Wawasee’s Spencer Hare makes his way through a stretch of the woods during Saturday’s race at the New Haven Semi-State. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

FORT WAYNE — After a 2015 season that ended in frustration with a young team that peaked too early, Wawasee’s boys cross country team was left on the outside looking in at the sectional’s top five teams. Flash forward more than a year later and that team, still fueled by a young core, righted the ship to not only make it out of sectional, but also out of the regional to run at its first semi-state meet since 2013.

Saturday’s New Haven Semi-State meet proved to be the limit for the 2016 Warriors, but not before Wawasee had one of its best meets of the season. The youthful Warriors were the only squad to race five sophomores, but did not let that stop them from placing 11th overall.

“I just feel blessed and I really thank God for the opportunity to coach these guys,” began Wawasee head coach Chad Hoffert. “They’ve been tremendous the whole way. Back in summer with preseason stuff and all the way through the training. They poured it all out when we pushed them to do so, every time.”

Wawasee was led by Luke Griner. The sophomore trailed fellow sophomore Spencer Hare for virtually the entire race but, when the pack of runners emerged from the tree line on the final stretch towards the finish, it was Griner that had suddenly held a sizable lead on Hare. Griner ran a 16:48.69 to pace the Warriors while Hare finished 17:02.92.

Sam Griner, the team’s lone senior, did fantastic in his final meet. Griner posted a PR with his final time of 17:21.51.

Braxton Alexander posted a 17:25.76 for the Warriors in just his third varsity meet of the season. Ben Hoffert came in at 17:51.54. Wawasee’s top seven was rounded off by sophomore Brandon Kidd (19:19.14) and freshman Isiah Faurote (19:19.77).

The Warriors knew they would not be punching a ticket to state, but they were anxious to see how well they could do as a young team at this stage.

“We were realistic today,” Hoffert explained. “We thought if we ran an average race, we’d be in that 14-15 range. Above average would put us top 12, probably. A really good race would put us in the single digits. The boys ran a good race today. Our times were similar to our sectional run a few weeks ago. With this environment, twice as many runners, it takes a lot more mental concentration.

“We talked about executing the first half of the race and our guys did that. The second half wasn’t as strong for some of our guys, but they were where they needed to be to give themselves a chance at success and that’s all you can do. I could not be more proud.”

Looking ahead to 2017, Hoffert knows he has some big returning names and wants to build depth, but doesn’t want to overlook to loss of his one senior.

“Sam was a tremendous leader for us all year,” said Hoffert. “He had a PR today and what a great way for a senior to go out. You’ve got to feel great for him. We’ll have to fill that leadership void next year as well as build depth. We have quality, but we need more depth. We’ll have to find some kids roaming the hallways that might want to be a part of what we’re tying to do.

“Nothing is guaranteed. We know what we can do. This is a great experience, a big stepping stone. We want to make this an annual trip. We’ve made some big stride towards that this year.”

Carroll won the team title for the fifth year in a row. Penn, Westview, Concordia, Northrop and Pendleton Heights rounded out the top six teams that will move on to state. Northridge took 9th overall. Concord was 12th. Saturday’s results marked the first time Wawasee had beaten Concord this season. No Northern Lakes Conference boys teams advanced to state this year.