XC Regionals: Moves Need To Be Made
The term ‘moving day’ in the golf world refers to Saturday as the day when competitors try to position themselves for a run to win the tournament. If there was a moving day in cross country, this Saturday would be it.
The regional round of the IHSAA cross country series will hit sites around the state, another chance for five teams and 10 individuals to continue on the quest to make Terre Haute and the state finals on Oct. 28. The rub for several local teams involved will be a second (or to be literal, third or more) run on the same course and prep for what many feel is a dry run for the more concerned semi-state fields.
Warsaw fits the bill very well with the ‘moving day’ idea. Both the boys and girls teams were runaway team sectional winners, and don’t look to have any teams entering the regional this weekend again at Culver Academy to threaten their regional team hopes.
The Lady Tigers had the one-two punch of Mia Beckham and Emma Bohnenkamper take the top two spots at the CMA sectional as the Lady Tigers expectedly dominated the course. In what should be another favored run this Saturday, the hope for coach Matt Campbell is to get his top seven primed for what will surely be a whale of a challenge at the New Prairie Semi-state.
“Emma is coming on strong at the right time for us,” Campbell said. “Coming into the season I expected her to be number two on the team but she had a slight setback (three weeks of no running) after tweaking her knee at cross country camp. She has looked very strong at practice the past couple weeks. I’m excited for her. She is a game changer for us.
“We are still unsure of our final lineup for this weekend as we have a couple of our top seven girls battling injuries (Adree Beckham, Amslie Howett). Mia Beckham, Bohnenkamper, Remi Beckham and Angie Sanchez will be racing. The next three spots will be decided by Thursday evening.”
The Tiger boys were equally impressive in winning its seventh straight sectional title, peppering the top 15. While not fielding the sectional champion runner – that went to Caston’s Mitchell Rans, who again should be favored to win at CMA – Lucas Howett did keep pace near the front and gave Rochester’s Thomas Rohr, the sectional runner-up, all he could handle. Xavi Ramirez, Taylor Mills and Justin Fleming all were top-10 runners and should again challenge for similar results.
A duo of Triton boys and girls and five Tippecanoe Valley boys and girls are also alive at Culver Academy.
At Ox Bow, the idea of ‘moving day’ could be a little less about positioning and more about possibly packing up and heading home.
Wawasee’s boys and girls were third and fifth, respectively, while NorthWood took third in the girls race. While survive and advance was OK for the sectional round – with most teams comprising familiar Northern Lakes Conference opponents – the regional brings in some greater unknowns.
Penn will bring its usual collective of quality, likely enough to stake claim of one of the top spots. Northridge’s two teams, which both won sectional titles at Ox Bow last Saturday, should also have enough speed to take a semi-state spot. Wawasee’s boys then are left having to chase Concord – which has beaten Wawasee in each of the last three races the two have been at, along with a Memorial team that edged the Warriors at sectionals. Combine in quality teams from Mishawaka and St. Joe from the Riley sectional, and it could get very interesting very quick.
“To compete in a field that’s as competitive and tight as this, we will need five to seven guys gather on the same day,” said Wawasee boys coach Chad Hoffert. “We’ve had a pretty good showing lately from our front half, we just need those last couple guys to step up and steal some places.”
The Elkhart Central regional will have St. Joe’s Amani Morrell come in as the one to beat, already owning Northern Indiana Conference and sectional championships in the past two weeks as well as titles in invites from earlier in the year. Wawasee’s Luke Griner won the sectional last week with a tremendous kick to win his first state tournament race.
On the girls side, Wawasee barely slid into the regional, needing a career race from Caitlin Wortinger and a lot of help from its pack to edge Memorial for the last slot. With the likes of Penn, Mishawaka and South Bend Adams coming in with loaded rosters, and Northridge and Concord staying put, Wawasee will need the figurative ‘holes-in-one’ to snag a top-five team spot. NorthWood is also in a similar boat, needing to jump a couple teams to survive. The Lady Panthers have the roster to get it done, led by Erica Stutsman and Kate Jarvis, but per coach Mark Mikel, the sectional showing won’t cut it.
“We are really pushing to finish strong, and I feel like we are running pretty well now that the state tournament is here,” said Mikel. “I was pleased with the way we closed at the sectional the final 1,000 meters. But we got out maybe a little too fast and lost some places in the middle of the race coming back to earth a little. I don’t know that we will have that kind of wiggle room to do that in the regional.”
The top five teams and 10 individuals from non-qualifying teams from the Culver Academy Regional will head to New Prairie on Oct. 21 for what likely will be a mega-tough semi-state. Several teams from the region feeding the New Prairie Semi-state are ranked in the ITACCC Top 25. Elkhart Central’s qualifiers will head to the New Haven Semi-state.