While Friday night did not belong to Warsaw on the scoreboard, it did in the record books, as Tiger athletes broke two records and tied a third at the annual Max Truex Invitational. Jordan Randall, Kam Kauffman and James Lieter all shared the honor of Outstang Field Athlete for their record-breaking performances.
As for the meet itself, Penn took first place for the second consecutive year with a team score of
126 points. Carmel just barely nudged past Warsaw for second place with 87.5 points, while the Tigers settled for third with 87.
The Max Truex Invitational operates with a unique set of rules each year. For each event in sprint, distance and field, each school would send two athletes or relay teams. The combined scoring for the pairings determine the overall score for the school for that event.
The early story of the meet was Penn. The Kingsmen got off to an incredibly quick start, winning the first three track events to build an intimidating lead early on. A second-place finish in the 3200 relay was enough to keep the Tigers in second place.
Warsaw’s first victory of the night, and first record to fall, came in the discus event, where Kauffman put together a fantastic performance, throwing for 169 feet and six inches. Not far behind him was Lieter, who came in second place to secure 10 hard-earned points for the Tigers. The pairing set a record with their combined total of 336 feet.
The dominance of the track events continued for Penn as they continued, with the Kingsmen winnings two of the next three. All other competitors had fallen far behind aside from Carmel, which had taken second in most of the events Penn had won. After six events, the Kingsmen led the Greyhounds by nine, and third-place Warsaw by 15.

    Warsaw sophomore Zander Bail clears the hurdles during the 110 Meter Hurdles Relay...Nieter
Another storyline that developed over the course of the meet was LaPorte. The Slicers found themselves winning multiple heats, but often did not have a second competitor in each of these events, and due to the scoring of the Max Truex Invitational, they did not score any points for these efforts.
After eleven events, Penn remained comfortably on top with 94 points, 22 ahead of second place Carmel. The Tigers had dropped from third to fourth with 49 points.
The second record to be toppled on Friday night came in the high jump competition, where super star Jordan Randall cleared seven feet to win the event and set a brand new meet mark. He beat out the second place finisher by eleven inches. Combined with Kylen Asay, the performance was enough to win the event.
Just moments later, the shot put record was tied by Kaufman and Lieter, with a combined toss of 112 feet to continue their phenomenal nights with another top two finish in the event to give Warsaw its third team victory of the evening.
Tucker Reed came in second place in the pole vault competition to wrap up the night.