WARSAW – Ink Free News’ picks for the teams 6-10 from the sporting 2015-16 season.

We want to start with a special mention to the Warsaw Unified Track Team, which claimed its second state championship in three seasons June 4 in Bloomington. Quite an accomplishment to not only win the sectional title at Kokomo, but then to stand on the stage as the top team in the state in your sport. Well done, Warsaw Unified, in bringing home the big hardware for a second time!

10. Trending Upwards – It wasn’t the banner type of year Triton boys and girls basketball is used to. But Triton did manage to accomplish quite a bit on the respective hardcourts.

The Trojan boys program won the Bi-County Tournament, with Jordan Anderson the MVP of the hotly contested annual affair. Triton lost a pair of key games in the first year of the Hoosier North Athletic Conference basketball tournament, which proved costly in the final standings, but the team responded with a title in the sectional, its 12th sectional crown and first since 2013.

The girls team had a miserable and snake-bitten start to its season, but somehow managed to rally together an undefeated streak in the HNAC to claim the league’s first title. Triton saw Hannah Wanemacher become its newest rising star as a sophomore, leaving plenty of promise for an HNAC title defense next season.

9. The One And Only – Many questions surrounded the members of the Wawasee girls golf team entering the 2015 season, but with good reason. Four starters from 2014’s state finalist squad, Kylee Rostochak, Mikala Mawhorter, Madison Beaman and Aubrey Schmeltz, had returned to tee up for Steve Coverstone’s team this past fall. Naturally, expectations were high.

A wet and windy day at Stonehenge Golf Club ironically set the scene for Wawasee’s moment in the sun as the Warriors shot a 332 in conditions that were far from ideal.

“That’s a heck of a score,” NorthWood coach Adam Yoder said of Wawasee’s effort.

Wawasee’s score put the team well-ahead of Yoder and the Panthers (344). It was shocking to many but mainly just a relief for the ladies that walked away with the blue ribbons.

Beaman, slated as the team’s No. 5, was outstanding on the day with a score of 84. Schmeltz matched that score while Rostochak shot an 83, Kamryn Foy signed for a 101 and Mawhorter led the team with an 81. Mawhorter would qualify for state the following week.

It was going to take an incredible team effort from the Warriors and they delivered in grand fashion. The feat becomes somewhat even more meaningful now that the school year has drawn to a close and the girls remain the lone team sectional champion that came from 1 Warrior Path in the 2015-16 school year.

Wawasee capped its season with a 15-1 record, two All-NLC nods (Rostochak, Schmeltz) and Honorable Mention nod for Mawhorter.

8. Back At It – The Wawasee softball team once again captivated its local community in 2016. After clinching its first-ever Northern Lakes Conference title in 2015, the ladies thought doing it twice would be just as nice.

The Warriors nearly ran the table in the NLC, going 13-1 in the league’s double round-robin and finished with a program-record 23 wins. The Warriors hit .361 as a team, with an OPS of .934. Wawasee had nine batters that hit .302 or better, and two players (Allissa Flores and Meghan Fretz) that hit over .400. Both Fretz and Flores had an OPS north of 1.200 for the season, an eye-popping stat.

Wawasee scored 203 runs in 28 games, averaging over seven runs per contest.

Wawasee remained sound on defense, getting solid fielding percentages from every position and a 3.19 ERA from Amber Lemberg in the circle. When Lemberg wasn’t pitching it was Fretz who posted an unbelievable ERA of 0.73. In short, Wawasee was tough to beat in 2016.

While the season finished on a two bitter notes, a 1-0 loss in the sectional championship and the resignation of coach Jared Knipper, Wawasee still returns seven key players next season and will look to continue its recent string of dominance.

 

7. Outdoing Themselves – While the Warsaw’s, Penn’s and Fort Wayne schools all clog up the area track headlines year after year, Whitko has quietly built itself quite a little steam engine in boys track. The Wildcats boys team won its seventh TRC team title in nine years by securing five championships at the conference meet that ran, literally, into the middle of the night.

Not to be outdone, Whitko went to the Bremen Sectional a week later and defended its title by repeating and moving several along in the state tournament. Alex Morales won a sectional title in the 110 hurdles and concluded 15th at state while Walker Hobbs won the sectional shot put and placed 19th at state. Brady Weeks had a 300 hurdles sectional title and Garrett Elder won sectional titles in both the 100-meter dash and long jump.

 

6. Tennis Anyone? – The Warsaw girls tennis team took a big step forward this Spring.

The Tigers claimed the program’s first regional championship since 2005 after winning its 16th straight sectional title. Sophomore Colette Smith was the hero in the regional final as her three-set win in four hours at No. 2 singles lifted Warsaw past rival Plymouth 3-2. The Tigers then lost 5-0 to No. 4 South Bend St. Joseph in the Culver Academy Semistate. St. Joe went on to finish as state runner-up.

Coach Rick Orban’s team, which finished 12-6, loses just one senior in No. 2 doubles player Rosie Fleming. Expected back are the entire singles lineup of sophomores Liza Lewis, Smith and Ella Knight, along with junior Athena Schlitt and sophomore Hannah Rice at No. 1 doubles and sophomore Grace Miller at No. 2 doubles.

Honorable Mention Teams: Triton Girls Tennis, Triton Wrestling, Warsaw Boys Cross Country, Baseball Teams From Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw and Whitko