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SYRACUSE - The Wawasee boys cross country team had just finished beating Concord on Tuesday by a score of 20-35, but Warriors head coach Dave Stookey was already looking ahead to the big conference meet with Warsaw in a week.
"Right now we're 4-1 in the conference which I wouldn't have believed at the start of the season," Stookey said. "Warsaw on Tuesday is going to be a real battle. I asked them if we could go over to their course and they invited us over tomorrow. I don't know if that's because they think they can beat us, but it is nice of them. So, we're going to take the invite."
Wawasee came off of a good showing at the West Noble Invitational on Saturday in which the Warriors placed just 11 points behind Northfield, ranked No. 9 in the state. Stookey was afraid that his team would not be in the right frame of mind to face an always dangerous Concord team.
"Of course, you can't get up for every meet," Stookey said. "But, we had a super meet on Saturday. So, I figured that we'd have a bit of a letdown. We really came on strong the last 1/2 mile of the race. I was really pleased with the result."
Wawasee's top four runners, Jeff Moerchen, Pete Melendez, Dusty Lytle and Jerid Stoffel finished in the top five.
"We've got the foursome," Stookey said. "They're not up front runners in a big meet, but they're toward the front. They hang in there together. Then, our fifth guy, Peter Wagoner, is having a rough time right now getting his times down, but that's going to come. When it comes, he's capable of running right up there with them. Hopefully, then we can get a few more runners in there close."
Moerchen and Melendez finished first and second and Lytle and Stoffel finished fourth and fifth for the Warriors. Peter Wagoner placed eighth overall to help Wawasee to a 7-2 record overall.
"We figure if we can go into the conference meet at 6-1 by defeating Warsaw and NorthWood, it would be super from this bunch of kids," Stookey said. "I can't say enough about them. They are a really outstanding bunch of kids. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to get out of the sectional. I think we need to up that, maybe more than that is possible."
On the girls' side, Wawasee defeated Concord handily 20-37. Katie McCauley moved into first place in the final 100 yards to win the event. Laura Lundin, Brenda Wong and Alisha Henderson took third through fifth place for the Warriors. Megan Hoffman rounded out the scoring with a seventh place finish.
"I'm really proud of the girls," girls coach Betsy Hoffman said. "They came together as a team and it showed in the outcome of the meet.
The boys improved to 7-2 overall as the girls improved to 2-5. They will be at the Culver Invitational on Saturday at 9 a.m. before heading to Warsaw on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
BOYS: WAWASEE 21, CONCORD 34
Wawasee - 1. Jeff Moerchen 17:01, 2. Pete Melendez 17:03, 4. Dusty Lytle 17:34, 5. Jerid Stoffel 17:36, 8. Peter Wagoner 18:19, 11. Rob Chalfant 18:43, 12. Curtis Shoemaker 19:05, 13. Dustin Young 19:19, 15. Ken McIntosh 19:22, 18. George Coquillord 19:41, 22. Andy Popenfoose 21:09, 24. John Heckaman 21:25, 25. Andrew Waugh 21:27
GIRLS: WAWASEE 20, CONCORD 37
Wawasee - 1. Katie McCauley 16:15, 3. Laura Lundin 17:02, 4. Brenda Wong 17:13, 5. Alisha Henderson 17:15, 7. Megan Hoffman 17:26, 9. Krista Bestul 18:07, 12. Mary Cockburn 19:06, 13. Julie Blakeslee 20:04
