This year, the girls' team motto has been: "BEST. SEASON. EVER." and Tuesday night's Regional performances only added to this special season. The Lady Tigers remain undefeated as a team this year: 11-0 dual meets, Churubusco Turtletown Champions, Kokomo Relay Champions, NLC Champions, Sectional Champions and now they are the 2012 Regional Champions with an impressive depth display by scoring points in 13 of the 16 events.

Top Team (of 34 teams) Scores:
Warsaw: 70 (3rd Regional Title in School History, 1st since 2007!)
SB Adams: 57
SB St. Joseph's: 49
Mishawaka: 40
Fairfield: 36
Penn: 31
Northridge: 28.5
Eastern: 28
Goshen: 24
Concord: 24

The goal going into the meet was to advance as many individuals and relays on to the State Meet as possible by placing in the Top 3 positions or by meeting the State Standards. Warsaw ended up advancing 2 relays and 4 individuals to make this one of the largest State Qualifying groups in Warsaw history (17 girls).

Leading the way on the night was Ashley Erba (3200m-1st) and (1600m-2nd) who accounted for 18 of the team's 70 points. In the 1600m, she battled 2011 1600m State Runner Up, Bethany Neeley (Eastern), throughout the entire race and finished with a NEW SCHOOL RECORD and the second best time in the State this season (4:55.12). Just an hour later, she took to the track again to race the 3200m and ran away from the pack from the start in a wire-to-wire win with the second best time in the State this season (10:33.61), only trailing her own 10:31.16 from last week.

Ann Harvuot qualified for the State Meet for the first time with a personal best effort in the 100m Dash (12.43) in finishing as the Regional Runner Up. She also raced to a 7th place finish in the 200m Dash after setting a new personal best in the trials (26.12).

Claire Hickerson finished 4th in the Pole Vault but cleared the State Standard of 11' 2" on her first attempt to guarantee herself a spot in the State Meet. This is her first time qualifying for the State Meet as well.

Lauren Burish, for the second year in a row, qualified for the State Meet in the Discus by throwing 125' 5" in the finals to finish third overall.

To start the meet, the 4x800m team of Brooke Kline, Lilly Fleming, Anna Bearss and Kristin Quick raced to a third place finish in a season-best time of 9:37.48 to qualify for the State Meet. At the end of the meet, the 4x400m team of Nicole Eckert, Jackie Ferguson, Megan Kratzsch, and Tennie Worrell took the race lead at several different points but eventually finished as Regional Runners Up in a season-best time of 4:03.44 to qualify for the State Meet.

Other Regional finalists included:
4x100 (Regina Anderson, Mariah Harter, Brittney Rhodes, Ann Harvuot) 49.82...4th
Samantha Jensen (Discus) 122-8...4th
Jackie Ferguson (300H) 46.69...5th
Sarah Heagy (Shot Put) 35-9.75...8th
Brooke Kline (800m) 2:24.22...8th
Megan Kratzsch (400m) 1:02.24...8th

Full meet results can be found at www.ihsaa.org under the "Girls" "Track" links under "Regionals".

Next up for the Lady Tigers is the Indiana State Meet at Indiana University on Friday, June 1 starting at 3:00p. More information about the meet and athlete entries can be found on www.ihsaa.org.

Posted In: Girl's Sports > Track and Field

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