Warsaw’s girls cross country team takes one last team picture at the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals in Terre Haute Saturday. (Photo provided)

TERRE HAUTE — Warsaw’s girls were better than observers expected one final time as the Lady Tigers closed out the season with a 21st-place finish at the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals Saturday.

Warsaw put up a 449 score and were paced by freshman Wini Barnett and her personal-best 19:13 stop, good enough for 35th overall. Adree Beckham finished 97th in 19:58, Angie Sanchez-Vijil was 153rd in 20:50, Ava Knight was just two seconds back in 156th place, and Remi Beckham was 167th in 21:08 to round out the Tigers’ top five. Amslie Howett clocked 21:47, and Alex Herman finished in 21:55 as Warsaw’s girls competed well on a challenging and soggy LaVern Gibson Championship Course.

Zeb Hernandez placed 184th with an 18:13 stop, meanwhile, after advancing individually out of last weekend’s New Prairie Semi-State.

In the team standings, Carroll (Fort Wayne) finally claimed the girls team title after finishing as runner-up the last three years. The Chargers collected 85 points for the top spot with three of its runners in the top 10 overall and outpaced defending state champion Zionsville with 149 and West Lafayette with 176. In the boys race, third-ranked Carmel edged out top-ranked Indianapolis Cathedral by a 136-146 margin for the team crown, its third in the last four years and 16th overall. Second-ranked Fishers placed third with 150 points.

Greencastle senior Emma Wilson and Indianapolis Cathedral senior Cole Hocker were honored as individual state champions. Wilson covered the course in 17:53.9 to become the first girls repeat winner since Culver Academies’ Alex Banfich won three in a row from 2005-07. Hocker claimed the first individual state championship — boys or girls — in Cathedral’s history, checking in at 15:25.1.

Following the meet, Emma Wilson of Greencastle High School and Quinn Gallagher of Guerin Catholic High School were announced as the recipients of the IHSAA mental attitude awards in girls and boys cross country, respectively. Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance presented a $1,000 scholarship to each school’s general scholarship fund in the name of Wilson and Gallagher.