NorthWood’s Garrett Myers works through the second 1,000 at the Elkhart Central Cross Country Sectional Saturday morning. (Photos by Mike Deak)

ELKHART – One step at a time. In cross country, that’s all it takes. On a 5,000-meter course like Ox Bow Park, those steps can be treacherous and measured. But in a ladder like the cross country state tournament, taking one step at a time is paramount.

Step one was accomplished by the NorthWood and Wawasee boys teams, as well as a handful of girls from the two schools as results filtered in. The look on the Wawasee boys faces, in particular, told the tale as results were read Saturday morning at Ox Bow Park.

The Warriors didn’t look particularly strong on the course, but in a muddle with Concord, Elkhart Christian and Elkhart Central, the four teams would lump themselves in a chase for places as the opening boys race unfolded. After a tough race at the Northern Lakes Conference Championships a week ago at Ox Bow, Michael Hammer looked a more healthy version of himself. Shaking off some back issues, Hammer returned to the top 10 with a ninth-place stop of 17:08, beating Goshen’s Adrian Mora to the line by a quarter second.

Wawasee’s Michael Hammer and Karlson Hand helped the Warriors to a team regional berth.

Karlson Hand drafted the two into the finish at 17:09, and Jace Alexander gave Wawasee a third time under 18 with a 17:54. Concord’s four and five were ahead of Wawasee’s four and five, Camden Powell (18:19) and Thomas Conley (18:28), but the placings became critical as Wawasee’s two in the top 11 bettered Concord’s eighth and 23rd. Wawasee scored 145 points to Concord’s 148, with ECA at 153 and Central at 159.

“We knew if we ran like last week and just went even-Steven, we were going to be in that seven or eight area,” started Wawasee head coach Chad Hoffert. “It sounds easy to just say ‘If we can get five guys to run their best race of the season’ you know, then you need two teams not have a good day and you can sneak in there. Hey, it worked out for us. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t happen often, but it happened for us today.”

While the battle for fifth played out, NorthWood boys head coach Justin Bell was just as nervous. Knowing his team ran well, but unsure to how the points would sort out, Bell just wanted to make sure his club had a better fate than a year ago. Placing six in the regional despite missing the team designation in a quirk only cross country can love, the Panthers were hoping to just make it official and not take the back door.

Brady Hunsberger led the Panthers with a great pack run and a 15th-place time of 17:27, and had Sam Schlatter on his heels in 16th at 17:28. Garrett Myers was in 19th at 17:36, Eric Hochstetler was 20th at 17:37 and Jordan Burden was NorthWood’s fifth time with a 22nd-place time of 17:41. With that, NorthWood scored 92 points to take third and earn the automatic ticket to next week’s regional.

“How the guys stacked up as a team can kind of ebb and flow, but as a team, we brought in all five of our guys within 14 seconds of each other, and that was key,” Bell said. “We ran well as a group, as a team. Our guys on the back end did a good job to hold up those places that became really important in this race.”

Goshen, behind the one-two finishes of Drew Hogan (16:15) and Cole Johnston (16:17) ran away with the title with 37 points. Northridge was second at 81 points, and Elkhart Memorial grabbed the other automatic bid with 99 points and fourth place.

NorthWood’s Emilie Allen works the stairs on the back half of the Ox Bow course.

The girls race had a similar set of circumstances in the scoring and positioning battles. Northridge was the clear cut champion, scoring 32 points behind a tremendous effort from its top seven, its top six taking landing between four and 10. But from there, runner-up Fairfield and seventh-place Memorial were were separated by just 24 points. In that window, NorthWood was the first one out, taking sixth place at 131 points, three points shy of Concord and six from Goshen. Elkhart Central was third at 117.

“I think our girls raced really well despite some nagging pains,” said NorthWood girls coach Mark Mikel. “Megan Miller had a really good race, Reese (Barhydt) did a great job making up some places in front of her, and gutted out some injury issues. I’m really pleased with how the girls raced today overall. They all did very well.”

The Panthers do advance three to the next round as individuals as part of the top 10 outside the advancing teams. Kaitlin Burden came in at 21 minutes flat to take 10th in the table, with teammates Emilie Allen (21:26) and Miller (21:35) running well enough to live another day. Mia Wellington (22:08) and Barhydt (22:36) were four and five on the Panther list.

Wawasee was eighth at 164, but did have a pair of runners get through. Emma Ebright continued to recover from some ailments to time 21:35, beating NorthWood’s Miller to the line by a half step, and Cammy Kryder ran a season best 21:53 in a step forward for the Warriors. Coach Doug Slabaugh had hoped his pack would push up more than what it showed at the NLC, and did stay together Saturday. The times, however, didn’t translate to a team berth as Bailey Mayhew (22:26), Ella Beezley (22:27), Mariah Hurst (22:28) and Lily Tyler (22:32) all were steps within each other for most of the race.

“Three through six right together, we just needed them up a little farther,” Slabaugh said. “They were all right together, just couldn’t get them up closer to where they needed to be. Emma is barely practicing but gave it her all today. Cammy had a nice race today, right up at her PR. Really all the pressure is off right now, getting out of the sectional for our two. Now you can just go run and see what you have.”

Advancing teams and individuals will compete next Saturday at the Elkhart Central Regional again at Ox Bow Park. Boys race begins at 10:30 a.m. and the girls race to follow. The same five teams and 10 non-teamed individuals move to the New Haven Semi-State at PFW on Oct. 26.

Wawasee’s pack of, from left, Lily Tyler, Ella Beezley, Bailey Mayhew and Mariah Hurst run to the finish at the Elkhart Central Cross Country Sectional.