Luke Griner passes a competitor to claim 12th place in Saturday’s sectional race at Ox Bow. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

GOSHEN – It a very cut and dry type of morning at the Elkhart Boys Cross Country Sectional at Ox Bow Park. Northridge claimed the top prize for the 11th time in program history by scoring 55 points. Goshen (77), NorthWood (81), Concord (91) and Elkhart Christian (146) rounded out the top five team qualifiers for next week’s regional.

Parker Bame

Wawasee was the first team left out with its team total hitting 170. The Warriors were running without one of their top two runners in Spencer Hare. Hare has missed the past few meets due to a hip injury but a case of pneumonia factored into his absence for the sectional. Missing Hare the past two meets seemed to have a mental effect on the rest of the team, but Saturday was a different story.

The Warriors ran a fantastic race and still managed to push three individual runners through to the regional level.

Luke Griner paced that trio. The freshman placed 12th with a time of 17:21. Junior Sam Griner ran a personal best on the grounds at Ox Bow and secured a regional spot with a time of 17:32. Ben Hoffert, another Warrior freshman, ran the course in 18:08, hovering around a personal record.

Braxton Alexander, yet another freshman, narrowly missed being the fourth Warrior to qualify as he ran a PR at 18:36. Logan Brugh was the fifth Warrior to cross the finish line at 20:04. Parker Bame, the fourth and final freshman on Wawasee’s six man squad, continued his strong finish to the season with a time of 20:13.

“We talked to the boys about leaving no regrets out on the course,” began Wawasee head coach Chad Hoffert. “We told them to run how they train, not on how they feel. I’m tremendously proud of the guys that ran today. They put everything out there.

Conner Sandt

“Our top four ran great. Braxton and Sam had PRs for the year. Ben ran right a this PR for the third time this year. Same ran his second-best time of the year, but beat his time on this course by a minute. They all went out, attacked the course and didn’t let it dictate how they ran.”

Wawasee was one of the few, if not the only team, running four freshmen in today’s race. Getting three runners through is a big step moving forward for the team.

“That’s a good building block,” Hoffert said when asked about his three qualifiers. “Not just for them, but for the team going into the offseason. I was proud of how everyone ran today, not just those top three. All six of our guys ran better this week than they did here last week.

“For those guys moving on, it’s a great accomplishment and I’m really proud of them.”

Wawasee’s trio will return to Ox Bow next Saturday as the Elkhart Central Sectional will combine with the South Bend Riley Sectional.

Conner Sandt (16:10) of Northridge was the individual champion. Goshen’s Juan Perez (16:39) and Fairfield’s Landon Miller (16:50), NorthWood’s Ryan Price (16:51) and Goshen’s Jason Barahona (16:57) rounded out the top five.

Ben Hoffert keeps pace with the pack.