The Warsaw girls track and field team posing for photos with its fourth-straight sectional championship trophy will be the last scene played at Fisher Field this school year.
Competing at the Tigers Athletic Complex Tuesday, the Lady Tigers claimed their fourth-consecutive crown in dominating fashion, scoring 146.5 points, while second-place Elkhart Central generated 88 points."It feels pretty good," Warsaw junior Leah Moore said. "We've trained really hard and been looking forward to this meet. We feel really confident going into regionals."
The Lady Tigers will be at the Bremen Regional Tuesday, where the top three finishers from that event move on to the state finals.
At the regional, Moore will go in as a sectional champion in the 400 (59.57) and will also be a part of the sectional champion 1,600 relay team, along with freshman Kristen Quick, junior Madison Long and senior Corinne Coon.
The 400 championship was a first for Moore, but senior Cendall Ogle has a little more experience with titles, defending her 800 title with a time of 2:22.21.
The 800 championship is Ogle's third in four years, and it's an event she won at the Bremen Regional a year ago.
"I knew I had the fastest time going in, but that didn't help," Ogle said of her seed at the sectional, which was two seconds faster than Wawasee sophomore Mallory Rondeau. "I was still super nervous, but I knew if I waited, I could kick it in and outfinish the girls."
Coupled with the 800, Ogle also anchors Warsaw's 3,200 relay team, which calls on her to run the final 800 meters, which she does strongly.
"It's nice because it's longer, so I have the endurance to outlast the other girls," Ogle said about the two-lap distance. "But also, I think I have some speed which comes in in the last 200 (meters). You just have to run it smart and know your pacing."
The 3,200 relay team of sophomore Hannah Cutshall, senior Beth Plummer and freshman Ashley Erba already had a lead by the time Erba gave Ogle the baton, and the senior helped the Tigers win the night's first event in 9:47.02.
On top of winning the 1,600 and 3,200 relays, Warsaw made it a clean sweep by also taking the 400 relay (Emily Hickerson, Long, Hannah Kammerer, Meredith Hollar) in 51.36, edging Concord's and Elkhart Memorial's times of 51.48 and 51.94, respectively.
"When we went head-to-head with them, they beat us fair and square in our dual meets," Warsaw coach Scott Erba said. "Memorial outleaned us last week (at the conference meet), and that bothered the girls. We had a lot of confidence that we could be the best team out here."
Winning the 400 relay was a bit of a shock, but so was sophomore Brooke Kline's first-place finish in the 3,200 (11:38.50).
Kline won the race in 11:38.50, outrunning Northridge's Skylair Hilton, the same girl that had just beaten Kline last week in the Northern Lakes Conference Championships.
"It's something she's been wanting so badly," Erba said. "To see that drop in time and see her run that race was great. She just ducked herself in with those girls, and once you get into that mindset in a distance run, you don't worry about the pain. You just worry about going and keeping up with the group."
Along with sectional champions moving on to regionals, all top four finishers move on as well. Fitting into that category for the Tigers were: Hollar (200), Erba (1600), Ogle (1600), Coon (300 hurdles), sophomore Kayla Bixler (300 hurdles), sophomore Lilly Fleming (2:24.10), Kammerer (pole vault), sophomore Kelly Wildman (long jump), freshman Samantha Jensen (discus), sophomore Lauren Burish (discus) and junior Emily Umbaugh (shot put).
"Just some great performances across the board," Erba said.
Kammerer didn't only qualify for the regional in the pole vault, but also wrote her name in the Warsaw history books, setting a new record by clearing 10 feet.
Wawasee was also at the sectional, finishing ninth with 24 points, but did have some athletes advance to the regional.
Among the advancing Lady Warriors are Rondeau (800) and senior Stephanie Kuhn (shot put).
Warsaw last won the Bremen Regional in 2007, and finished third and second in 2008 and 2009, respectively, with Penn winning each of those years.
"Penn's a perennial powerhouse and you've got some sprinters and quality field event girls coming out of South Bend Washington, Riley and Adams," Erba said about the regional. "It's going to be a different look than what we had tonight, but we have girls running there and that's the most important thing."
WARSAW 146.5, ELKHART CENTRAL 88, NORTHRIDGE 86, GOSHEN 73, FAIRFIELD 65.5, CONCORD 58, ELKHART MEMORIAL 34, NORTHWOOD 26, WAWASEE 24, JIMTOWN 22, BETHANY CHRISTIAN 1
(Top 4 to Bremen Regional; listed are top four finishers and local finishers)
