Tigers Third At NLC Boys Meet
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
DUNLAP - The teething pain has gone away for the Warsaw boys track team.
Once considered just a young team with potential, the Tigers showed they are, and will be, a force to be reckoned with in the Northern Lakes Conference.
Warsaw dominated the sprints and won two of three relay events to put a scare into defending NLC champion Concord before settling for third place behind the Minutemen and Goshen on a cold and windy Thursday. It was right where the three teams were in the regular season round robin with Concord's 6-0 mark, Plymouth at 5-1 and Warsaw 4-2.
Warsaw had five first places out of the 16 events, including four by sophomore Jon Hill, who won the 100 and 200 dashes and anchored the 400 and 1600 relay teams to first. Junior Scott Shepherd won the long jump for Warsaw's other first.
"Just put an exclamation point behind Jon Hill's name," Warsaw coach Troy Akers said. "He had a great meet. He will develop even more mentally and physically."
Hill anchored the first-place 400 relay team that also had junior Shawn Mudd, sophomore Jose Esquivel and Shepherd, and the winning 1600 relay team with Esquivel, junior David Hoffert and sophomore Corbin Quance.
Shepherd won the long jump basically on his second leap of the night when he flew 20-feet, 10-inches to take over first place, causing Akers to watch the measurement closely and then showing his pleasure with a loud "yeah." Shepherd went 20-9 1/2 on his next leap.
Hill dominated things in the 100 and then finished off the Tigers' 400 relay win, leading Akers to once again celebrate with his sprinters.
In the last event of the evening, Warsaw won the 1600 relay without Wiley when Steve Fussle stepped in and ran a great leg in relief.
The amazing part for Warsaw was it did so well without two of its main components for the meet in senior P.J. Wiley and junior Derrick Duncan. Wiley, a key in the 400 run and 1600 and 3200 relays, was out for this meet with a hip flexor, while Duncan, who finished third in the 100 in last year's NLC as a sophomore, has been out with a bad hamstring.
"We have been without Duncan practically all year," Akers said. "And for this meet, we were missing probably the best athlete at Warsaw in P.J. Wiley. In the long run, it should make us stronger."
The scary thing for the rest of the NLC is that Warsaw has only two seniors, Wiley and Arturo Garcia, and many of its key runners are sophomores.
Akers, who built a girls track dynasty at Wawasee before moving to Warsaw this year, sees something similar with these Tigers that he saw with the Lady Warriors.
"At the beginning of the year, they were getting used to me, and I was getting used to them," Akers said. "But the one thing I knew about this team was the talented freshmen they had last year.
"The future looks good for us," he said. "I saw something in these guys that I saw a few years ago (with Wawasee). We will get better, and we should be at the top of the conference for the next few years to come. We will have to look for some leaders, but we certainly have the building blocks."
The Minutemen and Redskins were able to overcome the Tigers mainly because of getting the places other than first place more often. Something that Akers is looking for Warsaw to improve on for next year.
"We need to gain some depth for next year," Akers said. "The team that wins championships place well in between first and seventh. Hopefully this meet will also jump start us for next week and the sectional."
Wawasee finished in sixth place and was led by Ryan Mikel's first place finish in the 800 run. The Warriors also got a second places from its 3200 relay team, John Hursh in the 3200 and Brad Brown in the 400 and a third from Rustin Mikel in the 400.
Ryan Mikel and Hoffert hooked up in one of the better races of the night. Mikel, the favorite heading into the meet, trailed Hoffert for 1 3/4 of the two laps before Mikel finally scooted behind Hoffert in the last 100 meters.
Warsaw and Wawasee will be at Goshen Thursday for the sectional meet. [[In-content Ad]]
DUNLAP - The teething pain has gone away for the Warsaw boys track team.
Once considered just a young team with potential, the Tigers showed they are, and will be, a force to be reckoned with in the Northern Lakes Conference.
Warsaw dominated the sprints and won two of three relay events to put a scare into defending NLC champion Concord before settling for third place behind the Minutemen and Goshen on a cold and windy Thursday. It was right where the three teams were in the regular season round robin with Concord's 6-0 mark, Plymouth at 5-1 and Warsaw 4-2.
Warsaw had five first places out of the 16 events, including four by sophomore Jon Hill, who won the 100 and 200 dashes and anchored the 400 and 1600 relay teams to first. Junior Scott Shepherd won the long jump for Warsaw's other first.
"Just put an exclamation point behind Jon Hill's name," Warsaw coach Troy Akers said. "He had a great meet. He will develop even more mentally and physically."
Hill anchored the first-place 400 relay team that also had junior Shawn Mudd, sophomore Jose Esquivel and Shepherd, and the winning 1600 relay team with Esquivel, junior David Hoffert and sophomore Corbin Quance.
Shepherd won the long jump basically on his second leap of the night when he flew 20-feet, 10-inches to take over first place, causing Akers to watch the measurement closely and then showing his pleasure with a loud "yeah." Shepherd went 20-9 1/2 on his next leap.
Hill dominated things in the 100 and then finished off the Tigers' 400 relay win, leading Akers to once again celebrate with his sprinters.
In the last event of the evening, Warsaw won the 1600 relay without Wiley when Steve Fussle stepped in and ran a great leg in relief.
The amazing part for Warsaw was it did so well without two of its main components for the meet in senior P.J. Wiley and junior Derrick Duncan. Wiley, a key in the 400 run and 1600 and 3200 relays, was out for this meet with a hip flexor, while Duncan, who finished third in the 100 in last year's NLC as a sophomore, has been out with a bad hamstring.
"We have been without Duncan practically all year," Akers said. "And for this meet, we were missing probably the best athlete at Warsaw in P.J. Wiley. In the long run, it should make us stronger."
The scary thing for the rest of the NLC is that Warsaw has only two seniors, Wiley and Arturo Garcia, and many of its key runners are sophomores.
Akers, who built a girls track dynasty at Wawasee before moving to Warsaw this year, sees something similar with these Tigers that he saw with the Lady Warriors.
"At the beginning of the year, they were getting used to me, and I was getting used to them," Akers said. "But the one thing I knew about this team was the talented freshmen they had last year.
"The future looks good for us," he said. "I saw something in these guys that I saw a few years ago (with Wawasee). We will get better, and we should be at the top of the conference for the next few years to come. We will have to look for some leaders, but we certainly have the building blocks."
The Minutemen and Redskins were able to overcome the Tigers mainly because of getting the places other than first place more often. Something that Akers is looking for Warsaw to improve on for next year.
"We need to gain some depth for next year," Akers said. "The team that wins championships place well in between first and seventh. Hopefully this meet will also jump start us for next week and the sectional."
Wawasee finished in sixth place and was led by Ryan Mikel's first place finish in the 800 run. The Warriors also got a second places from its 3200 relay team, John Hursh in the 3200 and Brad Brown in the 400 and a third from Rustin Mikel in the 400.
Ryan Mikel and Hoffert hooked up in one of the better races of the night. Mikel, the favorite heading into the meet, trailed Hoffert for 1 3/4 of the two laps before Mikel finally scooted behind Hoffert in the last 100 meters.
Warsaw and Wawasee will be at Goshen Thursday for the sectional meet. [[In-content Ad]]