A handful of local athletes were able to earn top-10 finishes on Friday and Saturday in the boys and girls IHSAA Track and Field State Finals at Indiana University in Bloomington. In the girls' meet, Whitko finished 21st with eleven points, Warsaw took 32nd with eight, Wawasee 39th with seven and Triton 67th with one. Tippecanoe Valley had competing athletes but did not score. For the boys, Warsaw finished 32nd with eight points once again, while athletes from Tippecanoe Valley competed but did not score.
Beginning with the ladies on Friday night, Kosciusko County saw three athletes from three different schools earn top four finishes. Competing at her future school, IU commit Joey Rastrelli led the way for the area with a second place finish in the 1600M run with a time of 4:50.55, coming in just behind Delta’s Nicki Southerland to earn all eight of the Lady Tigers’ points. Rastrelli also finished in eleventh place in the 800M run on her final day as a Warsaw athlete.

    Warsaw senior Joey Rastrelli, who earned a second place finish in the 1600M race Friday night. Rastrelli also took eleventh place in the 800M.

The field events also saw some podium finishes for the area. Wawasee senior Emma Yoder also competed in her final event for the Lady Warriors, making the most of it with a third place finish in the discus with a throw of 150' 01". Not far behind her was Whitko junior Gwen Howard, who competed in two events on the day, earning top five finishes in both. Howard took fifth place in discus with a 139’ 05” throw, and did a bit better in the shot put, finishing in fourth with a throw of 47’ 03”. The shot put was also the event that earned Triton its lone point, as senior Addyson Viers earned a top-ten finish as well, finishing ninth with a 42’ 2.25”.
Other athletes competing included Warsaw’s Eden Metz taking 18th in the 100M dash, as well as fellow Lady Tigers Annabel Parker (23rd in 300M hurdles), Camryn Burner (14th in her preliminary heat of the 100M dash), as well as Margaret Barnett and Elliana Transparenti (18th and 20th in the pole vault). Warsaw’s 4x100M relay team was disqualified due to an exchange zone issue. Tippecanoe Valley sophomore Betty Shepherd finished 18th in the 300M hurdles in the lone event for the Lady Vikings.

    Wawasee’s Emma Yoder (left) and Whitko’s Gwen Howard (right) stand on the podium after Yoder finished third and Howard fifth in the discus competition at the IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals on Friday. Howard also took fourth place in the shot put.

Moving over to the boys finals on Saturday, the only two top-ten finishes belonged to a pair of Tiger athletes in field events. Sophomore Jordan Randall capped off his fantastic second season with a third place finish in the high jump, reaching a leap of 6’ 8”, two inches behind first place finisher Elliot Ryba of Greenfield. Both athletes that finished higher than Randall graduated this summer, clearing the way for the sophomore to make a run at a state title over the next two years. Talan Asay also had a solid night in the competition, taking 12th. Finishing ninth place in the shot put was Tiger junior Kameron Kauffman with a throw of 55’ 3.75”. Kauffman was one of three nonseniors in the top 10. Kauffman also took home a 15th place finish in discus.
Other Tigers competing included Jackson Gackenheimer (12th in the 3200M), Blake Keene (eliminated in the 110M hurdle prelims with a time of 15.36) and the 4x800M relay team of Tyler Mimnaugh, Clark Meridew, Rick Orr and Tyler Swartz with a 23rd place finish. Outside of Warsaw, the only other area athlete to compete was Tippecanoe Valley senior Wade Jones, who capped off an fantastic multisport career with a 20th place finish in the 200M dash.
Congratulations to all athletes involved for your incredible seasons.