WARSAW - The Warsaw Tigers boys’ track and field team launched its 2023 Northern Lakes Conference campaign hosting the Mishawaka Cavemen and the Goshen RedHawks Tuesday night. The Tigers needed the final race, the 1600-meter relay, to punctuate a see-saw battle with Mishawaka and begin Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) action with wins over the Cavemen (66-61) and the RedHawks (101-31) for a 2-0 start in the NLC.

The four-lap relay reflected the evening’s battle with Mishawaka with Morgan Johnson moving Warsaw ahead in the first leg, Jackson Winey switching positions twice with his Caveman counterpart. Nathan Dailey ran a strong third leg, but Mishawaka’s third leg moved ahead by intervals of 10 to 15 meters.

The Tiger faithful, however, comprised of fans in the stands and cheering teammates in the infield, didn’t flinch because anchorman Colton Martin, who won the 400-meter dash earlier (52.67 sec.) by almost 25 meters, was waiting for the handoff from Dailey.

Martin delivered, and moved closer to his Mishawaka opponent until you could visibly see the difference in endurance heading into the final curve of the oval where Martin maintained his cruising speed while his opponent tightened and slowed down on the final straightaway with the winning time of 3:32.07.

The Tigers’ five points from the event win broke the 61-61 tie headed into the relay showdown.

Warsaw head track coach Scott Erba credited the energy of supportive teammates as well as the resilience of his athletes as the teams exchanged leads among numerous events the entire evening.

“When the pressure was on, the team got involved,” Erba said. “(T)hey started verbally getting more engaged, and the energy level kicked up several notches. The atmosphere around the track during the Varsity 4x400m was outstanding which helped to raise the performance level of everyone competing.”

Warsaw’s field events, a strength contributing to last year’s NLC crown, once again put clutch points on the board.

First place finishes from Tucker Curtis (pole vault, 12-6), and Jordan Randall (high jump, 6-4), and a dual win in the throws by James Leiter (shot put, 47-06.5; discus, 147-9) were fortified by additional points from a sweep in the discus by Kam Kauffman (145-0), and Booren (120-4), and a second place showing in the shot put by Kauffman (45-02.5).

Tiger throwers show promise for a strong showing in the Max Truex relay-formatted invitational Friday April 28.

Running times overall seemed to land in line with typical performances among Northern Indiana high school boys’ squads during customary mid-April evening climes.

Mishawaka swept the 100-meter dash and finished in the top two spots in the 200-meter dash with Warsaw’s Josh Conley edging his opponent by 0.06 seconds to finish third.

Although Warsaw dropped the first baton exchange in the 400-meter relay, the event favorites – Mishawaka – did the Tigers a big favor botching the very same exchange. The Cavemen miscue was a key factor in the Tuesday Tiger final score sweep.

The remaining Tiger win on the oval belonged to Blake Keene (300m hurdles, 42.46). Keene added a second place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (16.11).

Warsaw finished second in the 3200-meter relay (8:27.27), and Tyler Mimnaugh (4:24.51) added a runner-up finish in the 1600-meter run.

Goshen flexed its scoring muscle capturing first place finishes among the four distance events: the 3200-meter relay, and the 800-, 1600-, and 3200-meter runs.

Warsaw gobbled up a lot of human real estate inside the oval with 107 athletes on board, and nearly two dozen athletes improved times and/or set personal records although they did not finish in one of the top three spots.

Erba commented on the conference grind ahead, its challenges affording his athletes continued preparation for postseason track and field rigors.

“(T)his was a great night of learning about what we have and what we need to work on over the next (four) weeks… as we progress… into the Tournament Season. I know (Mishawaka) Coach Shaw and (Goshen) Coach Wynn will have their athletes back at work and ready to bring their best come the NLC Championships. (O)ur focus shifts to Senior Night on Thursday when we take on NorthWood, another top team in the conference.”

Warsaw hosts the Panthers this evening at Fisher Field in the Tiger Athletic Complex.