Not Even Close: Warsaw Rolls To Clean Slate
MIDDLEBURY – On paper, this looked like it could be a competitive capper to the Northern Lakes Conference girls track round robin. When the stat sheets were hot from the printer, the scores were not even close.
Warsaw demolished a very good Northridge team, 99-33, and smashed Wawasee in the process, 116-15. Northridge beat Wawasee, 110-22, to complete the triangle Tuesday night.
In closing 7-0, Warsaw head into the Northern Lakes Conference Championships next Tuesday at its home track as heavy favorites. And with some of the performances put forward in Middlebury, the expectation is rightfully just.
Warsaw won 14 of the 16 events, and a few of the results were not even close. Senior Sarah Ray had an outstanding night on the distance track, looking strong in the one-mile at 5:11.54 but then putting together another monster performance in the two-mile, winning at 11:09.72, a full 50 seconds ahead of Northridge’s Olivia Golden. Ray, in her first year in track, isn’t making anyone forget about Warsaw’s recent superstar in distance, but instead is making her own name known.
“Sarah’s attitude and focus are carrying her right now,” Warsaw head coach Scott Erba said. “She is just loving running right now. I think she had a great cross country year running with Ashley (Erba) and learning from Ashley. Seeing how well she can do compared to the competition is a little daunting because she doesn’t have much to compare to having not run track last year.
“I think running some of the invitationals this year is allowing her to see how she stacks up, and running two personal records tonight, she looked very strong and controlled in the last half of the two races.”
Several Tigers also had their name on the winner’s sheet more than once. Jackie Ferguson posted a 16.60 win in the 100 hurdles and also won the 300 hurdles (49.18) before finishing the night on the winning 4×400 relay team (4:12.96) with Nicole Eckert, Megan Kratzsch and Tennie Worrell.
Worrell had a solo win in the 400 (1:02.18) while Ann Harvuot won the 200 (26.02) and joined Brittney Rhodes, Sam Alexander and Mariah Harter for a 56.89 winner in the 4×100 relay. Audrey Rich won the 100 at 12.63 and Hannah Dawson had a great finish to what was a jumbled final 200 meters of the 800, but Dawson emerged victorious at 2:28.34.
Alexander impressed not only the Northridge measuring crew but also herself in launching 16’11” to win the long jump. Jamie Lacheta cleared 5’1″ on the high jump, Sam Jensen tossed the discus 118’01” and Claire Hickerson continued her assault in the pole vault with a 10’0″ winner.
If those results weren’t enough, Warsaw also posted seven of the second-place positions, some like the 100 with Harvuot behind by .01 and holding both hurdle events in firm control. The rest of the conference definitely have its hands full next Tuesday in Warsaw.
“At the sectional level we are set up pretty well in having two or three girls to choose from in each event that can score for us,” Erba said. “At the regional meet, it changes with more teams coming in and more elite runners competing. Right now for us, we are looking at NLC and sectional meets as building toward the regional meet as a team. Along the way, looking at places we may be weaker in and trying to tighten those areas up.”
Warsaw has now won at least a share of the NLC girls track championship eight years in a row. That impressive streak is the longest championship run in conference history, according to Erba.
Northridge had the other two wins, taking the opening 4×800 relay at 10:20.47 won by Mandy Campbell, Mackenzie Gray, Morgan Blyly and Jennifer Schrock. Madison Stewart proved her status as the lead contender in the shot put by tossing her longest measured effort 38’05.5″, but had two scratched that by the eye ball test measured 39 and 41 feet.
Wawasee’s biggest effort came from the same shot put ring, where Jordan Edington got to measure herself against Stewart ahead of the tournament series. Edington had her farthest measurement tape at 37’09.5″, which was good for second place Tuesday. But with the competition to pick up in a hurry beginning next week, Wawasee head coach Scott Lancaster is expecting to see closer to 40 feet be the standard mark.
“Jordan has been pretty consistent with 37 feet,” Lancaster said. “We are hoping she can get a little past her consistency and get into the 38 to 39-foot range. That is just a technique issue. She has one thing in her technique to clean up before she can throw it that far.”
Wawasee’s best outputs were sporadic. Jen Slabaugh was fourth in the one-mile at 5:42.97, Courtney Linnemeier fourth in the two-mile at 12:29.70 and Sarah Lancaster third in the 300 hurdles at 54.35. Taylor Busse was fourth in pole vault at 7’0″.
Wawasee also had a stroke of bad luck Tuesday when hurdler Shelby Swartz took a fall during the 100 hurdles and landed awkwardly on her left wrist. Swartz did not return to action, and her status was unknown following the meet.
Warsaw is off until Tuesday when it will host the NLC Championships while Wawasee will gear up for the Goshen Relays this Saturday before turning its attention to the NLC next week.