Warsaw Boys Win Track Regional
No. 7 Tigers edge No. 9 Penn for second title in three years
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
The goal was to advance as many individuals as possible to next week’s state finals.
When all was said and done on a cold, windy night at Walter Cross Field, however, the seventh-ranked Tigers celebrated as a team.
What was expected to be a nip-and-tuck battle between Warsaw and No. 9 Penn turned out to be just that, as the Tigers scored 76 points, edging the runner-up Kingsmen by three.
It was Warsaw’s second regional championship in three years.
Penn won last year’s regional crown, beating the Tigers by one point.
“It says a lot about the kids, the coaches, the parents, the community, to be in this position,” said Thacker. “I’m proud of where we’re at. These kids have done so much for the program.”
A total of 34 teams scored at least two points.
Elkhart Memorial finished third with 41 points, followed in the top 10 by South Bend Adams (36), Kokomo (32), Eastern (31), Fairfield (29), Northridge (24.5), Mishawaka (23), South Bend Riley (23) and Goshen (23).
Wawasee finished 13th with 18 points, while Manchester, Tippecanoe Valley and Triton had competitors but didn’t score.
The top three finishers in each event, as well as those that met a standard time, height or distance, advance to next Friday’s 110th annual state finals.
The state finals will take place at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Warsaw won four events Thursday and will be represented at state in a total of six events.
The Wawasee Warriors had one regional champion – sophomore J.J. Gilmer in the high jump – and will be represented in two events at the state finals.
Senior Jake Poyner, who will run collegiately at Wake Forest University, claimed a pair of regional championships for the Tigers.
Poyner won the 1600 in a time of 4:18.56 and later took first in the 3200 in a time of 9:26.40.
“My goal was to come here and win,” said Poyner, who was the regional’s top seed in both events. “I’m excited about next week.”
Classmate Robert Murphy, a Vincennes University signee, also advanced to the state finals in two events, winning the 800 in a time of 1:55.46 and finishing second in the 1600 in 4:22.29.
Despite winning the 800 by more than two seconds, Murphy, the top-seeded runner in the event, said he didn’t feel that fast.
“I could feel my hamstrings tighten up, and it felt like I was going so slow,” said Murphy. “I thought they were going to catch me.”
At last week’s sectional, Thacker described Poyner and Murphy as the team’s heart and soul.
Of Warsaw’s 76 points at the regional, 38 of them were scored by the dynamic duo.
“Jake and Robert continue to step up for us,” said Thacker. “They score a lot of points.”
Also winning a regional championship for the Tigers was junior Seth Fouts, who took first in the shot put with a distance of 55 feet, 3-3/4 inches.
Fouts beat runner-up Hunter Schuman of Glenn by exactly three feet.
Warsaw senior Taylor Cone punched his ticket to Bloomington with a third-place time of 15.16 seconds in the 110 hurdles.
The Tigers’ 1600 relay team of seniors Wyatt Jones and Nathan Kolbe and juniors Gabe Furnivall and Ryan Goon finished third in a time of 3:25.37.
While Thacker was happy for the individuals that advanced, and happy about winning the team championship, he described the evening as “bittersweet.”
Thacker felt that way because his 400 relay team of Jones, Kolbe, Furnivall and junior Tristan McClone was DQed after dropping the baton on the first exchange.
The Tigers’ fast foursome was seeded second at the regional.
“This is a big meet,” said Thacker. “You know some things will go well, and some things will go bad. Unfortunately, mistakes happen. The bottom line is it happened. That’s the first time that’s happened to them all year. It’s frustrating.”
For Wawasee, Gilmer backed up his sectional championship in the high jump by winning the regional with a height of 6-6.
He will be joined at state by teammate Clayton Cook, a sophomore, who ran a second-place time of 15.05 seconds in the 110 hurdles.
KOKOMO REGIONAL
Top 3 finishers, as well as those who meet the state standard, qualify for the state finals in Bloomington
Team Scores – Warsaw 76, Penn 73, Elkhart Memorial 41, S.B. Adams 36, Kokomo 32, Eastern 31, Fairfield 29, Northridge 24.5, Mishawaka 23, S.B. Riley 23, Goshen 23, Plymouth 21, Wawasee 18, Logansport 18, Elkhart Central 18, Glenn 15, Northwestern 14.5, S.B. Clay 13, Rochester 12.5, Elkhart Christian 12, Western 11, Maconaquah 9, Bremen 8, Taylor 5, Jimtown 5, S.B. Washington 5, NorthWood 4.5, Marian 4, Peru 4, Culver Academy 3, Pioneer 3, Concord 3, Northfield 3, Tipton 2
3,200 relay: 1, Goshen (Ricardo Castillo, Alfonso Torres, Abraham Medellin, Reid Zimmerman) 8:11.35. 2, Eastern-Greentown (Robert Duke, Adam Schaaf, Kameron Myers, Joshua Sommers) 8:11.37. 3, Penn (Kyle Irvin, Christian Wittendorf, Jon Koellner, Thomas Gales) 8:13.19. 4, Elkhart Memorial 8:14.59. 5, Elkhart Central 8:28.81. 6, Northridge 8:37.89. 7, Rochester 8:38.59. 8, John Glenn 8:42.73.
110 high hurdles: 1, Jordan Hunt (Clay) 14.87. 2, Clayton Cook (Wawasee) 15.05. 3, Taylor Cone (Warsaw) 15.16. 4, Jay'shon Jones (Taylor) 15.40. 5, Cameron Kitson (Fairfield) 15.51. 6, Danny Grose (Clay) 15.62. 7, Grant Cole (Eastern-Greentown) 15.63. 8, Austin Healey (Northridge) 15.93.
100: 1, Tommy Grant (Penn) 10.83. 2, Davontea Millsaps (Elkhart Memorial) 10.88. 3, Shaq Vann (Adams) 10.98. 4, Larry Gates (Elkhart Central) 11.07. 5, Cameron Oden (Northwestern) 11.19. 6, Wyatt Jones (Warsaw) 11.20. 7, Devan Emerson (Jimtown) 11.40. 8, Prince Gee (Adams) 11.64.
1,600: 1, Jacob Poyner (Warsaw) 4:18.56. 2, Robert Murphy (Warsaw) 4:22.29. 3, Joel Hartman (Elkhart Christian) 4:24.47. 4, Jake Timmons (Adams) 4:33.63. 5, Lucas Runyan (Glenn) 4:36.97. 6, Bruce Bragg (Riley) 4:38.27. 7, Robert Duke (Eastern-Greentown) 4:39.27. 8, Jeremy Breedlove (Kokomo) 4:39.99.
400 relay: 1, Elkhart Memorial (David Doyle, Caleb Platz, McNeal Stewart, Davontea Millsaps) 43.53. 2, Penn (Zach Oakley, Blake Beehler, Tim Deal) 43.93. 3, Adams (Daniel Tshimanga, Prince Gee, Brian Otieno, Shaq Vann) 44.16. 4, Washington 44.37. 5, Kokomo 44.60. 6, Western 44.74. 7, Elkhart Central 44.76. 8, Fairfield 44.97.
400: 1, Thomas Capers (Riley) 49.63. 2, Conner Sowders (Penn) 50.21. 3, KJ Walton (Maconaquah) 51.00. 4, Michael Hartman (Plymouth) 51.43. 5, Sam Lacher (Bremen) 51.84. 6, Matthew Dorris (Pioneer) 52.33. 7, Elliott Miller (Elkhart Central) 52.47. 8, Chad Goon (Warsaw) 52.58.
300 intermediate hurdles: 1, Tim Deal (Penn) 39.34. 2, Cristian Barron (Goshen) 40.99. 3, Michael Presnell (Northridge) 41.50. 4, Taylor Cone (Warsaw) 41.93. 5, Jordan Nix (Kokomo) 41.94. 6, Max Weaver (Penn) 42.57. 7, Daniel Tshimanga (Adams) 42.79. 8, Justin Olenczuk (Concord) 43.10.
800: 1, Robert Murphy (Warsaw) 1:55.46. 2, Calisto Alex (Logansport) 1:58.05. 3, Jordan Annis (Mishawaka) 1:58.40. 4, Hunter Johnson (Northridge) 1:59.36. 5, Reid Zimmerman (Goshen) 2:00.51. 6, Kameron Myers (Eastern-Greentown) 2:06.47. 7, Alex Crump (John Glenn) 2:06.90. 8, Tyler Krathwohl (Penn) 2:07.77.
200: 1, Shaq Vann (Adams) 22.25. 2, Davontea Millsaps (Elkhart Memorial) 22.49. 3, Thomas Capers (Riley) 22.57. 4, Cameron Oden (Northwestern) 22.81. 5, Brett Baumgartner (Fairfield) 22.82. 6, Devan Emerson (Jimtown) 23.09. 7, Nathan Kolbe (Warsaw) 23.79. DNS - Michael Hartman (Plymouth)
3,200: 1, Jacob Poyner (Warsaw) 9:26.40. 2, Matt Grider (Western) 9:33.14. 3, Joel Hartman (Elkhart Christian) 9:37.11. 4, Alex Gudeman (Rochester) 9:38.20. 5, Andy Timmons (Adams) 9:48.60. 6, Caleb Augustus (Northfield) 9:55.84. 7, Jake Timmons (Adams) 9:56.47. 8, Blake O'Dell (Northridge) 9:58.06.
1,600 relay: 1, Elkhart Memorial (Blake Kramer, Stewart McNeal, Jared Peek, Davontea Millsaps) 3:24.43. 2, Penn (Zach Oakley, Thomas Gales, Conner Sowders, Tim Deal) 3:24.56. 3, Warsaw (Wyatt Jones, Gabriel Furnivall, Nathan Kolbe, Ryan Goon) 3:25.37. 4, Mishawaka 3:29.58. 5, Bremen 3:30.05. 6, Maconaquah 3:33.49. 7, Fairfield 3:33.64. 8, Kokomo 3:34.77.
High jump: 1, Jacob Gilmer (Wawasee) 6-6. 2, Waylon Coulter (Kokomo) 6-4. 3, Robert Lambert (Mishawaka) 6-3. 4, Stephen Kolbe (Warsaw) 6-2. 5, Shane Swinford (Peru) 6-2. 6, William Stueve (NorthWood) 6-0. 7, Eric Burns (Culver Academies) 6-0. 8, Devon Hunsberger (NorthWood) 6-0.
Long jump: 1, Grant Cole (Eastern-Greentown) 23-9. 2, Tim Deal (Penn) 22-81/2. 3, Josiah Marx (Eastern-Greentown) 22-7. 4, Larry Gates (Elkhart Central) 21-101/2. 5, Preston Maxfield (Mishawaka) 21-9. 6, Harvey Lenoir (Kokomo) 21-4. 7, Keegan Kilfoil Barnes (Tipton) 21-31/2. 8, Eric Burns (Culver Academies) 21-21/2.
Shot put: 1, Seth Fouts (Warsaw) 55-33/4. 2, Hunter Schuman (Glenn) 52-33/4. 3, Adam Lacefield (Plymouth) 51-5. 4, Isaiah Cook (Penn) 51-33/4. 5, David Miller (Fairfield) 50-111/2. 6, Dan Samuelson (Plymouth) 50-5. 7, Tyler Hoffman (Concord) 49-111/2. 8, Darrion McAlister (Kokomo) 49-21/2.
Discus: 1, Alex Emmerd (Logansport) 159-5. 2, Kyle Ostrander (Fairfield) 156-5. 3, Sam Daggy (Penn) 154-6. 4, Dan Samuelson (Plymouth) 152-5. 5, Geoff Wilson (Riley) 152-5. 6, David Miller (Fairfield) 149-1. 7, Adam Lacefield (Plymouth) 148-2. 8, Nicholas Gerber (Goshen) 142-8.
Pole vault: 1, Waylon Coulter (Kokomo) 13-6. 2, Devin Puckett (Northridge) 13-6. 3, Tie between Darren Curry (Northwestern) and Cameron Bugno (Rochester) 13-0. 5, Jacob Burnham (Marian) 13-0. 6, Cameron Kitson (Fairfield) 13-0. 7, Tanner Bradley (Mishawaka) 12-6. 8, Tie between Albert Gongwer (NorthWood) and Josh Rheinheimer (Northridge) 12-6.[[In-content Ad]]
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The goal was to advance as many individuals as possible to next week’s state finals.
When all was said and done on a cold, windy night at Walter Cross Field, however, the seventh-ranked Tigers celebrated as a team.
What was expected to be a nip-and-tuck battle between Warsaw and No. 9 Penn turned out to be just that, as the Tigers scored 76 points, edging the runner-up Kingsmen by three.
It was Warsaw’s second regional championship in three years.
Penn won last year’s regional crown, beating the Tigers by one point.
“It says a lot about the kids, the coaches, the parents, the community, to be in this position,” said Thacker. “I’m proud of where we’re at. These kids have done so much for the program.”
A total of 34 teams scored at least two points.
Elkhart Memorial finished third with 41 points, followed in the top 10 by South Bend Adams (36), Kokomo (32), Eastern (31), Fairfield (29), Northridge (24.5), Mishawaka (23), South Bend Riley (23) and Goshen (23).
Wawasee finished 13th with 18 points, while Manchester, Tippecanoe Valley and Triton had competitors but didn’t score.
The top three finishers in each event, as well as those that met a standard time, height or distance, advance to next Friday’s 110th annual state finals.
The state finals will take place at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Warsaw won four events Thursday and will be represented at state in a total of six events.
The Wawasee Warriors had one regional champion – sophomore J.J. Gilmer in the high jump – and will be represented in two events at the state finals.
Senior Jake Poyner, who will run collegiately at Wake Forest University, claimed a pair of regional championships for the Tigers.
Poyner won the 1600 in a time of 4:18.56 and later took first in the 3200 in a time of 9:26.40.
“My goal was to come here and win,” said Poyner, who was the regional’s top seed in both events. “I’m excited about next week.”
Classmate Robert Murphy, a Vincennes University signee, also advanced to the state finals in two events, winning the 800 in a time of 1:55.46 and finishing second in the 1600 in 4:22.29.
Despite winning the 800 by more than two seconds, Murphy, the top-seeded runner in the event, said he didn’t feel that fast.
“I could feel my hamstrings tighten up, and it felt like I was going so slow,” said Murphy. “I thought they were going to catch me.”
At last week’s sectional, Thacker described Poyner and Murphy as the team’s heart and soul.
Of Warsaw’s 76 points at the regional, 38 of them were scored by the dynamic duo.
“Jake and Robert continue to step up for us,” said Thacker. “They score a lot of points.”
Also winning a regional championship for the Tigers was junior Seth Fouts, who took first in the shot put with a distance of 55 feet, 3-3/4 inches.
Fouts beat runner-up Hunter Schuman of Glenn by exactly three feet.
Warsaw senior Taylor Cone punched his ticket to Bloomington with a third-place time of 15.16 seconds in the 110 hurdles.
The Tigers’ 1600 relay team of seniors Wyatt Jones and Nathan Kolbe and juniors Gabe Furnivall and Ryan Goon finished third in a time of 3:25.37.
While Thacker was happy for the individuals that advanced, and happy about winning the team championship, he described the evening as “bittersweet.”
Thacker felt that way because his 400 relay team of Jones, Kolbe, Furnivall and junior Tristan McClone was DQed after dropping the baton on the first exchange.
The Tigers’ fast foursome was seeded second at the regional.
“This is a big meet,” said Thacker. “You know some things will go well, and some things will go bad. Unfortunately, mistakes happen. The bottom line is it happened. That’s the first time that’s happened to them all year. It’s frustrating.”
For Wawasee, Gilmer backed up his sectional championship in the high jump by winning the regional with a height of 6-6.
He will be joined at state by teammate Clayton Cook, a sophomore, who ran a second-place time of 15.05 seconds in the 110 hurdles.
KOKOMO REGIONAL
Top 3 finishers, as well as those who meet the state standard, qualify for the state finals in Bloomington
Team Scores – Warsaw 76, Penn 73, Elkhart Memorial 41, S.B. Adams 36, Kokomo 32, Eastern 31, Fairfield 29, Northridge 24.5, Mishawaka 23, S.B. Riley 23, Goshen 23, Plymouth 21, Wawasee 18, Logansport 18, Elkhart Central 18, Glenn 15, Northwestern 14.5, S.B. Clay 13, Rochester 12.5, Elkhart Christian 12, Western 11, Maconaquah 9, Bremen 8, Taylor 5, Jimtown 5, S.B. Washington 5, NorthWood 4.5, Marian 4, Peru 4, Culver Academy 3, Pioneer 3, Concord 3, Northfield 3, Tipton 2
3,200 relay: 1, Goshen (Ricardo Castillo, Alfonso Torres, Abraham Medellin, Reid Zimmerman) 8:11.35. 2, Eastern-Greentown (Robert Duke, Adam Schaaf, Kameron Myers, Joshua Sommers) 8:11.37. 3, Penn (Kyle Irvin, Christian Wittendorf, Jon Koellner, Thomas Gales) 8:13.19. 4, Elkhart Memorial 8:14.59. 5, Elkhart Central 8:28.81. 6, Northridge 8:37.89. 7, Rochester 8:38.59. 8, John Glenn 8:42.73.
110 high hurdles: 1, Jordan Hunt (Clay) 14.87. 2, Clayton Cook (Wawasee) 15.05. 3, Taylor Cone (Warsaw) 15.16. 4, Jay'shon Jones (Taylor) 15.40. 5, Cameron Kitson (Fairfield) 15.51. 6, Danny Grose (Clay) 15.62. 7, Grant Cole (Eastern-Greentown) 15.63. 8, Austin Healey (Northridge) 15.93.
100: 1, Tommy Grant (Penn) 10.83. 2, Davontea Millsaps (Elkhart Memorial) 10.88. 3, Shaq Vann (Adams) 10.98. 4, Larry Gates (Elkhart Central) 11.07. 5, Cameron Oden (Northwestern) 11.19. 6, Wyatt Jones (Warsaw) 11.20. 7, Devan Emerson (Jimtown) 11.40. 8, Prince Gee (Adams) 11.64.
1,600: 1, Jacob Poyner (Warsaw) 4:18.56. 2, Robert Murphy (Warsaw) 4:22.29. 3, Joel Hartman (Elkhart Christian) 4:24.47. 4, Jake Timmons (Adams) 4:33.63. 5, Lucas Runyan (Glenn) 4:36.97. 6, Bruce Bragg (Riley) 4:38.27. 7, Robert Duke (Eastern-Greentown) 4:39.27. 8, Jeremy Breedlove (Kokomo) 4:39.99.
400 relay: 1, Elkhart Memorial (David Doyle, Caleb Platz, McNeal Stewart, Davontea Millsaps) 43.53. 2, Penn (Zach Oakley, Blake Beehler, Tim Deal) 43.93. 3, Adams (Daniel Tshimanga, Prince Gee, Brian Otieno, Shaq Vann) 44.16. 4, Washington 44.37. 5, Kokomo 44.60. 6, Western 44.74. 7, Elkhart Central 44.76. 8, Fairfield 44.97.
400: 1, Thomas Capers (Riley) 49.63. 2, Conner Sowders (Penn) 50.21. 3, KJ Walton (Maconaquah) 51.00. 4, Michael Hartman (Plymouth) 51.43. 5, Sam Lacher (Bremen) 51.84. 6, Matthew Dorris (Pioneer) 52.33. 7, Elliott Miller (Elkhart Central) 52.47. 8, Chad Goon (Warsaw) 52.58.
300 intermediate hurdles: 1, Tim Deal (Penn) 39.34. 2, Cristian Barron (Goshen) 40.99. 3, Michael Presnell (Northridge) 41.50. 4, Taylor Cone (Warsaw) 41.93. 5, Jordan Nix (Kokomo) 41.94. 6, Max Weaver (Penn) 42.57. 7, Daniel Tshimanga (Adams) 42.79. 8, Justin Olenczuk (Concord) 43.10.
800: 1, Robert Murphy (Warsaw) 1:55.46. 2, Calisto Alex (Logansport) 1:58.05. 3, Jordan Annis (Mishawaka) 1:58.40. 4, Hunter Johnson (Northridge) 1:59.36. 5, Reid Zimmerman (Goshen) 2:00.51. 6, Kameron Myers (Eastern-Greentown) 2:06.47. 7, Alex Crump (John Glenn) 2:06.90. 8, Tyler Krathwohl (Penn) 2:07.77.
200: 1, Shaq Vann (Adams) 22.25. 2, Davontea Millsaps (Elkhart Memorial) 22.49. 3, Thomas Capers (Riley) 22.57. 4, Cameron Oden (Northwestern) 22.81. 5, Brett Baumgartner (Fairfield) 22.82. 6, Devan Emerson (Jimtown) 23.09. 7, Nathan Kolbe (Warsaw) 23.79. DNS - Michael Hartman (Plymouth)
3,200: 1, Jacob Poyner (Warsaw) 9:26.40. 2, Matt Grider (Western) 9:33.14. 3, Joel Hartman (Elkhart Christian) 9:37.11. 4, Alex Gudeman (Rochester) 9:38.20. 5, Andy Timmons (Adams) 9:48.60. 6, Caleb Augustus (Northfield) 9:55.84. 7, Jake Timmons (Adams) 9:56.47. 8, Blake O'Dell (Northridge) 9:58.06.
1,600 relay: 1, Elkhart Memorial (Blake Kramer, Stewart McNeal, Jared Peek, Davontea Millsaps) 3:24.43. 2, Penn (Zach Oakley, Thomas Gales, Conner Sowders, Tim Deal) 3:24.56. 3, Warsaw (Wyatt Jones, Gabriel Furnivall, Nathan Kolbe, Ryan Goon) 3:25.37. 4, Mishawaka 3:29.58. 5, Bremen 3:30.05. 6, Maconaquah 3:33.49. 7, Fairfield 3:33.64. 8, Kokomo 3:34.77.
High jump: 1, Jacob Gilmer (Wawasee) 6-6. 2, Waylon Coulter (Kokomo) 6-4. 3, Robert Lambert (Mishawaka) 6-3. 4, Stephen Kolbe (Warsaw) 6-2. 5, Shane Swinford (Peru) 6-2. 6, William Stueve (NorthWood) 6-0. 7, Eric Burns (Culver Academies) 6-0. 8, Devon Hunsberger (NorthWood) 6-0.
Long jump: 1, Grant Cole (Eastern-Greentown) 23-9. 2, Tim Deal (Penn) 22-81/2. 3, Josiah Marx (Eastern-Greentown) 22-7. 4, Larry Gates (Elkhart Central) 21-101/2. 5, Preston Maxfield (Mishawaka) 21-9. 6, Harvey Lenoir (Kokomo) 21-4. 7, Keegan Kilfoil Barnes (Tipton) 21-31/2. 8, Eric Burns (Culver Academies) 21-21/2.
Shot put: 1, Seth Fouts (Warsaw) 55-33/4. 2, Hunter Schuman (Glenn) 52-33/4. 3, Adam Lacefield (Plymouth) 51-5. 4, Isaiah Cook (Penn) 51-33/4. 5, David Miller (Fairfield) 50-111/2. 6, Dan Samuelson (Plymouth) 50-5. 7, Tyler Hoffman (Concord) 49-111/2. 8, Darrion McAlister (Kokomo) 49-21/2.
Discus: 1, Alex Emmerd (Logansport) 159-5. 2, Kyle Ostrander (Fairfield) 156-5. 3, Sam Daggy (Penn) 154-6. 4, Dan Samuelson (Plymouth) 152-5. 5, Geoff Wilson (Riley) 152-5. 6, David Miller (Fairfield) 149-1. 7, Adam Lacefield (Plymouth) 148-2. 8, Nicholas Gerber (Goshen) 142-8.
Pole vault: 1, Waylon Coulter (Kokomo) 13-6. 2, Devin Puckett (Northridge) 13-6. 3, Tie between Darren Curry (Northwestern) and Cameron Bugno (Rochester) 13-0. 5, Jacob Burnham (Marian) 13-0. 6, Cameron Kitson (Fairfield) 13-0. 7, Tanner Bradley (Mishawaka) 12-6. 8, Tie between Albert Gongwer (NorthWood) and Josh Rheinheimer (Northridge) 12-6.[[In-content Ad]]
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