PLYMOUTH - The cold, drizzly weather may have slowed Warsaw's girls track team a little Thursday evening, but Northern Lakes Conference rivals Plymouth and Wawasee were certainly no match for the Tigers.
After their first outdoor meet of the season was postponed due to weather, the Tigers opened the season and defense of their conference championship last night by beating county rival Wawasee and the host Pilgrims.Warsaw beat Plymouth 80-52 and topped the Warriors 117.5-14.5.
Plymouth upended Wawasee 104.5-26.5.
"We were eager to get out and get the season started," said Warsaw coach Scott Erba. "We had our first meet postponed, the weather has been bad, so we were pretty excited about getting out and competing tonight. We had some really good performances tonight."
Of the 16 events, the Tigers finished first in 10 of them and were also runners-up in nine events.
The Pilgrims won the other six events.
In the shot put, 800-meter run and 1600-meter run, Warsaw took the top two spots, as the Tigers depth shined through on an evening when the sun didn't shine through the clouds.
"This is the best weather we've had," said Erba, noting the amount of rain and cold weather his team has had to endure thus far.
Sarah Shilling took first in the shot put for Warsaw with a distance of 36-6.75, while Kenna Neher was second and Erica Tidwell placed fourth for the Tigers.
"We had some really good performances," said Erba. "A lot of our throwers threw personal bests tonight."
In the discus competition, Warsaw's Megan Davis won with a toss of 1106-10, while Tidwell added more team points with a third-place finish.
On the track, Erica Ridderman and Cendall Ogle finished one-two in both the 800 and 1600.
Ridderman won the 800 with a time of 2:32.7, while Ogle crossed the line in a time of 2:34.9.
In the 1600, Ridderman took first with a time of 5:36.4, while Ogle ran a runner-up time of 5:37.50. Lauren Smolen showed the Tigers' depth in the 1600 by finishing fourth.
Ridderman and Ogle also teamed with Kelsey Green and Sena Muta to win the 3200 relay in a time of 10:23.90, a time that beat runner-up Plymouth by 14 seconds and third-place Wawasee by more than a minute.
Other individual first-place finishers for Warsaw were Abby Pratt (high jump), Lauren Pridgen (400), Corinne Coon (300 hurdles), and Mercedes Plummer (200).
Plummer was also part of the winning 400 relay team, partnering with Emily Hickerson, Rachel Voorhorst and Amanda Schroeder to run a time of :52.10.
The Warriors were paced by four third-place finishes.
Plymouth was led by senior Leslie Swihart, who won the 100-meter dash and finished second in the 200 and high jump.
