There were impressive individual performances, like those of freshman Cendall Ogle in the 800 and senior Katie Furnivall with her anchor leg of the 1,600 relay, but what led Warsaw's girls track team to a sectional championship Wednesday was team depth.
Top to bottom, the host Tigers were the best team in the sectional, and they proved it by scoring an impressive 132 points to win their first sectional championship since 2000.
"The main thing was our depth," said Warsaw coach Scott Erba, whose team finished second to Elkhart Central in last year's sectional but put 40.5 points between it and runner-up Northridge Wednesday. "We had three individual individual championships and two relay championships, but we had a lot of depth. We had a lot of girls score points."
Northridge finished a distant second with 91.5 points, followed by Elkhart Memorial (89), Elkhart Central (77), Goshen (52), Wawasee (51), Concord (49.5), NorthWood (35), Jimtown (25) and Fairfield (22).
"We may not win a lot of events, but we're going to put two girls near the top in a lot of events," said Erba. "We have a lot of team depth, and that showed tonight."
The top four individuals or teams in each event advance to Tuesday's Bremen Regional.
Warsaw advanced in 12 of 16 events, while Wawasee will be represented at the regional in seven events.
Individual sectional championships for Warsaw went to junior Megan Davis, senior Karrie Burch and Ogle.
Davis won the discus event with an effort of 110-10, beating Elkhart Central's Breahanna Ward Burks by eight inches.
Burch was victorius in the 200 with a time of 26.09 seconds, edging teammate Mercedes Plummer, a Warsaw junior who ran a time of 26.30 seconds.
Burch also finished second in the 100 with a time of 12.54 seconds, just behind the time of 12.51 seconds by Elkhart Central's Latrice Sanders.
"It was nice to see Karrie win the 200," said Erba. "It was really nice to finish one-two in that race with Mercedes Plummer. Karrie got edged in the 100, she was really determined to come back and win."
Ogle, as well, was determined to win, and when she did she came across the finish line smiling.
The talented freshman finished first in the 800 with a time of 2:21.72, beating Northridge senior Megan Miller (2:23.07) and Wawasee senior Ashlee Pollen (2:23.33).
"She's been a very pleasant surprise the whole year," Erba said of Ogle. "She's very competitive and works very hard. She ran very well tonight. It was a gutsy win, coming off the corner and beating the conference champion."
Warsaw's 400 relay team of sophomore Rachel Voorhorst, senior Tiffany Shepherd and Burch and Plummer won the sectional championship with a time of 50.31 seconds.
The Tiger foursome of freshman Corine Coon and Burch, Plummer and Furnivall won the 1,600 relay with a time of 4:05.55.
Furnivall, whose father and Warsaw assistant Troy Furnivall won the state championship in the 400 in 1982, ran the anchor leg and edged Northridge's Miller at the line, igniting a frenzied celebration by the Tigers and their fans.
Northridge finished the event in a time of 4:05.69.
The team championship was well in hand by the time the 1,600 relay, the final even of the evening, came around. Furnivall and company's performance was icing on the cake.
"That was a great race," Erba said of the 1,600 relay. "It came down to the last 50 meters to see who would win, and Katie Furnivall was that person. She was disappointed with her finish in the hurdles, but she came back and ran great in the 1,600 relay. I'm really proud of this whole team."
Wawasee's team of Brooke Kelly, Haley Herr and Pollen and Knafel finished third in the 1,600 relay.
Herr turned in Wawasee's highest finish of the evening, garnering a second-place effort in the 400.
Knafel advanced to the regional in two events, finishing third in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the 300 hurdles.
Furnivall finished fifth in the 300 hurdles, missing a regional berth by one spot.
