WARSAW – On an outstanding night for running, it became a very special night for Warsaw’s cross country teams. Both the girls and boys teams from Warsaw won team titles at Tuesday’s 23rd annual Warsaw Cross Country Classic, and several pleasant surprises emerged from the stampede.

Warsaw’s boys team placed all seven of its varsity runners in the top 23, the top five scorers in the top 17, to score 45 points to best a very potent Winamac team that had 76 points. The Warsaw girls were overwhelming in scoring just 17 points, just two points from a bare minimum point total. The Lady Tigers placed all seven of its varsity runners in the top 10.

The boys race had perhaps the largest punctuation mark, as Tiger Owen Glogovsky set the course record with a time of 15:48.5. Glogovsky had to really motor as Winamac’s Kyle Collins was stride for stride with the Tiger star for a bulk of the race. Glogovsky made his push in the final 200 meters and it showed, pulling away for a convincing win as Collins faded back to finish second at 16:02.

Warsaw head coach Jim Mills really didn’t know what to expect from the rest of the group in its maiden run, but was overly impressed with what came to the surface. Lucas Howett took fourth overall at 16:42, sliding in a shoulder ahead of Winamac’s Zen Zupin. Zeb Hernandez was ninth (17:25) in his first varsity action as a freshman, Nathaniel Gottschalk (14, 17:33) and Francisco Ramirez (17, 17:37) concluded the scoring for Warsaw.

“We are making due with that we’ve got,” Mills said. “Zeb Hernandez ran the three for us, a freshman. We have a lot of young kids and a long way to go training-wise. I’m really surprised we won tonight. To be honest, I didn’t know who all would be here. I’m pleasantly surprised. They stepped up.”

The Lady Tigers didn’t set any course records, but were completely dominant. Warsaw went one-two-three in the standings with Allison Miller leading the charge at 19:05, followed home by Mia Beckham at 19:09 and Anna Craig at 19:32. Winamac’s Claire Collins broke up the Warsaw train finishing fourth at 19:41, then Warsaw grabbed three of the next four spots with Brooke Rhodes (5, 19:43), Hannah Dawson (6, 19:49) and Charlene Orr (8, 19:54). Emma Hayward rounded out the top 10 at 20:05.

Having finished just points off perennial state contender Fort Wayne Carroll at last weekend’s Huntington Invite, Warsaw coach Scott Erba was as impressed with what his sixth-ranked team was able to accomplish in the rather competitive field.

“To have these times this early in the season is incredible,” Erba said. “It’s a good place to be at, 19 minutes in August. There are a lot of training things that we have done so far that helps them run this fast. But it wasn’t just about our top girls, we have girls all over our roster that are blowing personal bests out of the water. I don’t think we had many girls who ran slower than expected, but a of girls who are smiling right now because they hit a mark. They set a goal. This is awesome for August 25th.”

Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko also competed in the Classic. For the girls, Tippecanoe Valley finished 10th in the team standings while Whitko was one runner short of a complete team. For the boys, Tippecanoe Valley was 10th in the team standings while Whitko and Lakeland Christian each had individuals competing.

Valley had Karly Kitch lead the girls team with a 46th-place time of 22:54. Breelyn Conley (23:33), Haley Hoover (24:09), Brooklyn Conley (24:53) and Alexis Durkes (26:27) were the top five for Valley.

Whitko had Suzi Sickafoose and Brigit Nemitz up near the front for part of the race, but fell back into the second wave. Sickafoose finished 21st at 21:28 with Nemitz 23rd at 21:33. Hanna Yohe (23:02) and Lizz Foutz (28:50) rounded out Whitko.

The Tippy boys had Jesse Floor finish 22nd at 17:58 but fall off from there. Shay Merley was next 110 places away at 21:30, followed by Paul Siegmueller (21:59), Tyler Ross (21:59) and Tom Solano (22:20).

Whitko’s Josh Wright led the team in 30th at 18:14, and continued with Logan Busz (19:01) and Zack Freel (20:04).

Lakeland Christian Academy had Alex Plastow lead the Cougars at 20:06, then Josh Gervasi (20:20), Rye Stevens (21:29) and Ryan Goss (48:56).