TIFFIN – Rankings are nice. When it comes to rankings though, the Wauseon Lady Indians are proving that ‘nice’ and ‘reliable’ can be mutually exclusive.
The finishing order may have been different, but the analysis of the numbers from the D-II Districts did not lie. When the D-II Tiffin Regionals took place on October 26, the Wauseon Lady Indians again found themselves in the toughest competition in the State. The competition however, soon discovered that the Tribe may well have been a tad under-ranked than their #15 would attest. With fifteen other teams in the field, the Lady Indians had their work cut out for them. With the addition of #2-ranked Bay and #4-ranked Lexington to the mix, Wauseon was facing six teams ranked in the top 20 in Ohio, including #10-ranked Napoleon.
Bay placed first with 46 points, followed by Lexington at 68 and Wauseon at 77. The top-four finish punches the ticket for the Tribe to head for Columbus for the November 2 State Finals. Once again though, the numbers behind the scores bear watching.
Wauseon finished with a team cumulative time of 1:37:51.31…the third fastest of the 64 teams competing at all the Regional events. This time was 15.14 seconds better than #3-ranked Tippecanoe, and 24.47 seconds better than #6-ranked Oakwood, both out of the Troy Regionals. Had they been in any of the other three Regional sites, the team cumulative time of Wauseon would have made them Regional Champions. Regardless, the Lady Indians are going to Columbus while teams ranked higher, like the Lady Wildcats of Napoleon, are going home.
At this pace, many more higher ranked teams will also find themselves looking up at the Wauseon Lady Indians on the State podium on November 2.
The following Wauseon finishes were recorded by place and time…
3 – Wauseon – 77
* D-II State Qualifier *
1 – Taylor Vernot – 18:14.97
11 – Kylie Archibeque – 19:33.25
15 – Aneesa Volkman – 19:46.79
22 – Lindsey Archibeque – 20:03.93
29 – Aleea Volkman – 20:12.37
53 – Megan Beck – 21:02.98
71 – Seneca Wyse – 21:23.35
PHOTOS BY MICHAEL NAFZIGER
