Ligonier End Of Line For Nemitz
LIGONIER – The cross country road came to a close Saturday for Whitko senior Brigit Nemitz. The only Wildcat harrier left in the state tournament, Nemitz was unable to qualify for the semi-state after a 38th-place finish at the West Noble Girls Cross Country Regional.
Nemitz ran 20:50 on the West Noble course, but fell behind the pace of a group just in front of her that had the last semi-state qualifying individual, Brittany Linn of Lakeland. The Laker paced at 20:24, which was 29th overall in the race, but the 26 seconds of difference had Nemitz place 14th among individuals, needing to be in the top 10 among the non-team qualifiers.
Winning the girls race was Fort Wayne Carroll’s Madison Fruchey, who continued to post some of the fastest times in the state with an 18:04. Tyler Schwartz of DeKalb was second at 18:08. Fruchey and Carroll won the regional team title with 42 points, followed by semi-state qualifiers Homestead (65), East Noble (96), DeKalb (99) and Fort Wayne Dwenger (145).
The boys race had Brayden Law of Homestead run away with the title at 15:17. Fort Wayne Carroll took the team title at 56, and will be joined at IPFW next weekend for the New Haven Semi-state with teams from Fort Wayne Concordia (85), Westview (90), West Noble (109) and Fort Wayne Snider (143).