Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
DUNLAP - The Warsaw girls cross country team hasn't qualified for semistate competition since 1990. In fact, they haven't made it out of the sectional since 1992.
The sectional streak was broken two weeks ago when Warsaw moved out of the Elkhart Central Sectional to regional competition.
The semistate streak ended Saturday when the Tigers qualified to move on to Manchester as they placed third in the Elkhart Central Regional.
"We haven't gotten out of sectional in quite some time," said Warsaw coach Paul Sibray. "We're just excited to go to semistate."
Two Warsaw runners placed in the top 15. Jennifer Finch placed 11th overall with a time of 15:53, and Summer Boyd crossed the finish line with a time of 16:04 to place 15th.
Hillary Barlow finished next for the Tigers, placing 17th with a time of 16:14. Melonie Albert finished in 16:39 to place 30th overall.
Amy Robertson placed 45th in 17:07 to round out the Warsaw top five.
Abbie Simmons and Kim Fluke finished the Tiger team line-up, placing 47th and 69th respectively.
"We're pleased with our performance," said Sibray. "This was a good competition, and we ran well.
"Last week, Northridge beat us by 24 points and today they only beat us by 11 points, we're getting better."
The girls are now preparing for Saturday, when they will travel to Manchester for the semistate competition.
"This week, we'll relax and work on speed," said Sibray. "We're just going to enjoy the fact that we get to go to semistate."
