By TIM CREASON

NEW CARLISLE – Warsaw coach Jim Mills knew his boys were on the bubble during Saturday’s semi-state cross country meet at New Prairie.

Even so, it was hard not to be aggravated to get so close, and yet be so far from the goal.

“Seventh place (stinks),” quipped Mills after the Tigers learned they had fallen a couple feet short of another trip to the IHSAA state cross country finals.

Only the top six teams at a semi-state advance to state, along with the top 10 individuals who are not members of a qualifying team.

That last part proved to be a good consolation prize for the Tigers, as freshman Zeb Hernandez and senior Owen Glogovsky earned a trip to the state meet by virtue of their 20th and 21st-place finishes in the 5,000-meter semistate race.

While the boys team won’t be there, the Tigers will still have a presence at the Wabash Valley Sports Center in Terre Haute.

Warsaw was the last team eliminated, scoring 234 points, and not really threatening sixth-place Valparaiso’s 192.

“We’re disappointed that we didn’t make it, but the reality is that we finished probably about where we belonged,” said Mills. “We didn’t get the improvements (in times) that we knew we needed.”

Running an average race on a day when they really needed a great one, the Tigers weren’t able to close the gap between their lead duo and the rest of the squad. No. 3 runner Lucas Howett finished 74th.

“We thought if Owen and Zeb could be in the top 15, that would be a good start, but we really struggled to get our three, four and five guys up 20 or 30 seconds faster,” said Mills.

“If anything, they went out too slow … we’re not a team that can get out really, really hard, and where we were, we were in a logjam.”

At the front of the field, Glogovsky moved aggressively, while Hernandez paced a good 60 meters behind.

But feeling the effects of some kind of illness, Glogovsky faded at the end, while Hernandez surged. They were almost stride-for-stride at the finish, with Hernandez clocking 16:26.4 and Glogovsky 16:27.4.

“The first mile felt great, but then I started to die out,” said Glogovsky. “I felt nauseous. I hope that’s not a sign of something.

“I’m glad Zeb and I (moved) on,” he said. “I can’t wait to run with him at state. That freshman is immensely talented.”

Defending state champion West Lafayette defended its boys semi-state title, scoring 77 points to hold off Lake Central’s 96. Crown Point, Lowell and LaPorte also advanced.

West Lafayette also claimed the top two individual finishers, with Cooper Williams clocking 15:38.0 for the win and Evan Johnson finishing second.

For Warsaw, Howett clocked 17:06.2. Xavi Ramirez was 81st in 17:11.1 and Nathaniel Gottschalk 91st in 17:23.6 to close out the scoring.

Tippecanoe Valley senior concluded his career at the semi-state, running a 17:41 to finish 116th overall.

Rochester’s team state ended with a ninth-place finish, but Wesley Meyer and Eli Pugh will march on. Meyer finished 10th at 16:08 while Pugh was 23rd at 16:32.

At New Haven, the Westview and Northridge boys teams finished fourth and fifth, respectively, to claim state places next week. Conner Sandt was seventh overall for Northridge, running 16:08. Mount Vernon (Fortville)’s Christian Noble won the race with a sizzling time of 15:18.

IHSAA CROSS COUNTRY SEMI-STATE
At New Carlisle

TEAM SCORES: West Lafayette 77, Lake Central 96, Crown Point 116, Lowell 120, LaPorte 139, Valparaiso 192, Warsaw 234, Munster 257, Rochester 287, Morgan Twp. 296, McCutcheon 304, Portage 308, Chesterton 308, Winamac 358, Highland 376, Culver Academies 389, Lafayette Jeff 398, Fountain Central 440, Harrison (Lafayette) 450, Logansport 523.

TOP 25 FINISHERS: 1, Cooper Williams (W Lafayette) 15:38.0. 2, Evan Johnson (W Lafayette) 15:45.3. 3, Joel O’Shea (Wheeler) 15:47.9. 4, Kameron Konopasek (Lake Central) 15:49.5. 5, Tyler Keslin (Munster) 15:53.2. 6, Theo Burgwald (Munster) 15:55.0. 7, Daniel Dalton (Valparaiso) 15:55.3. 8, Casey Garvey (Lake Central) 15:55.9. 9, Ben Savage (Morgan Twp.) 15:59.1. 10, Ryan Kepshire (Crown Pt) 16:01.4. 11, Wesley Meyer (Rochester) 16:08.6. 12, Alec Fleming (Lowell) 16:09.5. 13, Dylan Wallace (Crown Pt) 16:13.0. 14, Jakob Kintzele (Chesterton) 16:14.1. 15, Gavin Gresham (New Prairie) 16:14.5. 16, Matthew Wilson (Lowell) 16:15.4. 17, Bryan Flannery (LaPorte) 16:18.1. 18, Dylan Williams (W Lafayette) 16:20.4. 19, Mitchell Rans (Caston) 16:22.3. 20, Zeb Hernandez (Warsaw) 16:26.4. 21, Owen Glogovsky (Warsaw) 16:27.4. 22, Hunter Boyer (Lowell) 16:28.0. 23, Eli Pugh (Rochester) 16:32.1. 24, Dakota Merkel (LaPorte) 16:32.3. 25, Zach Hupp (Lake Central) 16:32.7.

OTHER WARSAW FINISHERS: 74, Lucas Howett 17:06.2 … 81, Xavi Ramirez 17:11.1 … 91, Nathaniel Gottschalk 17:23.6 … 101, Jon Beres 17:30.4 …148, TJ Day 18:25.7.

IHSAA CROSS COUNTRY SEMI-STATE
At Fort Wayne

TEAM SCORES: Carroll (FW) 84, Fort Wayne Concordia 130, Mt. Vernon (Fortville) 146, Westview 167, Northridge 181, Pendleton Heights 198, Penn 220, Fort Wayne Snider 233, Mishawaka 237, West Noble 252, New Haven 324, Adams Central 348, Goshen 362, South Adams 368, Eastbrook 370, Anderson 385, Bellmont 396, NorthWood 411, Delta 412, Wapahani 431.

TOP 25 FINISHERS: 1, Christian Noble (Mt. Vernon) 15:18.5. 2, Brayden Law (Homestead) 15:38.3. 3, Aaron Rush (Mt. Vernon) 15:53.5. 4, Bailey McIntire (South Adams) 15:53.9. 5, Roman Jennings (Snider) 16:04.8. 6, Deric Laurent (New Haven) 16:07.4. 7, David Ehlers (Concordia) 16:07.6. 8, Conner Sandt (Northridge) 16:08.8. 9, Cameron Clements (Carroll) 16:13.4. 10, Parker Jones (Pendleton Heights) 16:16.7. 11, Mitch Perkins (Prairie Heights) 16:17.4. 12, Noah Steffen (Concordia) 16:19.5. 13, Dustin Starnes (Northrop) 16:21.9. 14, Colin Richardson (Mishawaka) 16:22.3. 15, Carter Meyer (Carroll) 16:23.8. 16, Richmond Stoltzfus (Westview) 16:24.2. 17, Joseph Vandiver (East Noble) 16:24.4. 18, Jacob Panning (Concordia) 16:26.4. 19, Jack Beakas (DeKalb) 16:27.5. 20, Luke Upton (Pendleton Heights) 16:31.4. 21, Cade Orchard (Delta) 16:31.8. 22, Matthew Yoder (Westview) 16:32.4. 23, Matt Morris (South Bend St. Joseph) 16:34.0. 24, Zach Oyer (Goshen) 16:35.8. 25, Dawson Winters (Carroll) 16:35.8.

NOTE: Top six teams advance to IHSAA state finals in Terre Haute on Sat., Oct. 31, along with top 10 individuals who are not members of qualifying teams.