Warsaw Ladies In Championship Form
WARSAW – Warsaw girls cross country coach Matt Campbell said that the plan was for his team to come out firing to see what they could do Tuesday night.
What the host Tigers, a deep and talented bunch, did was simply run away from the competition in dominating their own Tiger Invitational.
Star sophomore Allison Miller led the championship effort with a second place overall performance in the heat and humidity at WCHS.
The host Tigers had their top five scoring runners hit the finish line in the top nine in earning the title in the 10-team field.
Warsaw, ranked No. 19 in this week’s coaches poll, posted a team score of 30. No. 23 Huntington North was a distant second with a score of 72.
“I saw a lot of good things tonight,” said coach Campbell of his squad. “To have five runners in the top nine tonight is awesome.
“Allison is our No. 1, but our next four I could not give you an order on. Allison is really looking good, but we have an incredible five and a great top 10 on this team.
“Our plan tonight was to come out hard and see what we could do. We beat Huntington North, who had been ranked ahead of us earlier in the season.
“The thing we are preaching is that every individual counts on this team. We want the team up there. If we go far this year, it’s going to take a team effort. We have a lot of depth and this team will open eyes as the season goes along.”
Miller, who was the top runner for last year’s state finalist squad as a freshman, has not missed a beat. She covered her home course Tuesday in a time of 19:32.
Jenna Halderman of Northfield won the girls’ 5K with a top time of 19:02.
Anna Craig crossed the finish line in fourth place overall for the champion Tigers in a time of 20:02. The trio of Emma Hayward, Brooke Rhodes and Claire Kehler then crossed in seventh, eighth and ninth in times of 20:22, 20:33 and 20:43 respectively to give Warsaw a dominating top five effort.
Also placing in the top 20 overall for the Tigers were Hannah Dawson in 12th (21:03), Mia Beckham in 16th (21:26) and Hannah Thompson in 19th (21:35).
Warsaw dominated the final team placings with its score of 30. Huntington North was second with 72, followed by Northfield (72), Columbia City (124), Angola (147), Fairfield (163), NorthWood (179), Whitko (219), Tippecanoe Valley (246) and Bethany Christian (249).
Brigit Nemitz was the top finisher for Whitko as she placed 27th overall in a time of 22:08. Completing the top five for the Wildcats were Michelle Kelsey in 37th (22:52), Hanna Yohe in 60th (24:15), Courtney Edwards in 71st (25:07) and Taylor Reiff in 99th (27:19).
Karly Kitch was the first Tippecanoe Valley runner to cross the finish line as she finished in 39th place overall in a time of 23:06. The next four runners for the Vikings were Breelyn Conley in 56th place overall (23:50), Courtney Burns in 73rd (25:23), Alexia Durkes in 76th (25:27) and Brooklyn Conley in 81st (25:29).
Also competing for the champion Tigers Tuesday were Lauren Orr, Mallory Hooks, Rebecca Lemon, Liza Lewis, Meredith Phipps, Charlene Orr, Michaela Roark, Kendra Paton, Jemina Fugate, Courtney Sainer, Diamond Dove, Taylor Strickler, Daisie Poe, Claire Rich, Sierra Palmer, Susana Pizano, Alexis Winters, Emma Lehman, Kaitlyn Still, Katie Newland, Amber Hagan, Shyanne McFadden, Aubrey Doyle, Natalie Nichols, Emily Shepherd and Maddy Cardwell.
Warsaw returns to action Sept. 9 versus NorthWood and host Northridge in the Northern Lakes Conference opener at Bonneyville Mill Park at 5:30 p.m.