Wawasee Returns To State

NORTH MANCHESTER - Warsaw girls cross country coach Paul Sibray and Wawasee boys cross country coach Dave Stookey thought their teams would have to deliver their best performances of the season at semistate to advance to the state finals.

Neither team put together a perfect meet. But Wawasee performed well enough to grab fifth place to earn its first trip to the state finals since 1988. Warsaw's season ended with a ninth-place finish.

The top five teams and top 15 individuals advance from Saturday's Manchester Semistate to Saturday's state finals in Bloomington.

"I don't mean to sound high-faluting with my answer, but I thought we could finish anywhere from third to 10th," Stookey said. "I knew everybody would have to hit 100 percent to get third. We didn't quite get that, but I'm happy to get out with fifth place."

DeKalb won the boys meet, featuring 158 runners, with a score of 82. Fort Wayne Northrop crushed the competition in the girls race, winning with 64 points. Second-place Bellmont had 132 points. One hundred fifty-four runners competed in the girls race.

The results of both races went as the final high school polls would have predicted. DeKalb, ranked No. 10, was followed by No. 14 Fort Wayne Northrop (139), No. 17 Norwell (152), No. 19 Northridge (193) and No. 20 Wawasee (201). None of the other 15 boys teams were ranked.

In the girls race, No. 7 Fort Wayne Northrop was followed by No. 12 Bellmont, No. 13 Homestead (144), No. 19 DeKalb (150) and No. 20 Northridge (160).

Tippecanoe Valley freshman Laura Lash moved on to the state finals with a 14th-place time of 14:39. She was Valley's lone representative at the semistate.

The flat cross country course at Manchester High School has the reputation of being a sprinter's course.

Wawasee finished 10 points ahead of sixth-place Northfield.

DeKalb's Ryan Johnson won the race with a time of 15:13. Wawasee's Rob Chalfant placed 10th (15:56), Ryan Stichter 26th (16:25), Flaco Perales 44th (16:42), Curtis Farrell 75th (17:03), Luke Stoffel 94th (17:21), Matt Dunithan 125th (17:59) and Eric Gingerich 146th (18:51).

Perales, a sophomore, had finished first for Wawasee at sectional and regional, but with Chalfant getting healthier, the senior reclaimed the top spot for the Warriors.

Chalfant's time of 15:56 bettered his 1999 Manchester Semistate time of 16:08, but both years he placed 10th.

"Rob is finally getting over the sickness he had, the cold and congestion he had," Stookey said. "Hopefully - he hates for me to use the term 100 percent - but hopefully he will be 100 percent next week. Rob didn't (set a) personal record, but we had him and two other guys really come through.

"Ryan Stichter finished second for us, and he probably had a personal record. Flaco didn't have a good race. I think he went out too fast. Curtis Farrell's time of 17:03 was definitely a personal record for him. He moved up into the fourth spot for us. Luke Stoffel didn't have his best race."

Wawasee delivered one of its best meets of the season. Warsaw had one of its worst.

A year ago Warsaw's girls team had its best meet of the year at the Manchester Semistate. While five of their top six runners returned this year, the Tigers could not recapture the magic that saw them finish second in 1999 with a score of 119.

"We thought we had a chance to get three girls out, but we got only one out," Sibray said.

The only one to advance to the state finals was Jennifer Finch, who placed 12th with a time of 14:38. One of Warsaw's top three runners, she did what was expected, as she thrives on flat courses.

"Jennifer likes this course because it's one where she can get out and go," Sibray said. "I feel great for Jennifer, who will be a very good representative for our program."

But Warsaw's other top two runners - Hillary Barlow and Rachel Rondeau - struggled at the meet.

Barlow, Warsaw's top runner for most of the season, placed 36th with a time of 15:19. Rondeau placed 51st with a time of 15:32. Also for Warsaw, Melonie Albert placed 108th (16:22), Amy Robertson 109th (16:23), Jill Wehrly 111th (16:25) and Jessica Wehrly 120th (16:37). Albert and Robertson each had personal-best times.

Asked if it was Warsaw's worst race of the season, Sibray said, "Everything considered, it is."

At the same time, Sibray said, "It would have been a long shot to get our team out."

But he thought Barlow, Finch and Rondeau had a good chance of placing in the top 15 to advance.

A year ago in the semistate at the same course, Finch placed fourth (14:48), Barlow seventh (14:57) and Rondeau 15th (15:09). The meet was more competitive this year as a time of 14:48 would have placed Finch 16th.

Barlow's semistate performance followed a disappointing regional performance. Last week Barlow had physical problems and finished behind Finch and Rondeau for 13th at the regional.

"That's (36th) not where I thought Hillary would be," Sibray said. "I think everything kind of piled on her here at the end. I don't know if the mental stress was too much, but she just didn't have the fire here at the end that she had. Her desire was gone, her fire to run was gone.

"Rachel had a bad day, too. She had stomach cramps. I feel bad for Hillary and Rachel."

2000 MANCHESTER CROSS

COUNTRY SEMISTATE

Saturday in North Manchester

Top 15 individuals and top 5 teams advance to state finals in Bloomington

*competing as individual (team did not advance to semistate)

Girls (154 runners competed)

Team scores -Ê1. No. 7 FW Northrop 64, 2. No. 12 Bellmont 132, 3. No. 13 Homestead 144, 4. No. 19 DeKalb 150, 5. No. 20 Northridge 160, 6. Carroll (Allen) 187, 7. FW Concordia 227, 8. Richmond 236, 9. Warsaw 267, 10. West Noble 292, 11. Goshen 299, 12. Kokomo 326, 13. Northfield 349, 14. New Castle 353, 15. Huntington North 369, 16. Delta 377, 17. Yorktown 413, 18. Southwood 418, 19. FW Bishop Luers 427, 20. Winchester 488

Top 15 individual results - 1. Natalie Ewing (Northridge) 14:09, 2. Aubrey Gaffer (FW Northrop) 14:12, 3. Nikki Jasperson (FW Bishop Luers) 14:23, 4. Kathleen Doehla (FW Concordia) 14:26, 5. *Megan Hardenbrook (Garrett) 14:28, 6. Katy Pryor (New Castle) 14:33, 7. *Christan Bahler (Western) 14:35, 8. Amy Rodeghero (Richmond) 14:36, 9. Shadricka Burnett (FW Northrop) 14:37, 10. Caitlin Baird (Yorktown) 14:37, 11. Natalie Shaffer (New Castle) 14:38, 12. Jennifer Finch (Warsaw) 14:38, 13. *Jenny Furge (Angola) 14:38, 14. *Laura Lash (Tippecanoe Valley) 14:39, 15. Stephanie Eilar (Richmond) 14:45

Other local results - 36. Hillary Barlow (Warsaw) 15:19, 51. Rachel Rondeau (Warsaw) 15:32, 53. *Lydia Flora (Manchester) 15:35, 108. Melonie Albert

(Warsaw) 16:22, 109. Amy Robertson 16:23 (Warsaw), 111. Jill Wehrly (Warsaw) 16:25, 120. Jessica Wehrly (Warsaw) 16:37

Boys (158 runners competed)

Team scores - 1. No. 10 DeKalb 82, 2. No. 14 FW Northrop 139, 3. No. 17 Norwell 152, 4. No. 19 Northridge 193, 5. No. 20 Wawasee 201, 6. Northfield 211, 7. Bellmont 214, 8. Huntington North 219, 9. FW North Side 226, 10. Kokomo 243, 11. Richmond 251, 12. Carroll (Allen) 254, 13. Central Noble 287, 14. Homestead 293, 15. Union City 322, 16. Marion 369, 17. New Castle 385, 18. Angola 399, 19. Centerville 468, 20. Delta 483

Top 15 individual results - 1. Ryan Johnson (DeKalb) 15:13, 2. *Bret Grover (Bluffton) 15:15, 3. Kaleb VanOrt (DeKalb) 15:18, 4. *Thomas Wolfe (Fairfield) 15:46, 5. Cody Brown (Central Noble) 15:47, 6. Josh Wolfe (DeKalb) 15:49, 7. *Matthew Cummings (Elkhart Memorial) 15:51, 8. Sean Threewits (Union City) 15:52, 9. *Scott Borchelt (FW Concordia) 15:55, 10. Rob Chalfant (Wawasee) 15:56, 11. Brandon Reichert (FW Northrop) 15:58, 12. Josh Quintana (Bellmont) 16:01, 13. Adam Truex (Norwell) 16:01, 14. Ian Wilson (Homestead) 16:02, 15. *Chris Brown (Bluffton)

Other local results - 26. Ryan Stichter (Wawasee) 16:25, 44. Paul Perales (Wawasee) 16:42, 75. Chris Farrell (Wawasee) 17:03, 94. Luke Stoffel (Wawasee) 17:21, 125. Matt Dunithan (Wawasee) 17:59, 146. Eric Gingerich (Wawasee) 18:51