GOSHEN — At this point in the season, the Warsaw Community High School track and field teams only have each other to compete with. After both breezed through the regular season, the girls won their eighth-straight sectional title with 156 points Tuesday in Warsaw, while the boys tallied 170 points to get their fourth-straight Goshen Sectional championship Thursday night. “We kind of have a competition between us and the girls, about who can score the most points,” Warsaw senior Gabe Furnivall joked. “It’s a lot of fun seeing what we can go out and do.” What the Warsaw Tigers did Thursday was win 11 of the 16 events and had a competitor finish in the top four, therefore advancing to the South Bend St. Joseph Regional, in every event except the 800, 110 hurdles and pole vault. “There’s a bunch of great athletes here,” Warsaw head coach Matt Thacker said about the sectional. “We knew we were going to come in here and compete. We talked about not having any regrets yesterday in the classroom. We have a bunch of seniors, and with that, there’s only three weeks left of being in school. Only three weeks left of being a high school kid. These moments, they won’t come by again. We talked about that and the kids were really dialed in and focused. The results speak for themselves.” The seniors certainly did show up for Warsaw, claiming seven individual titles themselves. Furnivall defended his 400-meter title with a time of 50.31 seconds, while Ellis Coon won the 1600 (4:21.59) and 3200 (9:39.39), Stephen Kolbe reclaimed his high jump title (6-6), Dylan Campbell was first at 300 hurdles (40.55) and Mike Miller continued his stellar first year on the team by winning the 100 (11.17), 200 (22.71) and anchoring the winning 4x100 relay (42.99) with classmates Tanner Balazs, Furnivall and Tristan McClone. “I love running with them,” Miller said of his 4x100 teammates. “We’re best friends and that’s how we want to keep it. We want to keep running with each other. That’s all we want to do.” Those three are the reason that Miller is even on the team, as McClone and Furnivall talked Balazs and himself to joining the team for their senior seasons. Even after going out for the team, Miller thought he would compete in the long jump, but word leaked out that he was pretty fast too. Reluctant to let McClone and Furnivall know that he could probably run with them in a race, Balazs did the talking for Miller. “(Balazs) always told them, ‘Mike can beat you guys,’” Miller said. “I always told him, ‘Don’t tell them that.’” Miller admits he still needs a lot of work in the blocks, but has only gotten better, actually edging out McClone in the 100, as he finished second in 11.31. “I did not think I could have this much success at all,” Miller said. “It was Gabe and Tristan talking my best friend Tanner and I into it. I guess this is how it works out.” Along with winning the 400 and being on the 4x100, Furnivall also anchored the first-place 4x400 relay (3:23.95) with sophomore Landan Perry and senior twin brothers Chad Goon and Ryan Goon. Junior Rashaan Jackson followed his Northern Lakes Conference title in the long jump by winning the sectional, leaping 21-0.75, and the Tigers’ 4x800 relay rounded out their dominant performance, as senior Ismael Calderon, junior Nick Bergen, junior Daniel Messenger and senior Tyler Houvener won in 8:11.45. While all was going well for the Tigers, there was a dark spot as senior Seth Fouts was unable to compete at the meet, ultimately ending his prep career. Ineligible for what Thacker would only say was a ‘school issue’, the University of Kentucky-bound Fouts was unable to defend his shot put title. The Goshen track is also the site where he recorded a distance of 60-7 in the shot put during the Goshen Relays. That distance is the second-farthest in the state to Avon junior David Schall’s 60-8, according to indianarunner.com “I love the kid – I really do,” Thacker said of Fouts. “I feel bad for the team. I feel bad for him.” Even without the points Fouts would have generated in shot put and discus, the Tigers ran away with the meet, as Goshen was second with 83 points, followed by Northridge (66.5) and Wawasee (56). The Wawasee Warriors too could have gotten some more points, but mixed up their lineup a bit and suffered an injury as well. After winning the Northern Lakes Conference titles in the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles and 200 a week earlier, Wawasee junior Clayton Cook was held out of the 300 hurdles and suffered a hamstring injury sometime after finishing first in the 110 hurdles (14.55). “I have no clue (when he injured it),” Wawasee head coach Scott Lancaster said. “Not until the Goshen trainer went out on the track and told him he had a pulled hamstring (did I know about it). “There’s not much I can say about it,” he added. “It is what it is.” Following the 110 hurdles, Cook anchored the third-place 4x100 relay, of junior Tyler Courter, junior Jacob Hutchinson and junior J.J. Gilmer, which completed the race in 44.09. The race was his last real competition of the night, as he then took part in the 200, an event he had qualified for in a time of 22.58. In the finals, Cook was only after the team points and finished eighth, gingerly jogging in a time of 52.67. Cook’s performance in the 110 hurdles was Wawasee’s only championship, although junior Zach Cockrill and Gilmer were both runners-up, Cockrill in the 800 (1:57.84) and Gilmer at high jump (6-5). Gilmer was the defending sectional champion at high jump, but Kolbe has had a bounce-back year, and in turn regained the sectional title he won as a freshman and sophomore. “I’ve been eating a little bit healthier,” Kolbe said about what’s been going right for him this year. “I’ve cut been cutting out sugar, mostly. Been eating the basics like vegetables. “I just felt like crap a lot of the time,” he elaborated. “I just thought, ‘I have to eat better’ and I did. I feel a lot better.” And at the sectional, Kolbe got the competition he likes, as Gilmer was fourth at last year’s state meet and Elkhart Central junior Treyton Harris had cleared 6-6 this season. To put the competition of the sectional in perspective, last year’s state meet was won with a height of 6-8, while 6-6 was good for seventh place. “It pushes me so much more,” Kolbe said about going up against Gilmer and Harris. “If I have someone up there with me, I definitely want to get over a lot more.” Despite not winning the sectional, Gilmer will be moving on to the regional and appreciated the competition that was presented in Goshen. “He really wanted to jump here today, because he knew the kid from Central was at 6-6 and Stephen was here,” Lancaster said of Gilmer. “He really wanted to test himself against that type of competition.” At the regional, all the Warsaw athletes will be pushed like they haven’t been to this point. For Furnivall, he’s looking forward to it, so he can see what he and his running mates can do when really pushed in the 4x100. “We’ve been checking where we’re at, and we really haven’t had much competition this year,” he said. “We’re going to get some competition at the regional, so we’ll be able to see where we’re at.” And according to Thacker, with a trip to state on the line, all his guys will be able to see where they’re at. “We’re going to have to step up and truly be ready to go and run our best in order to come out and perform well,” he said.
GOSHEN BOYS TRACK AND FIELD SECTIONAL Team Scores – 1. Warsaw 170, 2. Goshen 83, 3. Northridge 66.5, 4. Wawasee 56, 5. Elkhart Memorial 52.5, 6. Fairfield 52, 7. Concord 47, 8. Elkhart Central 42, 9. NorthWood 30, 10. Jimtown 21, 11. Elkhart Christian Academy 4 (Top 4 Advance to SB St. Joe Regional) 100 – 1. Mike Miller (War) 11.17, 2. Tristan McClone (War) 11.31, 3. Jerrell Pointdexter (Con) 11.46, 4. Micah Johnson (EC) 11.71; 200 – 1. Miller (War) 22.71, 2. Storm Stapleton (War) 23.16, 3. Samuel Byler (Gosh) 23.41, 4. Abraham Medellin (Gosh) 23.63, 8. Clayton Cook (Waw) 52.67; 400 – 1. Gabe Furnivall (War) 50.31, 2. Darnell Bean (Con) 50.89, 3. Byler (Gosh) 51.29, 4. Marquis Schieber (Jim) 52.41, 6. Riley Rhoades (War) 52.68; 800 – 1. Blake Kramer (EM) 1:56.37, 2. Zach Cockrill (Waw) 1:57.84, 3. Tacoryieo Edwards (EM) 1:58.39, 4. Nicholas Skwarcan (NW) 1:58.49, 7. Ismael Calderon (War) 2:04.88; 1600 – 1. Ellis Coon (War) 4:21.59, 2. Kramer (EM) 4:22.79, 3. Cockrill (Waw) 4:27.09, 4. Henry Zelaya (Con) 4:32.60; 3200 – 1. Coon (War) 9:39.39, 2. Conner Sandt (Nr) 9:44.08, 3. Gerardo Abad (Gosh) 9:48.55, 4. Blake O’Dell (Nr) 9:51.38, 5. Adam Doll (Waw) 10:02.24, 6. Owen Glogovsky (War) 10:05.35; 110 Hurdles – 1. Cook (Waw) 14.55, 2. Cameron Kitson (Fair) 15.17, 3. Steven Johnson (EM) 15.63, 4. Austin Healey (Nr) 15.94; 300 Hurdles – 1. Dylan Campbell (War) 40.55, 2. Ross Armey (War) 40.81, 3. Ronaldo Garcia (Gosh) 42.03, 4. Nolan Miller (Fair) 42.12.; 4x100 Relay – 1. Warsaw (Tanner Balazs, McClone, Furnivall, Miller) 42.99, 2. Concord (Tevin Williams, Bean, Ramon Johnson, Pointdexter) 43.53, 3. Wawasee (Tyler Courter, Jacob Hutchinson, J.J. Gilmer, Cook) 44.09, 4. Goshen (Andrew Pillow, Cameron Kline, Carlos Duarte-Contreras, Medellin) 44.21; 4x400 Relay – 1. Warsaw (Landan Perry, Chad Goon, Ryan Goon, Furnivall) 3:23.95, 2. Goshen (Kline, Medellin, Pillow, Byler) 3:28.41, 3. NorthWood (Bailey Gessinger, Reid Yoder, Skwarcan, Matthew Prochno) 3:29.76, 4. Concord (Dominic Proffitt, Johnson, Zelaya, Bean) 3:31.78; 4x800 Relay – 1. Warsaw (Calderon, Bergen, Daniel Messenger, Tyler Houvener) 8:11.45, 2. Goshen (Ricardo Castillo, Pillow, Colton Potter, Abad) 8:14.37, 3. Northridge (Jailyn Rolle, Sandt, O’Dell, Neel Patel) 8:17.94, 4. Fairfield (Trever York, Adrian Torres, Alex Oberlin, Nathan Miller) 8:24.01, 9. Wawasee (Erik Diaz, Sam Griner, Marcos Mejia, Austin Krizman) 9:37.32; High Jump – 1. Stephen Kolbe (War) 6-6, 2. Gilmer (Waw) 6-5, 3. Treyton Harris (EC) 6-5, 4. Nathan Azzarito (Fair) 6-3, 7. Brock Riley (War) 6-1; Pole Vault – 1. Cameron Kitson (Fair) 13-6, 2. Morgon Cosby (Fair) 13-0, 3. Ryan Haarer (Nr) 12-6, 4. Jacob Isnogle (Gosh) 12-0, 6. Jake Fayed (War) 11-6; Long Jump – 1. Rashaan Jackson (War) 21-0.75, 2. Schieber (Jim) 21-0.5, 3. Tevin Williams (Con) 20-9, 4. Jacob Spier (Jim) 20-6, 8. Alexander Wilkie (War) 19-6.75; Shot Put – 1. Michael Fickert (Nr) 53-2, 2. Keion Johnson (EC) 52-11, 3. Ben Plummer (War) 49-2.5, 4. Mitchell Watts (Gosh) 47-0.5; Discus – 1. Fickert (Nr) 147-10, 2. Andrew Scheidt (War) 138-10, 3. Ethan Brown (Waw) 138-1, 4. Jon Walker (Waw) 137-2.
