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For those who believe the Warsaw and Wawasee postseason rivalry has toned down since class basketball has taken the schools out of the same sectional, look no further than the Wawasee Gymnastics Sectional.
The rivalry is still kicking there. When Warsaw defeated Wawasee in the regular season, the Warriors coach Nika Prather went so far as to predict that her team would not lose to those dreaded Tigers again.
However, just a short time later, Warsaw outscored Wawasee at the Lakeland Invitational. Prather, to her credit, made that statement with an eye on the sectional and her team was still battling through injuries at the time of the Lakeland Invitational.
"I don't want to make any predictions that might come back to haunt me," Warsaw head coach Amanda Campbell said this week in looking toward sectional action on Saturday. "We'd love to win, but if we don't, we don't. If we do, it's great."
In the past, Wawasee has regularly beaten Warsaw. The Warriors have won sectional after sectional, while Warsaw has only finished in the top three to advance to regional once before in school history. Last year, the Tigers finished eighth.
This year, however, looks to be a two-team battle between Warsaw and Wawasee. Both teams, barring a major injury or numerous crucial mistakes, will finish in the top three and advance to regional competition. But this sectional title is for pride.
"We'd like to win the team title," Campbell said. "This is a huge step forward for us."
Warsaw has made the great improvement from last year's 4-8 squad with hard work. The Tigers already have the best record in the history of the school at 12-2 and have set the school record for team score twice this year. Their best total is a sparkling 99.95.
"The girls from the varsity team that returned from last year made the commitment this summer to train and not take six months off," Campbell said. "We added a couple of talented freshmen to our squad. The depth combined with being so much more consistent has really made all the difference."
Those freshmen are Jillian Letsch and Kim Love. For most of the year, those two have been the top two gymnasts on the Warsaw team. As an interesting twist, Letsch and Campbell are sisters.
"We get along, for the most part, pretty well," Campbell said. "We have our moments, but she's a very hard worker, so I really don't have anything to complain about towards her. Love's doing an outstanding job. She's really risen to the occasion."
Rounding out the Warsaw varsity team is senior Kari Lipply and junior Callie Edgington. Lipply has just missed advancing to the regional competition the past couple of years as an individual.
"(Lipply) is a very strong all-around gymnast, very consistent," Campbell said. "She's very excited about the aspect of going to the regional with her entire team this year. Edgington's excellent on the uneven bars and also is coming around quite nicely on the balance beam. She's going to be a big factor on Saturday and she's very excited."
The sectional will take place on Saturday at noon at Wawasee. After the Tigers and the Warriors, Elkhart Central and Elkhart Memorial should battle for third place. Manchester will also be competing at the Wawasee Sectional.
