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Five years ago, Warsaw's girls cross country team had five girls on its roster.
At Tuesday's 7th annual Warsaw Cross Country Invitational, Warsaw placed five girls in the top seven.
The 1999 Tigers, who have 24 girls on their roster, won the meet for the first time under coach Paul Sibray.
How did they celebrate? Sibray told his girls to run a mile after the meet.
"If I can talk them into it, I have them do another mile," he said. "That's just part of the cross country mindset. It's something you do as a team. Everybody sticks together. It's slow and easy."
Sibray sparked the turnaround. He took over five years ago, back when he campaigned girls to join cross country, back when the Tigers finished meets near the bottom, in last place or earned an incomplete because they didn't have enough girls to qualify for a team score.
In the 1999 Warsaw Invitational, Warsaw's Jennifer Finch took first with a time of 15:40 and was followed by teammates Hilary Barlow, who finished second with a time of 15:51, and Summer Boyd, who finished third with a time of 16:27.
Warsaw's Amy Robertson placed sixth with a time of 15:59, and teammate Rachel Rondeau took seventh with a time of 17:01.
Since only the top five runners count toward each team score, Warsaw crushed the competition. Northfield finished a distant second with 60, followed by Marion (84), Oak Hill (98), Tippecanoe Valley (108) and Peru (143).
That Warsaw won the invitational was not a shock. The Tigers took second in their invitational and advanced to semistate last year, and the top runners off that team returned this season.
"You are always hopeful, but you never know," Sibray said. "Northfield is always a state contender."
Three days earlier Warsaw competed in the nine-team DeKalb Invitational, taking second to DeKalb. At that race, Barlow took fourth, Boyd fifth and Finch ninth.
"Truthfully, we have three best runners," Sibray said. "Any of the three could be up front. We ran as fast as we did at DeKalb, and our course is much tougher."
Then Sibray issued another truth.
"Truthfully, none of us are in good shape," he said.
Turns out Boyd missed a month of training in the summer to recover from a track and field injury, and Barlow went on a mission trip. Like coaches in other sports, Sibray asks his girls to train for cross country in the summer.
"Of the top three, Jennifer probably got more running in than any of them," Sibray said. "We're nowhere near 100 percent yet.
"We have a lot of room to improve. When we get in bigger meets, we'll find out how good we are. If you look at us on paper, this is the best team we've had since I've been here."
Northfield, a school with a strong cross country tradition, placed five boys in the top seven in the boys' race to win with a score of 23. Marion took second with 44 and was followed by Warsaw (78), Peru (100), Oak Hill (137) and Tippecanoe Valley (146).
The top finisher for Tippecanoe Valley in the girls' race was Sarah Kindig, who took 13th with a time of 17:45. In the boys' race, Valley's Mike Ross took 23rd with a time of 19:00.
7TH ANNUAL WARSAW
CROSS COUNTRY CLASSIC
Varsity boys
Top 20 individuals received awards
Team results - 1. Northfield 23, 2. Marion 44, 3. Warsaw 78, 4. Peru 100, 5. Oak Hill 137, 6. Tippecanoe Valley 146
Top 20 individual results - 1. Parks (N) 16:33, 2. Plummer (M) 17:08, 3. Beck (M) 17:13, 4. Cordes (N) 17:24, 5. Neale (N) 17:28, 6. Haupert (N) 17:29, 7. Walker (N) 17:39, 8. Bartley (M) 17:41, 9. Sweatland (W) 17:52, 10. Sibray (W) 18:01, 11. Mirante (N) 18:03, 12. Hatch (P) 18:05, 13. Krallman (W) 18:10, 14. Hoeppner (P) 18:11, 15. Swyers (M) 18:28, 16. Adams (M) 18:39, 17. Hartinsel (P) 18:42, 18. Shevard (M) 18:46, 19. Highley (OH) 18:47, 20. Jenks (W) 18:50
Other Warsaw results - 26. Gackenheimer 19:09, 28. Peters 19:12, 30. Ridderman 19:24
Tippecanoe Valley results - 23. C. Ross 19:00, 27. J. Ross 19:10, 31. Vanlaningham 19:31, 32. Boggs 19:48, 33. Whetstone 19:49, 41. Robbins 22:57, 42. Tilden 23:50
Varsity and junior varsity girls
Top 20 individuals received awards
Team results - 1. Warsaw 19, 2. Northfield 60, 3. Marion 84, 4. Oak Hill 98, 5. Tippecanoe Valley 108, 6. Peru 143
Top 20 individual results -Ê1. Finch (W) 15:40, 2. Barlow (W) 15:51, 3. Boyd (W) 16:27, 4. Leland (N) 16:39, 5. Darland (P) 16:47, 6. Robertson (W) 16:59, 7. Rondeau (W) 17:01, 8. Rieff (OH) 17:06, 9. Cain (M) 17:13, 10. Guenin (N) 17:17, 11. Ross (N) 17:18, 12. Schenkel (N) 17:38, 13. Kindig (TV) 17:45, 14. Krevda (M) 17:46, 15. Zehr (TV) 17:52, 16. Mital (M) 18:01, 17. Grogg (OH) 18:09, 18. Webb (P) 18:12, 19. Albert (W) 18:12, 20. Mauman (OH) 18:12
Other Warsaw results -Ê26. Brown (W) 18:48, 28. Noble 18:49, 34. Love 19:42, 38. Wehrley 19:52, 40. Bowers 19:56, 50. Siesennop 20:34, 53. Jenks 20:43, 57. Marandet 21:08, 69. Mackey 22:10, 78. Ashton 23:22, 79. Wehrley 23:23, 82. Ellison 24:38
Other Tippecanoe Valley results -Ê23. Jackson 18:37, 29. McFarren 18:50, 36. Allen 19:45, 54. Tilden 20:47, 60. Yeider 21:37, 65. Kantner 21:50, 76. Gearhart 23:10
Reserve boys
The top 15 individuals received awards
Team results -Ê1. Marion 29, 2. Warsaw 33, 3. Peru 100, 4. Northfield 110, Tippecanoe Valley incomplete, Oak Hill incomplete
Top 15 individual results - 1. Reeds (M) 19:15, 2. Lankford (W) 19:39, 3. Sears (M) 20:07, 4. Prater (N) 20:11, 5. Fawley (W) 20:15, 6. Miller (W) 20:23, 7. Parun (M) 20:45, 8. Kiley (M) 20:53, 9. Pickens (W) 20:58, 10. Ervin (M) 21:04, 11. Robertson (W) 21:04, 12. Clark (P) 21:07, 13. Davison (W) 21:08, 14. Ruth (OH) 21:16, 15. I. Fussle (W) 21:18
Other Warsaw results -Ê17. M. Fussle 21:42, 20. Eshelman 22:05, 30. Siesennop 24:57, 31. Harrold 24:58
Tippecanoe Valley results -Ê29. Gast 24:43, 33. Borges 25:28, 36. Krueger 31:36
