth while Ava Knight (20:52.5) was fifth, Mikayla Mimmaugh (21:21.9) ninth, Erika Bugg (21:23.4) 10th, Hannah Bloemendaal (21:27.1) 11th and Macelyn Marcuccilli (21:48.5) 15th.
“I felt like it was a pretty smart race,” said Barnett. “Adree and I both went out super fast and super strong.”
Columbia City (73 points), Manchester (96), Fairfield (103), NorthWood (113), Mishawaka (116) and Tippecanoe Valley (207) rounded out the girls team standings.
In a race where Fairfield’s Carol Haldeman (20:05.9) was the winner out of 99 finishers, Manchester’s Josie Briner (20:54) came in sixth.
“I just tried to keep pace through the whole race,” said Briner of her strategy. “I get to the first mile, see my time and see if I can stay consistent.”
Briner said she enjoyed running the Warsaw course since she is used to running hills near her country home.
The rest of the Manchester top seven featured Kambree Cashdollar (21:29) in 13th, Halle Briner (22:16.8) 18th, Anna Markham (23:11.9) 35th, Sydney Diefenbaugh (23:47.8) 40th, Maddy Evans (24:35.8) 47th, Kiera Hatfield (24:54.6) 49th and Ainsley West (25:01.3) 51st.
Valley’s top seven was Valeria Jimenez (24:18.5) in 42nd, Talia Holder (27:13.4) in 69th, Ella Mayers (28:02.4) 75th, Rachel Luce (31:45.7) 88th, Marissa McLean (32:35.8) 92nd, Hannah Lowman (34:03.3) 95th and Ava Craig (34:28.5) 96th.
Crown Point’s Genesio Christofanelli (16:18.9) was first out of 216 finishers and led the No. 13-ranked Bulldogs to the boys title. Crown Point (31 points) were followed by Columbia City (64), Warsaw (66), NorthWood (117), Home-stead (141), Mishawaka (146), Manchester (212), Tippecanoe Valley (263), Northfield (298), Whitko (331) and South Bend Career Academy (363).
After Kissling, Warsaw top seven boys were Tanner Stiver (17:18.8) in eighth, Fernando Niebbia (17:35.6) 15th, Sam Lechlitner (17:38.8) 16th, Austin Fleming (17:48.7) 20th, Harrison Phipps (17:49.8) 21st and Sam Slough (18:19.8) 29th.
“I felt like I ran really well,” said Kissling. “I got off to a pretty good start and was able to pass a lot of people in the woods.”
The key to running well on the Warsaw course?
“I’d say holding back a little bit for the hills and everything,” said Kissling. “By the first 300 (yards), you definitely want to be up there. The little woods are very hard to pass people on. It’s much narrower and there are trees everywhere.”
Tigers boys coach Jim Mills came away with a favorable opinion of his team’s performance.
“This was the first time out and I was pleasantly surprised,” said Mills. “This is still a pretty young team.
“We started the second week in June (with off-season training) and they worked hard. But practicing and racing are two different things.
“The first race is important because it can be a confidence builder. You really need to get off on the right foot.”
Mills said if he had his way every meet his team was in would be a large field like Tuesday, though the Tigers do have some Northern Lakes Conference duals on their schedule.
Manchester’s top seven featured Carter Bedke (17:47.2) in 19th, Raven King (18.49.) 47th, Cade Jones (19:24.6) 66th, Elijah Burlingame (20:03.4) 93rd, Jonathan Eberly (20:18.3) 102nd, Raice Martin (20:54) 116th and Reece Adamiec (21:36.3) 139th.
Tippecanoe Valley’s leading runners were Matthew Howes (18:16.3) in 26th, Mitch Smith (19:53.4) 86th, Chase Miller (21:19.9) 132nd, Jace Holloway (21:23.3) 135th, Evan Mayers (23:35.5) 184th and Logan Hummitch (26:00.4) 202nd.
Whitko was paced by Jacob Porter (20:27.4) in 107th, Gavyn Alexander (23:01.9) 175th, Sam Wise (25:41.1) 198th, Jeremiah Hildebrandt (25:52.8) 201st and Ethan Joseph (29:26.2) 211th.
