Warsaw’s Mikayla Mimnaugh makes her way through the first half of Tuesday’s cross country meet against Wawasee and NorthWood. (Photos by Mike Deak)

NAPPANEE – With the postseason rapidly approaching, coaches and runners are looking to fine tune minor adjustments. Tuesday’s Northern Lakes Conference trio at Stauffer Park saw just that, with athletes from Warsaw, Wawasee and host NorthWood all trying to work on steps and skills that will hopefully give them an edge when everyone comes back together in October.

The details of the boys and girls races saw Warsaw add two more wins to its collection, while NorthWood earned a split at the expense of Wawasee in both tables. Warsaw ran away from both NorthWood (19-44 in girls, 18-45 in boys) and Wawasee (16-47 in girls, 18-43 in boys) while the Panthers topped Wawasee 24-37 in boys, the girls was much closer in a 26-29 score in favor of the hosts.

“We are searching for that mark, that point to strive for,” stated Wawasee boys coach Chad Hoffert. “Gear up over the next three weeks to put ourselves in a position to hit that mark. That’s all we can ask for right now. We’ve had some ups and downs lately, looking to be a little more steady instead of good and not good here and there. We need five guys to put it together at the right time.”

What ultimately decided the meet for the Tigers was its frontline runners Sam Lechlitner (16:59) and Jacob Kissling (17:07) not having much opposition among them as they pulled away from Wawasee’s Michael Hammer (third, 17:17) and NorthWood’s Brady Hunsberger (fourth, 17:21). It was all Warsaw pack from there, as five Tigers landed in the next six spots, with Tanner Stiver fifth (17:36), Austin Fleming sixth (17:38) and Harrison Phipps seventh (17:40).

NorthWood would bring its pack in and take 11th through 14th in Jordan Burden (17:56), Eric Hochstetler (18:08), Sam Schlatter (18:18) and Carson Martin (18:19) all making enough distance from Wawasee to earn the team split.

NorthWood’s Brady Hunsberger leads a group of runners down the line.

The Warriors had Karlson Hand take eighth place at 17:44, but had its plan of sticking together in a bunch fall apart on the course. Cam Powell (22, 18:58), Thomas Conley (26, 19:15) and Jace Alexander (29, 19:23) all were mixed within the junior varsity runners from the other two programs.

The girls race had a little more intrigue, just not from the Warsaw machine that continued to truck on. Wini Barnett was by far the top female runner on the day, cruising to a win at 20:22, more than a half-minute better than runner-up Kaitlin Burden of NorthWood and her 20:54. It was all Tigers from there, with Ava Knight (20:55), Amanda Lusinde (20:55) and Erika Bugg (21:11) comprising the rest of the top five. Macelyn Marcuccilli was seventh in the race at 21:30 for Warsaw’s fifth score.

NorthWood used a page out of the Panther boys’ book, sticking together amongst the Warsaw logjam to keep its plan intact. Megan Miller, Mia Wellington, Emilie Allen and Reese Barhydt all come in within 33 seconds of each other to take places 14, 16, 18 and 19 overall, Miller’s time at 22:23. That was good enough to pinch Wawasee, which settled for the 16 and 17 in the points run and the three points that separated the two squads.

“Our payday right now is October, and we are really focusing on being ready for then,” said NorthWood girls coach Mark Mikel. “Our County Clash that we just ran last weekend was like a regional preview. These two teams today will be in our NLC race, and Wawasee will be battling us for a spot to move on in the tournament. Just good exposure for our kids again today, and another chance to prepare for October.”

Wawasee had Emma Ebright continue to ascend among the second tier of runners, scoring sixth place with a 21:22. Cammy Kryder ran in Ebright’s shadows, but couldn’t quite make the late jump to come home under 22, taking 11th at 22:05. Bailey Mayhew (15, 22:34), Ella Beezley (22, 23:17) and Lily Tyler (23, 23:42) made up the remaining scoring runners for the Lady Warriors.

“Today our big race for us was Bailey (Mayhew), she had a season best by almost 40 seconds,” said Wawasee girls coach Doug Slabaugh. “She pulled almost a minute off her time from IWU last weekend and if she can continue to run like that, she’ll be huge for this team if we want to make a move in the tournament.”