The Top 10: Teams 1-5
Our final installment of the Top 10 lists features the five teams we feel had the best overall season in the 2013-14 calendar year. One just ended their season two weeks ago with one of its relay teams posting a second-place finish at the state finals while the other had an athlete take two second-place finishes in its state finals.
5. Tiger Track Tradition – The Warsaw girls track program had another spring to remember.
Coach Scott Erba’s talented team added to several long and impressive championship streaks along the way too.
Warsaw started the postseason push by claiming its ninth straight Northern Lakes Conference title. The Tigers then returned home to the friendly confines to win their eighth consecutive sectional championship. For good measure a week later in May, the team won its third straight regional crown.
The Tigers definitely though saved the best for last.
Warsaw capped the year as its 4 X 100 relay team earned a runner-up finish at the State Finals in Bloomington on June 6. The team, which was seeded sixth, blasted to an amazing performance in a school-record time of 47.62, almost a second faster than the previous standard they posted of 48.52 at the Warsaw Regional.
The quality quartet of senior Ann Harvuot, junior Mariah Harter and sophomores Samantha Alexander and Audrey Rich tore up the track at Indiana University in their second-place performance.
The Tigers also saw junior Nicole Eckert place 11th in the 300 hurdles and senior Claire Hickerson claim 19th place in the pole vault at the State met.
Warsaw had its 4 x 800 relay team of sophomores Brooke Rhodes and Hannah Dawson and freshmen Allison Miller and Anna Craig place 13th. The 4 X 400 relay team of Dawson, juniors Eckert and Tennie Worrell and senior Jackie Ferguson captured 14th place.
4. On Cloud Nine – What a season for the Triton softball program. To say the girls had a good year would be underestimating just what the team was able to do. Softball records were being written and rewritten all season for the Lady Trojans.
Triton added two notations to its program banner. The 23-7 Lady Trojans won the most games in team history, topping the 22 achieved last season. Triton also won its first regional title in the program, besting South Central (Union Mills) 4-0 at their place. At home, Triton won its third sectional title and second in a row by knocking off Bethany Christian and Hamilton by shutout measures.Triton bowed out of the state tournament, 9-0, at the hands of Josie Wood and North Miami at the Clinton Prairie Semi-state.
Coach Steve McBride has been there for all three of the program’s sectional titles, but has been blessed with some of the top talent the program has ever seen. Leading the way was senior Mallorie Jennings, who leaves as the career leader in hits (149) and most of the pitching numbers, including strikeouts (702). Jennings also batted .510 and helped Triton to an overall team batting average of .379. Also having big seasons were catcher Allyson Brown (.356 BA, 17 RBI), shortstop Krystal Sellers (.434 BA, 32 R, 30 RBI), centerfielder Hannah Jennings (.456 BA, 29 R), designated player Megan Berger (.393 BA, 13 RBI) and rightfielder Lexee Lemler (.345 BA, 23 R).
3. Rebuild? No. Reload – The Warsaw boys cross country team entered its 2013-14 season with some question marks.
Crafty coach Jim Mills program once again proved they were up to the challenge.
The Tigers, despite losing a pair of All-State runners in Jake Poyner and Robert Murphy from a historic season a year before, continued to excel in a big, big way.
Warsaw earned its third straight trip to the State Finals with a prolific postseason run.
The Tigers, led by senior star and Tulsa bound Ellis Coon, dominated both the Culver Academies Sectional and Regional en route to team championships. Warsaw then placed second at the New Prairie Semistate.
Coon stepped up as the man after being part of the “Big Three” as a junior with Poyner and Murphy. He was the individual champion at the sectional, regional and semi state races before placing third overall at the State Finals last October in Terre Haute.
The Tigers’ State Finals lineup, which earned a 12th place finish in the final team standings, included seniors Coon, Tyler Houvener and Ryan Goon. Also in the mix were juniors Daniel Messenger and Nick Bergen and sophomores Owen Glogovsky and Jonathan Beres. Junior Jacob DeBoest ran in the semi state lineup for the Tigers.
Coon was followed across the finish line by teammates Glogovsky, Messenger, Houvener, Bergen, Beres and Goon at the season finale.
2. Leaving A Legacy – The Class of 2014 left some kind of mark on the Warsaw boys track program.
The stellar senior group for coach Matt Thacker, led by the likes of seasoned veterans Gabe Furnivall, Tristan McClone, Ryan Goon, Chad Goon, Ellis Coon, Stephen Kolbe and Tyler Houvener and newcomers Michael Miller and Tanner Balazs, set the bar very, very high for future squads.
The Tigers added plenty of hardware to the WCHS trophy cases again this spring.
Warsaw dominated the Northern Lakes Conference regular season and postseason meet to win the league title for the fourth straight year. The Tigers then made it four straight sectional championships at Goshen and then won its second straight regional title and third in the last four years in thrilling fashion by winning the final event of the night to edge Penn by one point.
The Tigers put the wraps on the year by earning medals in three events at the State Finals held June 7 at Indiana University.
Coon led the State Finals charge with a third-place finish in the 1,600. The 4 X 100 relay team of Furnivall, McClone, Miller and Balazs captured eighth place. The 4 X 400 relay team of the twin Goon brothers, along with Furnivall and sophomore Landan Perry placed ninth.
Miller was 12th in the 100 and McClone 28th in the same event. The 4 X 800 relay team of seniors Tyler Houvener and Ismael Calderon and juniors Nick Bergen and Daniel Messenger took 16th place.
Kolbe earned a 25th place finish in the high jump.
1. The Tidal Wave Is Building – It’s hard to pinpoint where this all started. Wawasee has traditionally had a strong swim program, but this past season the Lady Warriors took things to new level.
Zero became the ultimate number for Wawasee this past season as the team went undefeated, untouched and undisputed with a 9-0 record, seven of those wins in the Northern Lakes Conference.
The Lady Warriors dominated every meet they swam this past season, but only one can truly define what the 2013-14 campaign was all about. On January 13, 2014 the Lady Warriors finally slayed the beast, beating Northridge by 24 to end a 16-meet losing streak to the Lady Raiders.
The Lady Warriors stood tall a week later by winning the NLC meet, ending Northridge’s 12-year run as conference champion and delivered the knockout blow to the Raiders in the sectional, winning the program’s first title since 1999.
Bre Robinson again led a very talented group of swimmers with two second-place finishes at the IHSAA Girls Swimming state finals in the backstroke and butterfly, lowering her own backstroke school record to 53.96.
In addition to the numerous individual and team championships and accolades Wawasee racked up this past season, head coach Julie Robinson was named both NLC and sectional coach of the year.
The team will continue to be loaded next winter as Wawasee graduated just two swimmers and a very eager corps of freshmen will be one year that much more experienced.