WARSAW – The Wawasee Middle School girls track team had one goal coming into Friday’s 10th Annual Lakeview Relays, win.

The Warriors won the event last season and intended to defend that title. It certainly did not come easy, but Wawasee accomplished its goal and won its second consecutive Lakeview Relays title by defeating the host Tigers, 41-40. Edgewood and Churubusco finished third and fourth, respectively.

There was no secret about the Wawasee girls coming into Friday’s meet, all the teams knew what the Warriors brought to the table and all the teams knew that Lakeview would be the only team to challenge Wawasee. Expectations between the two powerful girls teams were met more than once.

12 events were on the docket for the four schools and while there were several close events, Wawasee and Lakeview combined to win 11 of them.

While Wawasee simply dominated in several events, mainly the distance runs, the meet came down to the final race and final leg for the Warriors and Tigers.

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It seems odd to think about on the middle school level, but fans, coaches and athletes were all anticipating one match up in particular. Friday’s meet featured two of the conference’s top sprinters in Abbie Curtis of Lakeview and Aubrey Kuhn of Wawasee. The two both sat in the anchor roll for the evening’s final event, the 4×400 relay. The two girls may only be in eighth grade, but they put on a show worthy of a high school stage.

Wawasee gave itself a very comfortable cushion in the first two legs before Lakeview gained a little on the Warrior relay. Going into the final leg Kuhn had a steady lead after taking the baton from her teammate, the pressure was all on Curtis to close the gap. The Lakeview star did just that.

Curtis slowly gained on Kuhn before finally pulling even with her in the last 100 meters. Kuhn looked as if she would lose the race but found an extra gear, pulled away and claimed first place in both the race and invite for Wawasee. The final times in the event were as close as expected as Wawasee clocked in at 4:41.00 and Lakeview at 4:41.28.

Curtis’ ability to close the large gap and nearly get the win surprised many in the crowd, including Kuhn.

When a teammate asked Kuhn about the race’s final stretch and the close finish with Curtis, Kuhn replied, exhausted but with a smile, “I didn’t know she (Curtis) was that close!”

The win in the 4×400 was the icing on the cake for Wawasee as the girls won six of the evening’s eight track events. Wawasee initially won seven events, but was disqualified in the sprint medley after dropping the baton on one of the exchanges.

The Warriors took first in the unique and exciting shuttle hurdles (1:12.19), 4×800 (10:56.05), distance medley (10:46.21), mid-distance medley (4:54.82) and clocked in at 55.79 in the 4×100, fractions off of the school record of 55.20. Click here to see the girls 4×100 race.

 

Lakeview cashed in on the 4×200 (2:00.37) and sprint medley (2:20.19) on the track while nearly making a sweep in the field events. The Tigers took first in the long jump (48’10.75″), shot put (101’10”) and discus (276’10”).

Edgewood placed second to either Lakeview or Wawasee in five of Friday’s events but did manage to take first in the high jump with a total height of 17’6″.

“Our girls came through and did well tonight,” said Wawasee head coach Jay Smith. “We had a few girls that had to leave early for softball and then we had that DQ, but the girls all rallied and didn’t get down on themselves.

“This is great. This is our second year in the relays and we really enjoy it, we make it a fun thing. We get to put all of the grades together and it’s just a lot of fun. We get to run Edgewood and Lakeview again next week and then again in the conference meet, and we’ll look forward to it.”

Wawasee will travel back to Warsaw on Tuesday to take on Lakeview again before returning home to run against Edgewood.