Warsaw Girls Track: Tigers Impressive In NLC Opener
ELKHART – The Warsaw girls track team came into the season as the team to beat once again in the Northern Lakes Conference.
The Tigers looked just like the favorites Tuesday night too as the league season got started.
A plethora of performers turned in top-notch efforts as Warsaw opened NLC action with dominating wins over Plymouth and host Elkhart Memorial in a league triangular.
Audrey Rich led the way for the Tigers with a huge night as Warsaw defeated the Pilgrims 97-35 and the Crimson Chargers 119-13 on a chilly evening at Charger Field. Plymouth topped Memorial 88-44.
Warsaw, which had not competed since a 68-64 loss at Homestead on March 29, improves to 4-1 overall.
“We’re excited to come here and start the NLC season with two wins,” said Warsaw coach Scott Erba. “One of our goals is to win the NLC. We had some good performances tonight. After having nine days off and coming back from Spring Break with just one practice (Monday), it was not too shabby. I’m really happy.”
Senior standout Rich dashed to wins in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes as the Tigers collected wins in 10 of the 11 events on the track. Rich won the 100 in 12.99 and took top honors in the 200 in 26.92.
Rich also played a part on two of the three winning relay teams. She teamed with Samantha Alexander, Maygan Bellamy and Abbi Curtis to win the 4 X 100 in a time of 51.29. Rich combined with Bellamy, Brooke Rhodes and Remi Beckham to win the 4 X 400 in a best effort of 4:22.19.
The trio of Bellamy, Remi Beckham and Rhodes each collected a single win on the track. Bellamy won the 300 hurdles (50.96), while Beckham took the 40 (1:04.26) and Rhodes the 1,600 (5:38.51). Mia Beckham won the 800 in a time of 2:26.20 for the Tigers, while Emma Hayward captured the 3,200 in 12:31.64.
Warsaw started the night off by winning the 4 X 800 relay as the team of Mia Beckham, Allison Miller, Claire Kehler and Hannah Dawson prevailed in 9:58.03.
“Audrey had a good night and Sam ran a great 200 for us,” said Erba of two of his standouts. “We had good jumps in the high jump and the long jump. Sam almost went 18 feet tonight. By and large, we had a number of bests in the 3,200 and the 300 hurdles too. All of our distance people ran well tonight.”
The Tigers won a trio of field events. Star senior Alexander, a state qualifier last year, sailed to a win in the long jump with a top effort of 17-11. Alexie Day cleared 5-0 to win the high jump and Joelle Messenger vaulted 7-6 to take first in the pole vault.
Warsaw got second-place finishes from Curtis (100), Rhodes (400), Miller (800), Alexander (200), Remi Beckham (high jump), Lauren Orr (1,600), Angie Sanchez-Vigil (3,200) and Micahaela Burriff (pole vault).
The Tigers had third-place efforts from Curtis (200 and high jump), Day (100 hurdles), Dawson (800), Miller (3,200), Dayton Groninger (1,600), Morgan Bruner (high jump) and Emily Bailey (shot put).
“We still have areas that we need to grow in,” remarked Erba. “We have a lot of young girls making strides and I think that they will just get better and better because of the internal competition that we have on this team. The good thing is that we have girls willing to put the work in that we need to before the postseason arrives.”
Warsaw will host Goshen in another NLC meet on Tuesday at 5 p.m.