In terms of Tuesday’s three-team Northern Lakes Conference boys and girls cross country meet, Northridge won the battle, while Warsaw won the war. In hot and humid conditions, Northridge seniors Conner Sandt and Morgan Blyly won their respective 5K race on the campus of Warsaw Community High School. Sandt won the boys race in a time of 16:08, while Blyly crossed the line first in the girls event in 18:54. The team portion of the meet was all Warsaw, though, as the Tigers beat Northridge 24-34 and topped NorthWood 19-42. Northridge’s boys squad took care of business against NorthWood, winning 22-37. On the girls side, the Lady Tigers beat Northridge 23-33 and beat NorthWood 15-50. Northridge’s girls squad beat NorthWood 15-50. “On a night like tonight, right now it doesn’t feel too bad but I’m sure it feels a lot more uncomfortable running, but with the temperatures the way they bumped up from the 60s last week to the 80s and 90s in a matter of days, that’s a hard thing to get used to,” said Warsaw girls coach Scott Erba. “I was really happy with the way our girls competed tonight.” Sophomore Mia Beckham finished second for the Lady Tigers in a time of 19:15, while teammates Allison Miller (19:33), Anna Craig (19:43) and Brooke Rhodes (20:02) finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Emma Hayward (20:35) and Claire Kehler (20:50) finished ninth and 10th, respectively, for the Lady Tigers, while Lauren Orr crossed the line in a 12th-place time of 21:05. All seven of the Lady Tigers’ varsity runners finished in the top 12, as they got off on the right foot and are 2-0 in the NLC. In years past, Warsaw and Northridge ran against each other later in the season. Erba said the schedule change made his girls more focused while training this summer. “Knowing that we were gonna be racing them earlier in the season made our summer training that much more focused,” said Erba. “We knew coming in that for our top girls, we needed to be ready to go at the beginning of the season. There wasn’t gonna be a time to ease into it. I know Northridge felt the same way, talking to their coach. But, there are still many weeks to go before the conference meet, and they always run strong and I know we’re gonna run strong as well.” In the boys race, the Tigers had seven runners finish in the top 15, while Northridge had five and NorthWood three. Despite being sick, Warsaw senior Owen Glogovsky, who set the course record at 15:48 in last week’s Tiger Invitational, finished second in a time of 16:46. Glogovsky was sandwiched in the finishing order by Sandt and NorthWood’s Ryan Price (16:58). “Northridge always comes to run,” said Warsaw boys coach Jim Mills. “Owen is sick, so, right off the bat that’s not a good thing. But, he gutted it out and did OK.” Freshman Zeb Hernandez finished fourth for the Tigers in 17:09, while the rest of Warsaw’s seven varsity runners included sophomore Francisco Ramirez (6th, 17:19), sophomore Lucas Howett (7th, 17:24), senior Jon Beres (9th, 17:48), sophomore Nathaniel Gottschalk (10th, 17:51) and freshman Devin Dawson (14th, 18:13). “I’m telling you what, Zeb Hernandez almost broke 17 (minutes) today, on a hot day, and he’s just a freshman,” said Mills. “Most of the guys weren’t too far off their times. Owen’s off, but he started getting sick Monday, and we knew he wasn’t feeling good today. Other than that, guys, for the heat, ran pretty decent.” Warsaw’s boys team will be in action again Saturday in the Marion Invitational, while both the Tigers and Lady Tigers will host conference foe Wawasee Tuesday for senior night.
