Mason, Iden Impressive At Regional
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
KOKOMO - In the grand scheme of the entire track season, a couple of hours is just a short time. But for Tim Mason and the Whitko coaching staff, it probably seemed a lot longer.
Mason, who has been undefeated in the 100, 200 and long jump all year, had only the second-best time in the 200 after the preliminary heats. By that point, he had just about sewn up the long jump title and looked like a solid bet to win the 100 with the best time in the prelims. But that 200 was getting the Whitko staff a little antsy.
"All of my coaches kept coming up to me and saying, 'OK, now it's my turn to talk to you,'" Mason said. "They were telling me to lean this way, to do this different."
"We want him to win as badly as he does," Whitko coach Ron Cherry said. "Coaches sort of live through their athletes. We each just saw a couple of different things."
The advice paid off as Mason ran a personal best :22.3 in the 200 and won by almost a full half-second. That capped off an evening in which he dominated the long jump and the 100.
"Tim has been pretty focused lately," Cherry said. "In our other big meets, he's done well, so we thought he could handle the pressure."
Mason's 30 points would have put him in eighth place as a team and he helped the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish, their highest ever at regionals. Whitko and Manchester, which have jostled for Three Rivers Conference supremacy all year, battled evenly again. The Wildcats' 36.5 points were just enough to better Manchester, with 36.
The Squires had a one-man wrecking crew of their own in Nick Iden. He won the 100 hurdles with a time of :14.97 and placed second in the 300 hurdles after running a :38.31. Iden also ran a strong leg on Whitko's 1600 relay team, which placed fourth at the meet, missing the state meet by one spot.
Manchester's Rex Reimer also qualified for the state meet, placing third in the long jump with a leap of 22-1. However, he didn't qualify for the finals in the other two events that he competed in, the 100 and the 200.
There were also some disappointments. Triton's Josh Heck, who won the pole vault at the sectional with a leap of 13-6, struggled at Kokomo. His best height was a full foot shorter than a week ago and was good only for fifth. If he could have leaped 13-6 again, he would have won the regional.
Whitko's Bo Mullins threw the discus well, but not his best, and ended fourth, just one spot from qualifying for the state meet. Triton's Mason McIntyre ran 10 seconds better in the 1,600 than he did at sectional, but finished fourth.
But the story of the regional was Mason. He was so far ahead of his competition in the long jump that his worst jump of the meet would have been enough to finish second and advance to the state meet.
In the 100 and the 200, Mason won with relative ease for the type of competition associated with the regional. Neither event was even close to being a photo finish.
In the fourth event that he was supposed to compete in, he didn't. Whitko false-started in the 400 relay, and Mason didn't have to expend extra energy.
"It feels good," Mason said, commenting on the trifecta that he pulled off. "I didn't come in expecting to do that. I wasn't glad that we got disqualified, but it was good to get a little rest."
Mason, Iden and Reimer will compete at the state meet June 6 at the Indiana University Track Stadium in Indianapolis.
Kokomo Track Regional
MARION 97, HUNTINGTON NORTH 62, CULVER MILITARY 44, WHITKO 36.5, MANCHESTER 36, MACONAQUAH 34, SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON 32, PENN 32, SOUTH BEND ADAMS 23.5, SOUTH BEND CLAY 21, NORTHFIELD 20, PLYMOUTH 17, PERU 15, OAK HILL 15, JOHN GLENN 14, NORTHWESTERN 14, EASTERN (GREENTOWN) 14, WABASH 12, TRITON 9, MISHAWAKA 7, KOKOMO 7, ARGOS 6, BLACKFORD 6, MADISON-GRANT 6, SOUTH BEND ST. JOSEPH 5, LAVILLE 5, ROCHESTER 5, SOUTHWOOD 5, COLUMBIA CITY 4, MISSISSINEWA 4, EASTBROOK 3, BREMEN 3, MISHAWAKA MARIAN 3, SOUTH BEND RILEY 2, WESTERN 2, CASS 1, VALLEY 1
Top three finishers qualify for state meet
3200 relay - 1. Culver Military (Nathan Dunkel, Michael Hass, Nathan Melicharek, Daniel Sweet) 8:04.17, 2. South Bend Clay 8:05.53, 3. Penn 8:07.35, 4. Marion 8:08.86, 5. Huntington North 8:10.83, 6. Eastern 8:27.06, 7. Wabash 8:28.87, 8. South Bend St. Joseph 8:28.95
110 hurdles - 1. Nick Iden (Manchester) :14.97, 2. Corey Rough (John Glenn) :15.15, 3. Dione Kemper :15.26, 4. Dan Wright (Southwood) :15.38, 5. Brian Batteast (SB Adams) :15.4, 6. Andres Bueker (Manchester) :15.87, 7. Don Graf (Eastern) :15.91, 8. Matt Cosby (Wabash) :15.93
100 - 1. Tim Mason (Whitko) :11.08, 2. Brent Jones (Marion) :11.25, 3. Tony Sheron (Marion) :11.26, 4. George Tinnin (SB Washington) :11.37, 5. Matt Wavro (Penn) :11.42, 6. Rod Edgell (Blackford) :11.56, 7. Bruce Bergdall (Huntington North) :11.62
high jump - 1. Quentel Howard (SB Washington) 6-4, 2. Dave Schadek (Plymouth) 6-4, 3. Richard Warren (Argos) 6-4, 4. Brent Peterson (Oak Hill) 6-2, 5. Matthew Backs (Marion) 6-0, 6. Jeff Little (Eastbrook) 6-0, 7. Noah Shelton (SB Adams) 5-10, 7. Eric Fey (SB Riley) 5-10
1600 - 1. David Rudy (Northwestern) 4:23.17, 2. Jerod Asher (Marion) 4:23.87, 3. Nathan Melicharek (Culver Military) 4:25.52, 4. Mason McIntyre (Triton) 4:26.05, 5. Mike Summers (Eastern) 4:35, 6. Andy Cook (Plymouth) 4:36.78, 7. Josh Eckert (Huntington North) 4:38.02, 8. David Kiefer (Huntington North) 4:38.38
discus - 1. Derek Dyer (Huntington North) 181-1, 2. Robert Salamo (Marion) 163-5, 3. Jeremy Freel (Madison-Grant) 158-9, 4. Eboka Mullins (Whitko) 153-11, 5. Mike Swaidner (Huntington North) 143-7, 6. Anthony Leniski (Penn) 140-9, 7. Bradley Amor (LaVille) 138-3, 8. Chad Woolever (Cass) 133-11
400 relay - 1. Marion (no names available) :42.27, 2. Penn, 3. SB Adams, 4. Manchester (no names available), 5. Culver Military), 6. Maconaquah, 7. Mississinewa, 8. Huntington North
400 - 1. Kendall McCroy (Peru) :49.46, 2. Malachi Broadnax (Marion) :51.18, 3. Justin Patten (SB Adams) :51.6, 4. Kenny Palmer (SB Washington) :51.97, 5. Michael Hass (Culver Military) :52.09, 6. Paul Power (Penn) :52.59, 7. Andy Barker (Plymouth) :52.8, 8. Michael Moore (Kokomo) :53.14
300 hurdles - 1. Dione Kemper (Maconaquah) :37.97, 2. Nick Iden (Manchester) :38.31, 3. Corey Rough (John Glenn) :38.91, 4. Brad Cohee (Peru) :39.4, 5. Alex Gill (St. Joseph) :40.11, 6. Ryan Krueger (Mishawaka Marian) :40.35, 7. Jason Eyers (Columbia City) :40.36, 8. Matt Cosby (Wabash) :40.45
long jump - 1. Tim Mason (Whitko) 22-10, 2. George Tinnin (SB Washington) 22-6.75, 3. Rex Reimer (Manchester) 22-1, 4. Dan Crites (Eastern) 21-9.75, 5. Bruce Bergdall (Huntington North) 21-2, 6. Noah Shelton (SB Adams) 20-10.5, 7. Cory Brainard (Northfield) 20-7, 8. Ryan Riggs (Mississinewa) 20-3.75
800 - 1. P.J. Little (Maconaquah) 1:57.39, 2. Jerod Asher (Marion) 1:57.76, 3. Adam Jacobs (Kokomo) 1:57.83, 4. Nicholas Belton (SB Clay) 1:58.26, 5. David Rudy (Northwestern) 1:59.42, 6. Joel Cotton (Huntington North) 1:59.84, 7. Paul Watkins (Mishawaka) 2:02.96, 8. Kevin Hileman (Valley) 2:04.34
200 - 1. Tim Mason (Whitko) :22.3, 2. Brent Jones (Marion) :22.74, 3. Tony Sheron (Marion) :22.76, 4. Dione Kemper (Maconaquah) :23.23, 5. George Tinnin (SB Washington) :23.33, 6. Mike Hammons (Bremen) :23.37, 7. Brad Monhaut (Penn) :23.7, 8. Andy Kellogg (Mississinewa) :23.79
pole vault - 1. Brent Peterson (Oak Hill) 13-3, 2. Taylor Thomas (Culver Military) 13-3, 3. Tim Gephart (Huntington North) 13-3, 4. Chris Gurchiek (Penn) 13-0, 5. Josh Heck (Triton) 12-6, 6. Jared Haupert (Northfield) 12-6, 7. Jake Lipinski (Western) 12-0, 8. Aaron Engle (Whitko) 12-0
shot put - 1. Derek Dyer (Huntington North) 60-0.5, 2. Robert Salamo (Marion) 53-10, 3. Adam Sparks (Huntington North) 53-7.5, 4. Jason Arnett (Rochester) 52-2.5, 5. Dan Denaut (Plymouth) 51-8.25, 6. Bradley Amor (LaVille) 47-5.5, 7. Jason Elkins (Columbia City), 8. Matt Yuhasz (Mishawaka) 46-7
3200 - 1. Chad Andrews (Northfield) 9:35.3, 2. Kurtis George (Wabash) 9:39.3, 3. Daniel Sweet (Culver Military) 9:45.9, 4. Jason Parks (Northfield) 9:53.3, 5. Cameron Norris (Huntington North) 9:55, 6. Torrey Teats (Blackford) 9:56.5, 7. Andy Hendricks (Mishawaka) 10:01, 8. Daniel Burk (Penn) 10:11.1
1600 relay - 1. Marion (no names available) 3:27.35, 2. SB Clay 3:28.53, 3. Culver Military 3:28.64, 4. Huntington North 3:28.7, 5. Manchester (no names available) 3:29.48, 6. SB Adams (3:29.84), 7. Mishawaka (3:31), 8. Whitko (no names available) 3:32.5 [[In-content Ad]]
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KOKOMO - In the grand scheme of the entire track season, a couple of hours is just a short time. But for Tim Mason and the Whitko coaching staff, it probably seemed a lot longer.
Mason, who has been undefeated in the 100, 200 and long jump all year, had only the second-best time in the 200 after the preliminary heats. By that point, he had just about sewn up the long jump title and looked like a solid bet to win the 100 with the best time in the prelims. But that 200 was getting the Whitko staff a little antsy.
"All of my coaches kept coming up to me and saying, 'OK, now it's my turn to talk to you,'" Mason said. "They were telling me to lean this way, to do this different."
"We want him to win as badly as he does," Whitko coach Ron Cherry said. "Coaches sort of live through their athletes. We each just saw a couple of different things."
The advice paid off as Mason ran a personal best :22.3 in the 200 and won by almost a full half-second. That capped off an evening in which he dominated the long jump and the 100.
"Tim has been pretty focused lately," Cherry said. "In our other big meets, he's done well, so we thought he could handle the pressure."
Mason's 30 points would have put him in eighth place as a team and he helped the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish, their highest ever at regionals. Whitko and Manchester, which have jostled for Three Rivers Conference supremacy all year, battled evenly again. The Wildcats' 36.5 points were just enough to better Manchester, with 36.
The Squires had a one-man wrecking crew of their own in Nick Iden. He won the 100 hurdles with a time of :14.97 and placed second in the 300 hurdles after running a :38.31. Iden also ran a strong leg on Whitko's 1600 relay team, which placed fourth at the meet, missing the state meet by one spot.
Manchester's Rex Reimer also qualified for the state meet, placing third in the long jump with a leap of 22-1. However, he didn't qualify for the finals in the other two events that he competed in, the 100 and the 200.
There were also some disappointments. Triton's Josh Heck, who won the pole vault at the sectional with a leap of 13-6, struggled at Kokomo. His best height was a full foot shorter than a week ago and was good only for fifth. If he could have leaped 13-6 again, he would have won the regional.
Whitko's Bo Mullins threw the discus well, but not his best, and ended fourth, just one spot from qualifying for the state meet. Triton's Mason McIntyre ran 10 seconds better in the 1,600 than he did at sectional, but finished fourth.
But the story of the regional was Mason. He was so far ahead of his competition in the long jump that his worst jump of the meet would have been enough to finish second and advance to the state meet.
In the 100 and the 200, Mason won with relative ease for the type of competition associated with the regional. Neither event was even close to being a photo finish.
In the fourth event that he was supposed to compete in, he didn't. Whitko false-started in the 400 relay, and Mason didn't have to expend extra energy.
"It feels good," Mason said, commenting on the trifecta that he pulled off. "I didn't come in expecting to do that. I wasn't glad that we got disqualified, but it was good to get a little rest."
Mason, Iden and Reimer will compete at the state meet June 6 at the Indiana University Track Stadium in Indianapolis.
Kokomo Track Regional
MARION 97, HUNTINGTON NORTH 62, CULVER MILITARY 44, WHITKO 36.5, MANCHESTER 36, MACONAQUAH 34, SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON 32, PENN 32, SOUTH BEND ADAMS 23.5, SOUTH BEND CLAY 21, NORTHFIELD 20, PLYMOUTH 17, PERU 15, OAK HILL 15, JOHN GLENN 14, NORTHWESTERN 14, EASTERN (GREENTOWN) 14, WABASH 12, TRITON 9, MISHAWAKA 7, KOKOMO 7, ARGOS 6, BLACKFORD 6, MADISON-GRANT 6, SOUTH BEND ST. JOSEPH 5, LAVILLE 5, ROCHESTER 5, SOUTHWOOD 5, COLUMBIA CITY 4, MISSISSINEWA 4, EASTBROOK 3, BREMEN 3, MISHAWAKA MARIAN 3, SOUTH BEND RILEY 2, WESTERN 2, CASS 1, VALLEY 1
Top three finishers qualify for state meet
3200 relay - 1. Culver Military (Nathan Dunkel, Michael Hass, Nathan Melicharek, Daniel Sweet) 8:04.17, 2. South Bend Clay 8:05.53, 3. Penn 8:07.35, 4. Marion 8:08.86, 5. Huntington North 8:10.83, 6. Eastern 8:27.06, 7. Wabash 8:28.87, 8. South Bend St. Joseph 8:28.95
110 hurdles - 1. Nick Iden (Manchester) :14.97, 2. Corey Rough (John Glenn) :15.15, 3. Dione Kemper :15.26, 4. Dan Wright (Southwood) :15.38, 5. Brian Batteast (SB Adams) :15.4, 6. Andres Bueker (Manchester) :15.87, 7. Don Graf (Eastern) :15.91, 8. Matt Cosby (Wabash) :15.93
100 - 1. Tim Mason (Whitko) :11.08, 2. Brent Jones (Marion) :11.25, 3. Tony Sheron (Marion) :11.26, 4. George Tinnin (SB Washington) :11.37, 5. Matt Wavro (Penn) :11.42, 6. Rod Edgell (Blackford) :11.56, 7. Bruce Bergdall (Huntington North) :11.62
high jump - 1. Quentel Howard (SB Washington) 6-4, 2. Dave Schadek (Plymouth) 6-4, 3. Richard Warren (Argos) 6-4, 4. Brent Peterson (Oak Hill) 6-2, 5. Matthew Backs (Marion) 6-0, 6. Jeff Little (Eastbrook) 6-0, 7. Noah Shelton (SB Adams) 5-10, 7. Eric Fey (SB Riley) 5-10
1600 - 1. David Rudy (Northwestern) 4:23.17, 2. Jerod Asher (Marion) 4:23.87, 3. Nathan Melicharek (Culver Military) 4:25.52, 4. Mason McIntyre (Triton) 4:26.05, 5. Mike Summers (Eastern) 4:35, 6. Andy Cook (Plymouth) 4:36.78, 7. Josh Eckert (Huntington North) 4:38.02, 8. David Kiefer (Huntington North) 4:38.38
discus - 1. Derek Dyer (Huntington North) 181-1, 2. Robert Salamo (Marion) 163-5, 3. Jeremy Freel (Madison-Grant) 158-9, 4. Eboka Mullins (Whitko) 153-11, 5. Mike Swaidner (Huntington North) 143-7, 6. Anthony Leniski (Penn) 140-9, 7. Bradley Amor (LaVille) 138-3, 8. Chad Woolever (Cass) 133-11
400 relay - 1. Marion (no names available) :42.27, 2. Penn, 3. SB Adams, 4. Manchester (no names available), 5. Culver Military), 6. Maconaquah, 7. Mississinewa, 8. Huntington North
400 - 1. Kendall McCroy (Peru) :49.46, 2. Malachi Broadnax (Marion) :51.18, 3. Justin Patten (SB Adams) :51.6, 4. Kenny Palmer (SB Washington) :51.97, 5. Michael Hass (Culver Military) :52.09, 6. Paul Power (Penn) :52.59, 7. Andy Barker (Plymouth) :52.8, 8. Michael Moore (Kokomo) :53.14
300 hurdles - 1. Dione Kemper (Maconaquah) :37.97, 2. Nick Iden (Manchester) :38.31, 3. Corey Rough (John Glenn) :38.91, 4. Brad Cohee (Peru) :39.4, 5. Alex Gill (St. Joseph) :40.11, 6. Ryan Krueger (Mishawaka Marian) :40.35, 7. Jason Eyers (Columbia City) :40.36, 8. Matt Cosby (Wabash) :40.45
long jump - 1. Tim Mason (Whitko) 22-10, 2. George Tinnin (SB Washington) 22-6.75, 3. Rex Reimer (Manchester) 22-1, 4. Dan Crites (Eastern) 21-9.75, 5. Bruce Bergdall (Huntington North) 21-2, 6. Noah Shelton (SB Adams) 20-10.5, 7. Cory Brainard (Northfield) 20-7, 8. Ryan Riggs (Mississinewa) 20-3.75
800 - 1. P.J. Little (Maconaquah) 1:57.39, 2. Jerod Asher (Marion) 1:57.76, 3. Adam Jacobs (Kokomo) 1:57.83, 4. Nicholas Belton (SB Clay) 1:58.26, 5. David Rudy (Northwestern) 1:59.42, 6. Joel Cotton (Huntington North) 1:59.84, 7. Paul Watkins (Mishawaka) 2:02.96, 8. Kevin Hileman (Valley) 2:04.34
200 - 1. Tim Mason (Whitko) :22.3, 2. Brent Jones (Marion) :22.74, 3. Tony Sheron (Marion) :22.76, 4. Dione Kemper (Maconaquah) :23.23, 5. George Tinnin (SB Washington) :23.33, 6. Mike Hammons (Bremen) :23.37, 7. Brad Monhaut (Penn) :23.7, 8. Andy Kellogg (Mississinewa) :23.79
pole vault - 1. Brent Peterson (Oak Hill) 13-3, 2. Taylor Thomas (Culver Military) 13-3, 3. Tim Gephart (Huntington North) 13-3, 4. Chris Gurchiek (Penn) 13-0, 5. Josh Heck (Triton) 12-6, 6. Jared Haupert (Northfield) 12-6, 7. Jake Lipinski (Western) 12-0, 8. Aaron Engle (Whitko) 12-0
shot put - 1. Derek Dyer (Huntington North) 60-0.5, 2. Robert Salamo (Marion) 53-10, 3. Adam Sparks (Huntington North) 53-7.5, 4. Jason Arnett (Rochester) 52-2.5, 5. Dan Denaut (Plymouth) 51-8.25, 6. Bradley Amor (LaVille) 47-5.5, 7. Jason Elkins (Columbia City), 8. Matt Yuhasz (Mishawaka) 46-7
3200 - 1. Chad Andrews (Northfield) 9:35.3, 2. Kurtis George (Wabash) 9:39.3, 3. Daniel Sweet (Culver Military) 9:45.9, 4. Jason Parks (Northfield) 9:53.3, 5. Cameron Norris (Huntington North) 9:55, 6. Torrey Teats (Blackford) 9:56.5, 7. Andy Hendricks (Mishawaka) 10:01, 8. Daniel Burk (Penn) 10:11.1
1600 relay - 1. Marion (no names available) 3:27.35, 2. SB Clay 3:28.53, 3. Culver Military 3:28.64, 4. Huntington North 3:28.7, 5. Manchester (no names available) 3:29.48, 6. SB Adams (3:29.84), 7. Mishawaka (3:31), 8. Whitko (no names available) 3:32.5 [[In-content Ad]]