Warsaw grabbed both cross country sectional titles Saturday at Manchester, but in grossly different fashions. Photo provided by Roman Smith

By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews

NORTH MANCHESTER – Adree Beckham ran the biggest race of her high school career Saturday.

While Beckham wasn’t an individual champion, or even a top-five runner for the Warsaw girls cross country team, she did finish five places higher than Reese Roemer of Culver Academy. It was the 15th place of Beckham over the 20th place of Roemer that decided a sectional championship as Beckham broke a 41-41 tie between the Tigers and Eagles and brought her team a title.

Beckham posted a 21:09 and was the sixth Tiger across the line, running with teammate Marissa Howett at 21:07. In what became a clamor for placing points, Wini Barnett was third (19:42), followed by Regan Brouwer (5, 20:19), Erika Bugg (9, 20:50) and Ava Knight (10, 20:51).

Culver countered with overall champion Alexis Allen, far and away the top runner at Manchester, timing 18:35, almost 50 seconds faster than Rochester’s Madilyn Calloway’s 19:24. The Eagles then had Stella Kinney (4, 20:10), Celeste Gram (6, 20:29), Maggie Bialek (12, 20:57) and Elizabeth Strogilos (18, 21:17) comprise its 41 points.

Warsaw’s Adree Beckham was the tiebreaker to give Warsaw the team title. InkFreeNews file photo by Mike Deak

The title kept Warsaw’s streak alive in what has been a decade of dominance in the sectional. The Lady Tigers won its 10th straight and 11th overall, all 10 coming in its move south to the (Culver) sectional, the 2020 race shifting to Manchester from the Academy.

Also advancing as individuals on the girls side were a pair from both Tippecanoe Valley and Triton. The Vikings were seventh with 173 points and Triton eighth with 175 points, both short of Caston’s 172, but all looking up at Plymouth’s 143 points and the final regional team advancement. Rochester and Manchester took the other two team spots in the girls table.

Moving on for Valley were Chesnee Miller, 17th overall at 21:15, and Ella Myers, 31st at 23:47. Maria Henderson (25:21), Talia Holder (26:56) and Ava Craig (27:08) rounded out the Valley runners.

Triton is sending Jocelynn Faulkner (13, 20:58) and Anela Hill (29, 23:31) to the regional round. Makenna May (26:39), Anna McIntyre (27:13) and Valerie Eib (27:41) rounded out the Triton runners.

Not nearly the same amount of drama on the boys side, as Warsaw also rolled to its tenth sectional title in a row with 27 points, 36 clear of Culver Academy. Plymouth, which was almost 100 points behind Warsaw at last week’s Northern Lakes Conference meet, scored 72 points at Manchester for third, followed by the host Squires and Rochester to claim the final two regional spots.

Valley was sixth with 168 points, 32 behind Rochester for the advancement. Triton was eighth with 208.

The Tigers featured individual champion Jacob Kissling and his title run of 16:28, 10 seconds better than runner-up Samuel Tullis of Culver Academy. Harrison Phipps (4, 16:57), Sam Lechlitner (5, 17:02), Tanner Stiver (7, 17:06) and Garrett Hall (10, 17:22) were the scorers for the champions.

Valley will send three through in Matthew Howes (12, 17:37), Chase Miller (32, 19:15) and Evan Myers (40, 20:35), Myers claiming the final individual spot. The Trojans have Brandon Kitch (19:17) and Tyler Gladieux (19:29) also moving on.

Wrapping up for Valley were Jace Holloway (20:55) and Brady Rodgers (21:12),and for Triton were Cory Hill (21:12), Trenton Barnhart (21:53) and Parker Alford (26:55).

The Logansport Regional will begin at 10:30 a.m. next Saturday.