WINONA LAKE - Though highlighted by Erica Ridderman's new course record, it was team depth that prevailed in Warsaw's boys and girls cross country meet with Northern Lakes Conference foe Goshen Tuesday evening.
The Redskins and Tigers split victories at Goshen College's Miller Field, with Goshen winning the girls event 26-32 and the Warsaw boys posting a 22-34 win.Ridderman, a senior, set a new course record with her winning time of 19:13, beating the old mark of 19:22 set last year by Elkhart Memorial's Anna Paez.
Warsaw junior Cendall Ogle finished second in a time of 19:50, but it was the Redskins' depth that led them to the team victory, as Goshen's five scoring runners finished third, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth.
The final three scoring runners for Warsaw - Brooke Kline, Lilly Fleming and Lauren Smolen - finished seventh, 10th and 13th, respectively.
"Their pack was too tough to break into," Warsaw girls coach Jerry Gackenheimer said of Goshen. "It's hard to win when they go three, four, five and six. Our kids are working hard every day, our pack will improve."
While Ridderman is a four-year standout for the Tigers, Tuesday's meet was just third in Ogle's short cross country career.
Prior to this year, the talented junior played basketball and ran track, but didn't have a fall sport.
She's been a positive addition to Gackenheimer's team.
"Cendall is still learning cross country," said Gackenheimer. "This is just her third cross country meet ever. She's running smarter and better every race. She's learning what cross country is, and she's getting pretty good at it, which is exciting for me."
In the boys race, Warsaw claimed the individual victory and the team win.
Tiger junior Nate West won the 5,000-meter race in a time of 16:35, 19 seconds ahead of runner-up finisher Cameron Miller of Goshen.
"This is just a great group of kids," Warsaw boys coach Jim Mills said of his team, which improved to 1-0 in the NLC. "Nate West is only a junior, and by the time he graduates he can be one of the top two runners ever at WCHS. Tonight the game plan was to go out and run the second mile hard and shake the competition, and that's he did."
Showing off their team depth, the Tigers placed all five of their scoring runners in the top seven.
Jeremiah Stichter finished third for Warsaw in a time of 17:03, while Brian Donovan was fifth (17:32), Jordan Scroggs (17:33) was sixth and Trevor Callahan (17:37) finished seventh.
"This definitely wasn't expected," Mills said of his team's rather dominating performance. "It could have gone either way. Goshen is a good team, that just goes to show you how deep we are. We're off to a good start, that's what I like."
Both the Warsaw boys and girls teams will be in action Saturday in the Northrop Invitational.
