FORT WAYNE — The seasons for the Wawasee boys and girls cross country teams ended at The Plex in Fort Wayne Saturday. Competing in the New Haven Semistate, the top six teams advanced to this Saturday’s IHSAA state finals in Terre Haute, but the Wawasee boys were 12th and the girls finished 16th. “It was tough to swallow, but I told them I was proud of them for how far they’ve come this year,” Wawasee coach Doug Slabaugh said in a phone interview Sunday afternoon. “Obviously, they would have loved to advanced, but they were able to walk away with their heads held high. They left it all out there.” In the boys race, No. 7 Carroll took home the title with 71 points, while the other state qualifiers were No. 15 Northridge (116), No. 19 Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger (142), South Bend Riley (149), No. 22 Homestead (160) and South Adams (169). The highlight for the Wawasee boys was junior Zach Cockrill’s performance, as he finished 23rd in 16:38. With that finish Cockrill was just over a second away from qualifying for state as an individual. Along with the top six teams moving on to state, the top 10 individuals not on an advancing team do as well. Bremen’s Kris Wickens was the last runner to qualify as an individual, finishing in 16:37.46, while Cockrill was 16:38.69. “He came in fired up and has come so far,” Slabaugh said of Cockrill. “(Senior) Adam (Doll) was ahead of him 99 percent of the race, but he came in at the end.” Doll has been Wawasee’s top runner this season, but finished 27th at the semistate in 16:43. Also for Wawasee, senior Austin Yoder was 57th (17:04), followed by senior Tucco in 101st (17:33), sophomore Jaxon Bame in 141st (18:03) and senior Austin Krizman in 144th (18:07). The fifth-ranked Carroll Lady Chargers won the girls race with 69 points, followed closely No. 7 Penn (73), while No. 9 Pendleton Heights was third (141), followed by No. 10 Northridge (164), No. 12 Homestead (168) and Huntington North (213), which defeated Fremont on a sixth-runner tiebreaker. For Wawasee, junior Bre Robinson was the top runner, placing 47th (20:09), followed by junior Courtney Linnemeier (88th, 20:52), freshman Delanie Bame (96th, 20:58), freshman Molly Swartz (123rd, 21:30), freshman Bridgette Yoder (138th, 21:50), freshman Bailey Schroeder (148th, 22:20) and freshman Elizabeth Zorn (163rd, 23:07). The Wawasee girls ran comparable times to what they did at the regional level, but with the competition ratcheted up, those times just weren’t enough. “Semistate is so strong, especially on the girls side,” Slabaugh said. “I also think it was a big learning experience for the girls, because Bre was the only girl, or boy, that had any semistate experience. I think it really takes a year of experience to produce real well.”
NEW HAVEN SEMISTATE
(Top 6 Teams, Top 10 Individuals Without Team Advance to State Finals)
BOYS
Team Scores – 1. Carroll 71, 2. Northridge 116, 3. F.W. Dwenger 142, 4. S.B. Riley 149, 5. Homestead 160, 6. South Adams 169, 7. F.W. Concordia 195, 8. Huntington North 211, 9. Penn 220, 10. Mt. Vernon 223, 11. West Noble 227, 12. Wawasee 252, 13. Goshen 264, 14. Oak Hill 391, 15. Bellmont 397, 16. Pendleton Heights 417, 17. Norwell 444, 18. Wapahani 519, 19. Yorktown 531, 20. Wes-Del 546 Top 10 – 1. Zachery Panning (Concordia) 15:19, 2. Brayden Law (Homestead) 15:53, 3. Mark Beckmann (DeKalb) 15:56, 4. Josh Neideck (Eastbrook) 16:02, 5. Blake O'Dell (Northridge) 16:04, 6. Andy Timmons (S.B. Adams) 16:05, 7. Travis Kulczar (S.B. Riley) 16:06, 8. Brandon Arnold (West Noble) 16:08, 9. Cameron Clements (Carroll) 16:10, 10. Jacob Timmons (S.B. Adams) 16:12 Wawasee – 23. Zach Cockrill 16:38, 27. Adam Doll 16:43, 57. Austin Yoder 17:04, 101. Jacob Tucco 17:33, 135. Bailey Yoder 17:53, 141. Jaxon Bame 18:03, 144. Austin Krizman 18:07
