As the fog rolled in Thursday morning, all that could be seen at Fisher Field were shadowy figures moving at a moderate to a very fast pace.
On the eve of the IHSAA Track and Field State Championships, the Warsaw Community High School track team gave its final push at home before departing for Indiana University at Bloomington today.For the seniors that will be leaving for college in the fall, this will be their last opportunity to leave their mark in state finals lore for track. While some may continue their track career in college, for others, this will be their last shot.
At the conclusion of the state finals, seniors like Corinne Coon, Bethany Plummer and Emily Hickerson will hang up their spikes for good. However, this does not mean that tonight does not carry any meaning for them.
"This is our last track experience, so we're going to be ready to go to Bloomington and leave it all," Coon said.
The girls' performance at the Bremen Regional earned them high seedings in a few events for today's state meet.
The 3200 relay team of freshman Ashley Erba, sophomores Brooke Kline and Lilly Fleming and senior Cendall Ogle hold the third best time of all relay teams going into the meet at 9:27.40.
The 400 relay team of freshman Kristen Quick, juniors Madison Long and Leah Moore, and Coon have the 17th best time (4:02.37).
Moore will also compete in the 400 after being timed at 1:00.34 in Bremen. Coon will run in the 300 hurdles (46.16) and Ogle in the 800 (2:18.02).
All runners have the same goal - to place ninth or higher. There is more to placing at the state championships, however.
"Our 400 team has the school record in their sights," Hickerson said. "Whether or not we'll get there, we won't know."
On the boys side, there will be one relay team and an individual competing in Bloomington. The 3200 relay team will enter the meet with a time of 8:08.15 and Robert Strahan (11.22) will compete in the 100.
The boys track and field state finals are scheduled for Saturday.
For a few of the seniors, this will be their fourth running at the state finals.
"It's a great thing for them, individually, to have experience in running for four years," Warsaw girls head coach Scott Erba said. "It's great to have them serve as good role models for our younger runners who are competing with them this year."
With the number of underclassmen runners, Erba admits that the season outlook was cloudy prior to the start of the season.
"We had a lot of question marks going into the season," Erba said. "We had a lot of young, inexperienced runners. and to see them develop into mature athletes, I think, will bode well for us in the future."
Preparations in the week prior to today have been light. While the runners conserved their energy over practice, they still ran under scenarios that give them a similar feel to running in a meet.
"We've done a lot race-type situations, like trying to get us in the mindset of running in the state meet," Hickerson said.
While runners try to not miss their mark, they will start to miss each other soon after the state finals. Ogle said she will miss being together with the team, along with the memories that they have shared.
"All of us girls are tight," Ogle said.
"Each year has a bittersweet ending," Erba said. "But you know it has to come to an end."
Erba said it means a lot to him, the coaching staff and the whole program to earn this trip to Bloomington after winning the conference and sectional championships.
"They've never known anything to do but be successful."
These seniors will go their separate ways in the fall. Coon will play volleyball at Greenville (IL) College, Hickerson will play soccer at Grace College and Ogle will run track at Huntington University.
Before they begin their freshman year in college, there is just one thing left to do as high school seniors - get on the podium at the state finals in Bloomington.
