Pole Vaulters Highlight Warsaw EffortThe last athletes to finish had the best overall night Friday for the Warsaw Tigers, who hosted the 37th annual Max Truex Invitational.
Warsaw pole vaulters Hunter Metger (tied for second place) and Nicholas Bazzoni (tied for fourth) both enjoyed personal-record performances in helping the Tigers place fifth in the nine-team boys track and field meet with 63 points.
Competing in blustery conditions at Fisher Field, Metger cleared 14 feet and Bazzoni 12-6. Metger’s previous top performance was 12-6 – set last week – and Bazzoni’s best was 12-0.
“(Pole vault) Coach (John) Bazzoni is doing a phenomenal job with these guys,” said Warsaw head coach Matt Thacker. “We have five vaulters over 10-6. I couldn’t be happier for them. They just keep getting better and better.”
Thacker also commented on the rest of his squad’s performance.
“On throws we did fine tonight,” said Thacker. “We’re getting there in the long jump and trying to figure our marks out. In the high jump, we have to get better.
“In the sprints, we’re kind of undermanned right now. But our effort was there.”
Thacker saw Lucas Howett (10:04.26) earn a personal-best clocking in the 3200.
“I’m pretty sure Taylor Mills (10:27.81) did as well,” said Thacker.
“The 4x800 team of Nolan Groninger, Tanner Stiver, Taylor Mills and Justin Fleming (8.16.46) did a phenomenal job with a PR That’s great to see.
“In the sprints, we had to do some things at the last minute and we came out and really competed. The only mishap I thought we had was the in the 4x100 relay with the varsity team. We’re short on sprinters this year. We’re trying to get things figured out and we haven’t done that yet.”
Places were awarded in each of the 16 events based on each school’s two entries combining for one time, height or distance.
Rewarded for its quality depth, Carroll (135 points) won its third straight team title. Homestead (88), Penn (76) and Valparaiso (70) took team places second through fourth.
NorthWood and Plymouth visit Warsaw Wednesday for the Tigers’ Senior Night.
Max Truex was Warsaw’s first Olympian. A 1954 Warsaw graduate, he set
a national high school record in the mile and later ran for the University of Southern California and earned places on Team USA for the 1956 Games in Melbourne and the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics. He died in 1991 at 55.
MAX TRUEX INVITATIONAL
Team Standings – 1. Carroll 135, 2. Homestead 88, 3. Penn 76, 4. Valparaiso 70, 5. Warsaw 63, 6. LaPorte 61, 7. Mishawaka 59, 8. Hobart 38, 9. Fort Wayne Wayne 32.
Team Relay Results
4x800 relay — 1. Valparaiso 16:46.8, 2. Warsaw 16:57.53, 3. Homestead 17:01.64, 4. Penn 17:04.18; 110 hurdles — 1. Carroll 31.18, 2. Homestead 31.86, 3. Hobart 34.16, 4. Warsaw 34.27; 100 — 1. Carroll 21.83, 2. Wayne 22.28, 3 (tie). Mishawaka and Penn 22.59, 8. Warsaw 23.82; 1,600 — 1. Carroll 9:02.02, 2. Valparaiso 9:08.58, 3. LaPorte 9:11.07, 4. Homestead 9:13.7, 7. Warsaw 9:34.32; 4x100 relay — 1. Carroll 1:28.45, 2. Mishawaka 1:30.52, 3. Penn 1:31.61, 4. Wayne 1:32.25; 400 — 1. Valparaiso 1:43.36, 2. Carroll 1:45.14, 3. Mishawaka 1:46.38, 4. LaPorte 1:47.03, 8. Warsaw 1:50.78; 300 hurdles — 1. Carroll 1:20.45, 2. Penn 1:24.9, 3. Mishawaka 1:26.38, 4. Homestead 1:26.42, 9. Warsaw 1:40.93; 800 — 1. Carroll 4:05.54, 2. Penn 4:05.89, 3. Warsaw 4:08.4, 4, LaPorte 4:08.44; 200 — 1. Carroll 44.23 (meet record, replaces 44.67 by Fort Wayne North Side’s Tyvon Kelly and Ed Benson in 2012), 2. Mishawaka 44.5, 3. Homestead 46.67, 4. Warsaw 48.31; 3,200 — 1. Valparaiso 19.42.32, 2. Carroll 19:41.46, 3. Homestead 19:59.18, 5. Warsaw 20:32.07; 4x400 relay — 1. Carroll 7:02.94, 2. Homestead 7:06.3, 3. Valparaiso 7:10.13, 4. Warsaw 7:25.75; High jump — 1. LaPorte 12-4, 2. Carroll 11-8, 3. Penn 11-7, 4. Warsaw 11-6; Pole vault — 1 (tie). Warsaw and Carroll 25-6, 3. Hobart 25-0, 4. Penn 23-0; Long jump — 1. LaPorte 41-9 1/2, 2. Carroll 38-6 1/2, 3. Homestead 37-10, 4. Wayne 37-6 3/4, 7. Warsaw 36-9; Discus — 1. Homestead 293-10, 2. Penn 278-4, 3. Warsaw 270-5; Shot put — 1. Penn 95-2, 2. Homestead 93-10, 3. Carroll 91-7 1/2, 4. Valparaiso 89-7 1/2, 5. Warsaw 88-10 1/4.
Individual Race Results
4x800 relay — 1. Valparaiso ‘A’ 8:11.54, 2. Warsaw ‘A’ 8:16.46, 3. Carroll ‘A’ 8:20.81, 9. Warsaw ‘B’ 8:41.07; 110 hurdles — 1. Chris Flick (C) 15.21, 2. Omena Onomakpome (Hob) 15.27, 3. Kairal Johnson (Hom) 15.59, 7. Eli Owen (War) 16.35, 13. John Culbertson (War) 17.92; 100 — 1. Justin Becker (C) 10.7, 2. Craig Young (Wayne) 10.95, 3. Cameron Shank (C) 11.13, 14. Keegan Larsh (War) 11.86, 15. Jayton Brock (War) 11.86; 1,600 — 1. Cole Powers (C) 4:28.67, 2. Adam Gasaway (LP) 4:29.58, 3. Matt Cavanaugh (V) 4:29.68, 10. Xavi Ramirez (War) 4:42.25, 13. Samuel Lechlitner (War) 4:52.07; 4x100 relay — Carroll ‘A’ 43.35, 2. Penn ‘A’ 43.68, 3. Mishawaka ‘A’ 44.21, 11. Warsaw ‘B’ 47.02, DQ. Warsaw ‘A’; 400 — 1. Brett Otterbacher (V) 50.37, 2. John Ferrell (LP) 51.56, 3. Conner West (C) 52.09, 15. Keegan Larsh (War) 55.36, 16. Nolan Groninger (War) 55.42; 300 hurdles — 1. Chris Flick (C) 39.8, 2. Ryan Steder (LP) 39.97, 3. Ben Marano (C) 40.65, 15. John Culbertson (War) 46.98, 18. Eli Owen (War) 53.95; 800 — 1. Adam Gasaway (LP) 1:58.77, 2. Cory Waldron (C) 2:01.94, 3 (tie). Deric Bailey (Mi) and Colton Shail (Penn) 2:02.73, 5. Justin Fleming (War) 2:03.06, 8. Tanner Stiver (War) 2:05.34; 200 — 1. Justin Becker (C) 21.62 (meet record, replaces 21.7 by Fort Wayne Northrop’s Ernie Davis in 1985 and South Bend Adams’ Jevon Williams in 1987), 2. Chandler Roman (Hom) 22.58, 3. Cameron Shank (C) 22.61, 6. Keegan Larsh (War) 23.86, 8. Jayton Brock (War) 24.45; 3,200 — 1. Connor Goetz (C) 9:23.85, Ryan Ruppert (Hom) 9:33.68, Colling Huber (V) 9:37.48, 6. Lucas Howett (War) 10:04.26, 13. Taylor Mills (War) 10:27.81; 4x400 relay — 1. Carroll ‘A’ 3:28.29, 2. Homestead ‘A’ 3:29.37, 3. Valparaiso ‘A’ 3:30.16, 9. Warsaw ‘A’ 3:29.83, 15. Warsaw ‘B’ 3:45.92. High jump — 1. Jacob Marsh (LP) 6-6, 2. Kevin Krutsch (Penn) 6-1, 3. Jonny Becker (C) 6-0, 4. (tie) Tyler Mettinger (War) 5-10, 9. Conner Lennox (War) 5-8; Pole vault — 1. Riley Johnston (Hob) 14-0, 2 (tie). Hunter Metger (War) and Caleb Keener (C) 13-0, 4 (tie). Nicholas Bazzoni (War) 12-6; Long jump — 1. Tyler Benz (LP) 21-9 1/2, 2. Xavier Ellington (Wayne) 20-3 1/2, 3. Jonny Becker (C) 20-2 1/4, 9. Mason Martz (War) 18-10, 11. Eli Owen (War) 17-11; Discus — 1. Aaron Niedzwiecki (Hom) 159-6, 2. Caden Paquette (Penn) 146-0, 3. John Svinarich (War) 143-10, 11. Nicholas Miller (War) 126.7; Shot put — 1. Zach Roberts (C) 49-7 1/2, 2. James Morris (Penn) 49-2, 3. Aaron Niedzwiecki (Hom) 49-0, 4. John Svinarich (War) 48-0, 14. Nicholas Miller (War) 40-10 1/4.
Outstanding Performers: Distance — Adam Gasaway (LaPorte). Sprints — Justin Becker (Carroll), Field — Jacob Marsh (LaPorte).
