SYRACUSE - Just as rain, sleet and snow won't slow the mail from being delivered, the host Wawasee Warriors, hot and humid weather, and some pesky mosquitoes couldn't deter Erica Ridderman Tuesday evening.
Ridderman, a junior cross country star at Warsaw Community High School, dominated Tuesday's Northern Lakes Conference opener, winning the girls' 5,000-meter race in 20:31.How impressive was her time?
Runner-up finisher Ashley Henry, also from Warsaw, crossed the finish line 1 minute, 58 seconds behind Ridderman.
"She's the real deal," Warsaw girls coach Jerry Gackenheimer said of Ridderman. "She's got some goals, and she's on track to achieve those goals. One of them is to get back to the state meet in October. Tonight she ran great. It's hard to run out front like that. It takes a lot of discipline and focus."
Ridderman's and Henry's one-two finish led the Tigers to a 25-31 win over their rivals.
"It's very big," Gackenheimer said of starting the conference season with a win. "We were a little disappointed how we ran last week at the Tiger Invitational. The girls really came out focused tonight and did a great job."
Other runners that figured into Warsaw's five-person score were Lauren Smolen (5th, 23:17), Molly Pyle (8th, 23:45) and Katie McNulty (9th, 24:09).
Stephanie Rhodes led the Wawasee girls team with a third-place finishing time of 23:09, while teammate Ellie Gilbert finished fourth in a time of 23:12.
Other scoring Wawasee runners were Katherine Foller (6th, 23:26), Nicole Rhodes (23:36), and Desi List (11th, 25:38).
In the boys' 5,000-meter race, the results were quite opposite.
There wasn't one front runner, there were three, and it was the Warriors who came away with the win, beating the Tigers 22-33.
Ryan Smythe was credited with the win for Wawasee, finishing just ahead of teammates Ross Stichter and Jose Mejia.
All three were credited with a finishing time of 17:09.
"They weren't racing each other," Wawasee coach Jerid Stoffel said of his top three finishers. "They wanted to pull each other along. They wanted to be faster than they were, but they still did a good job. Finishing 1-2-3 is a great job. They did what we wanted them to do."
And it led to a conference-opening win over their rivals.
Warsaw's boys team was led by the fourth-place finish of Cody Goshert, who finished in a time of 17:25.
"Wawasee has three front runners, they have a great group," said Warsaw boys coach Jim Mills. "We didn't come over here thinking we were gonna win. We did OK. We're a young team. What we lack is a front runner, and they had three of them."
While Mills said his team was young, he also said it was a group of hard-working guys that are willing to be coached.
"Since I've been at Warsaw, this is one of the funnest teams I've had," said Mills. "They work hard and they don't complain."
Also figuring into Wawasee's five-man boys score were Daniel Gardner (7th, 17:50) and Matt Rensberger (9th, 18:13).
Nathaniel West (5th, 17:45), Brian Donovan (6th, 17:50), Jeremiah Sticher (8th, 17:50) and Jordan Scroggs (10th, 18:15) also figured into Warsaw's team score.
Both the boys and girls teams from Warsaw and Wawasee will be in action Saturday in the Fort Wayne Northrop Invitational.
Warsaw - 4. Cody Goshert 17:25, 5. Nathan West 17:45, 6. Brian Donovan 17:50, 8. Jeremiah Stichter 17:50, 10. Jordan Scroggs 18:15, 14. Ryan Connors 19:08, 16. Marcos Aguirre 19:18, 17. John Tabor 19:39, 18. Trevor Hanson 19:57, 19. Logan Brock 20:00, 20. Adam Gall 20:05, 23. Kyle Stamm 20:13, 26. Spencer Swanson 22:06, 27. Trevor Callahan 22:12, 28. Nick Sparkman 22:40, 31. Lawney Francis 23:54, 32. Kyle Millbern 24:30
Wawasee - 1. Ryan Smythe 17:09, 2. Ross Stichter 17:09, 3. Jose Mejia 17:09, 7. Daniel Gardner 17:50, 9. Matt Rensberger 18:13, 11. Luke Thompson 18:21, 12. Thunder Olson 18:29, 13. Kyle Denton 18:34, 15. Justin K. 19:17, 21. Riley Stichter 20:06, 22. Matt L. 20:14, 24. Adam G. 20:41, 25. Logan Hatfield 20:52, 29. Chris Sindelar 23:00, 30. Daniel Slone 23:47
