Tigers Amidst Drama At NLC
DUNLAP – In a sport that’s pretty cut and dry, the cross country conference races at Ox Bow Park were surrounded in a good bit of drama.
First on the list Saturday morning was a scheduling snafu, that had race coordinators inadvertently sending inaccurate information to the schools of the Northern Indiana Conference and Northern Lakes Conference, both of which comprise the annual cross country conference gatherings at Ox Bow Park. Since the NLC and NIC boys were listed to both run at the same time according to the sheets, both conference’s coaches decided to run together. Which changed the format of the boys race.
When the dust settled for the boys, Warsaw’s Ellis Coon sprinted from four spots back to pass the entire field and win the boys race at 16:12.63, edging Northridge’s Blake O’Dell by two seconds in the NLC grid. Warsaw would bring home all five of its runners in the top 11, keeping the Tigers 12 points clear of runner-up Northridge for the conference title. Given Warsaw’s 7-0 round robin record, Warsaw claimed the title outright.
Coon, who has struggled with bumps and bruises along with some mental trials as the postseason has approached, would not be denied, not even by NIC runners from Adams and Riley that led for much of the race.
“Our main goal as a team was to stick with the Northridge guys, we knew coming in here they were the ones who could beat us,” Coon stated. “I was lucky enough to fight through some stuff in my head during the race. I did this last year, I can do it again. Do I really want it bad enough? I guess I did.”
Sewing up the championship for Warsaw were Owen Glogovsky at 16:48 and Tyler Houvener at 16:49, with Nick Bergen at 16:58 and Daniel Messenger at 17:04.
“They ran exactly the way we wanted, we went out fast,” Warsaw boys head coach Jim Mills said. “It’s funny, I was talking with Ryan (McClane, Northridge boys coach) and he said he thought we would do the opposite and go out slow and take them like we did over at NorthWood. It was the opposite and his guys couldn’t keep up. So, we ran consistently today and got the results we hoped to get.”
The girls race would not feature a confluence of conferences, as the NIC and NLC ran apart and on schedule, but the NLC race would require calculators and a little playing to the crowd by NLC secretary Larry Kissinger.
The winner of the girls race was not contested, as Elkhart Memorial’s Sierra Moore was hands down the best racer of the lot. Moore’s time of 19:09 wasn’t tested by anyone else in the field after about 500 meters. The only person near Moore was Warsaw’s Allison Miller, who ran with Moore for a while before parting ways. Miller, however, would distance herself as the best of the rest, finishing at 19:37.
Placing would be critical from there out, as Warsaw and Northridge would find themselves needing to sprint to the finish to determine the conference champion.
Northridge’s best time, a 20:03 from Olivia Golden, was third place overall and the Lady Raiders also took fifth, 11th, 12th and 14th. Warsaw had Hannah Dawson place fourth (20:06), followed by Brooke Rhodes (6th, 20:16), Madeline Hooks (16th, 21:16) and Aletheia Burritt (17th, 21:20).
On paper, the placings added up to Northridge 45, Warsaw 45. Eyes then shifted to who was next, which would be Northridge’s Carly Spirito in 23rd place at 21:44. For Warsaw, the heartbreak came as its sixth time was Claire Kehler, who was 24th place at 21:49 and was outpaced by Spirito in the final 50 meters of the race.
The outcome of the conference, which Kissinger took every liberty to draw out as he held the girls scores tight until he read off the news to a waiting throng of spectators and teams, left a seated Warsaw head coach Scott Erba rolling backward on the ground in disbelief. Northridge’s 7-0 round robin record held up, and the Raiders were handed the conference hardware.
“I really give our girls a lot of credit, they ran their hearts out today,” Erba said. “They put themselves in a great position to win. To have it come down today to a tie score and one spot, five seconds, that is as close as you can get. I’m just really proud of the way our girls competed today, and hat’s off to Northridge for doing the job they did, as well.”
What Saturday produced for both teams should parlay well when Warsaw moves its attention to Culver Academy, which will host the sectional and regional races. Warsaw, by all accounts, should not be tested too heavily until the semi-state, but neither coach is going to discount anything in preparation.
“I think they got their wake-up call at Culver Academy and New Prairie,” Mills said of the two invitationals that left Warsaw short of desired results. “We beat every New Prairie semi-state team except for West Lafayette even though we didn’t run as well as we wanted. We are still plenty motivated, if only because we enjoyed where we were last year standing on the podium.”
“Our first objective is to advance, you have to survive,” added Erba about the next step in the sectional. “I feel confident of us being able to advance. But we will see a good program in Rochester, and we would pick up Eastern Greentown in the regional who has a really good team. Culver Academy is improving and Plymouth will be there, too. The experience today can only help us. We can step off five seconds and see what it takes between winning and second place. You hope that is something the girls take on.”
Wawasee did not find its output at the NLC to be second fiddle, considering what Northridge and Warsaw have been doing all season. With Warsaw moving west to the Academy formats, Wawasee used the chance to run on the Ox Bow course – which will host the sectional and regional races – as primer for the next steps on the goal chart.
The boys finished fourth overall in the NLC standings at 94 points, 16 points behind a Goshen team that edged Wawasee by three in head-to-head racing in Syracuse last week. Round robin results put Wawasee in the same position, just behind Goshen for fourth.
Adam Doll led the charge for Wawasee with an aggressive race at 16:46, keeping pace with Northridge’s Conner Sandt for most of the contest and sprinting away from Glogovsky and Houvner at the finish line. Zach Cockrill gave Wawasee its second top-15 time at 17:01, taking 10th place in another strong run.
Austin Yoder (23rd, 17:46), Jacob Tucco (28th, 17:57) and Troy Carolus (29th, 17:58) comprised Wawasee’s top five scorers in the meet.
“We just had to go out and compete,” said Wawasee head coach Doug Slabaugh on running with the NIC as well as the NLC. “I told them, these are schools that will feed into our sectional and regional, so we’ll see them anyways. I was excited for the opportunity to race against them and see how we stack up. I thought our guys moved up well, but our pack got stuck back with all the other teams running. I was happy with Jacob Tucco and Troy. They ran really good races. All of our guys ran well, it was really good to see.”
The Lady Warriors were more spread out than Slabaugh would have liked, but still were able to place third overall at the meet with 87 points, well ahead of Plymouth in fourth at 111 points. The result would place Wawasee third in the conference behind Warsaw and Northridge in the final standings.
Wawasee’s Bre Robinson showed a good amount of grit in her firsts race in a couple weeks, running ninth at 20:35. Dealing with an injured foot, Robinson showed signs of favoring during the race and was noticeably bothered by it post-race.
Bridgette Yoder earned All-NLC honors with a 10th place time of 20:46, fighting off a pair of Northridge runners in the final chute to claim the placing. Molly Swartz outran Concord’s Anna Nisen and teammate Courtney Linnemeier in the final 50 meters to sprint home a 21:24, with Nisen at 21:25 and Linnemeier at 21:26. Delaine Bame was the fifth score, landing in 30th place at 22:10.
“I think this is our identity, and if that’s the case, you have to fight by yourself and be tough,” Slabaugh said of his girls. “We did some nice things today, and we should be OK at sectionals.”
Wawasee will serve as the only non-Elkhart County team at the Elkhart Central Sectional next Tuesday.
In the JV races, Warsaw’s Jacob DeBoest won the boys race with a time of 17:17, while Wawasee’s top time came from Sam Griner in fourth place at 18:28. Emma Hayward had a runner-up finish in the girls race at 21:37 with Wawasee’s Shelby Adams posting its top time with a 23:38.
Northern Lakes Conference Cross Country Championships, Ox Bow Park
BOYS RACE
1. Warsaw 32
2. Northridge 46
3. Goshen 78
4. Wawasee 94
5. Elkhart Memorial 130
6. NorthWood 143
7. Plymouth 188
8. Concord 209
Top 15
1. Ellis Coon, Warsaw 16:12
2. Blake O’Dell, Northridge 16:14
3. Conner Sandt, Northridge 16:40
4. Adam Doll, Wawasee 16:46
5. Owen Glogovsky, Warsaw 16:48
6. Tyler Houvener, Warsaw 16:49
7. Gerardo Abad, Goshen 16:51
8. James Bradberry, Northridge 16:56
9. Nick Bergen, Warsaw 16:58
10. Zach Cockrill, Wawasee 17:01
11. Daniel Messenger, Warsaw 17:04
12. Neel Patel, Northridge 17:07
13. Shawn Graves, Goshen 17:16
14. Lane Graves, Goshen 17:30
15. Caleb Darr, NorthWood 17:33
GIRLS RACE
1. Northridge 45* (6th score 23)
2. Warsaw 45* (6th score 24)
3. Wawasee 87
4. Plymouth 111
5. Concord 118
6. Goshen 144
7. Elkhart Memorial 150
8. NorthWood 204
Top 15
1. Sierra Moore, Elkhart Memorial 19:09
2. Allison Miller, Warsaw 19:37
3. Olivia Golden, Northridge 20:03
4. Hannah Dawson, Warsaw 20:06
5. Morgan Blyly, Northridge 20:07
6. Brooke Rhodes, Warsaw 20:16
7. Abby Patrick, Plymouth 20:26
8. Vanessa Steiner, Concord 20:31
9. Bre Robinson, Wawasee 20:35
10. Bridgette Yoder, Wawasee 20:46
11. Katelyn Kilmer, Northridge 20:49
12. Molly Campbell, Northridge 20:52
13. Libby Read, Plymouth 20:53
14. Mariah King, Northridge 20:54
15. Tricia Place, Goshen 21:07
*23. Carly Spirito, Northridge 21:44
*24. Claire Kehler, Warsaw 21:49