Warsaw hosted the 16th annual Max Truex Invitational featuring some of the most talented track and field athletes in the state on Friday night, and as expected, the cream rose to the top.

The No. 1 team in the state, Elkhart Central, placed first with 155 points. Concordia, ranked No. 16 in the state, placed second with 113 points. Surprisingly, however, Warsaw had an exceptional meet, placing sixth out of the eight teams.

The Max Truex Invitational is scored differently than the typical meet. Named for the Olympian from Warsaw who set the national high school record in the mile run in 1954, the meet emphasizes the entire team. Each of the eight schools place two members in each event. The time, leap or throw of those two members are then added up to get a total. Then each team is scored accordingly.

Elkhart Central won for the third time in a row and for the sixth time in seven years. The Warsaw drought continues. They have not won since 1983, the second year of the invitational.

Warsaw, however, had some excellent finishes. In the 100 dash, Jonathon Hill and Jose Esquivel, two sophomores, took third place. Hill had the third best time overall at 11.61 seconds.

"Individually, Jon Hill is as good a track runner as anyone around," head coach Troy Akers said. "The 100 is not his best event. Esquivel ran well tonight. Those two guys we're talking about are sophomores. I'm finding out that the difference right now is maturity, physical maturity. A sophomore guy is not nearly as physically mature as a senior. You're comparing a boy and a man. There aren't too many freshmen and sophomores who can compete like we are."

In the 400, Hill placed first overall with a time of 51.38 seconds. Warsaw ended third in the 800, led by David Hoffert, who ran a 2:02.99. In the 300 low hurdles, Esquivel and Steve Fussle, another sophomore, gave Warsaw a second-place finish. Esquivel's time of 41.25 seconds was third overall.

Esquivel, Hoffert, Hill, and Fussle ran the 1600 relay in 3:30.45 to defeat Elkhart Central's top team by .52 seconds and take first.

Akers was very happy with the sixth-place finish.

"That's wonderful," Akers said. "We weren't concerned at all about placement. Our emphasis is next Thursday at the conference meet. I've never had a season where we've run into so many injuries. We have so many kids who can compete at this level, with the Centrals, the Concordias, that didn't run tonight."

The important thing, according to Akers, was the experience that his team would get against teams of such high caliber.

"It was good experience for them to be able to compete with kids like this," Akers said. "If you want to get to that level, what do you have to do to get there kind of thing. In order to take a big step up, you have to compete in meets like this."

Hill was named the outstanding performer in sprint events for Warsaw. Damian Shirk of Elkhart Central was named the outstanding performer in distance events, and Corey Eloms was named the outstanding performer in field events for Concordia. Eloms was also named the outstanding performer of the Invitational.

"I always liked, even when I was coaching at Wawasee, how the people at Warsaw really back the sport," Akers said. "They never have any problems getting workers for the meet. I wish we could have given them a little more, but I'm confident that over the next few years, we'll be able to do that."

Warsaw will compete in the 9th NLC meet on Monday at Goshen at 5 p.m. Then, Warsaw will prepare for the NLC Championships at Concord on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

ELKHART CENTRAL 155, CONCORDIA 113, PENN 107, DEKALB 88, FORT WAYNE SNIDER 81, WARSAW 77, FORT WAYNE NORTH SIDE 67, KOKOMO 48

3200 Relay - 1. Elkhart Central (Ropp, Westlake, Rassi, Ermis, Gough, Oyer, Queen, Knoll) 17:09.63, 2. FW Snider, 3. Penn, 7. Warsaw

110 High Hurdles - 1. Holt and Riley (Elk) :32.00, 2. Harris and Anderson (FWS), 3. Roberts and Gibson (Kok), 6. Taylor and Horn (War)

100 - 1. Scott and Scott (Con) :23.08, 2. Pettyjohn and Turner (Dek), 3. Hill and Esquivel (War)

Discus - 1. Garrett and McBrier (Dek) 286-5, 2. Jourdan and Marcinkowski (Elk), 3. Stebing and Horton (Con), 6. Hunter and Fribley (War)

1600 - 1. Floyd and Sherck (Elk) 9:04.55, 2. Grams and Cline (Kok), 3. Baloun and Singleton (Penn), 7. Garcia and Gackenheimer (War)

400 Relay - 1. Concordia (Scott, Macon, Eloms, Scott, Choka, Voorhees, Smith, Hunter) 1:29.5, 2. Dekalb, 3. F.W. North Side, 7. Warsaw

400 - 1. Cockerham and Banks (Elk) 1:45.44, 2. White and Kemp (FWS), 3. McDole and Witkop (Penn), 5. Hartwig and Hill (War)

High Jump - 1. Smith and Gump (Con) 11-10, 2. Shearer and Gemmer (Penn), 3. Johnson and Brown (FWN), 7. Taylor and Mudd (War)

800 - 1. Sherck and Floyd (Elk) 4:03.06, 2. Walsh and Yoder (Penn), 3. Hoffert and Rice (War)

300 Low Hurdles - 1. Holt and Price (Elk) 1:23.49, 2. Esquivel and Fussle (War), 3. Shearer and Wavro (Penn)

200 - 1. Eloms and Macon (Con) :46.94, 2. Clark and Harwell (Elk), 3. Pettyjohn and Turner (Dek), 8. Mudd and Chabot (War)

Long Jump - 1. Scott and Eloms (Con) 40-8 1/4, 2. Turner and Pettyjohn (Dek), 3. Hill and Shepherd (War)

3200 - 1. Hardway and France (FWS) 20:58.87, 2. Ropp and Queen (Elk), 3. Patrick and Garcia (War)

1600 Relay - 1. Elkhart Central (Banks, Sherck, Thomas, Holt, Vargo, Westlake, Conrad, Floyd) 7:06.84, 2. F.W. Snider, 3. Penn, 4. Warsaw

Shot Put - 1. Davis and Horton (Con) 91-11, 2. Eger and Searer (Elk), 3. McBrier and Croier (Dek), 4. Fribley and Rodman (War)

Pole Vault - 1. Eddy and Steif (Penn) 24-6, 2. Schlabach and Thompson (Elk), 3. Nevogt and Lewis (Con), 5. Scheets and Quance (War) [[In-content Ad]]