In memory of 1954 graduate Max Truex, Warsaw Community High School held its annual Max Truex Invitational track meet Friday, with the Homestead Spartans stealing the show.
Boasting 130 points, Homestead put plenty of distance between itself and second-place Northrop, which finished with 99 points. Warsaw finished with 77 points, placing fifth, while Wawasee took sixth (72) and Triton came in seventh (40)."It's just a great meet," Homestead coach Jeff Livensparger said. "We look forward to this meet an awful lot."
"It's a great tune-up as we move ahead into our conference meet, and then the following week, into our sectional," he added.
On top of prepping teams for the end-of-the-season meets, the invitational also honors Truex, who in 1954 set the national high school record in the mile with a time of 4:20.4 at the Indiana track and field state finals.
Truex continued his track career at the University of Southern California, where he won the 1957 NCAA national championship, and set an American record in the 5,000 meters. On top of that, he also won the 10,000 meters at the National AAU meet in 1956 and 1960.
In international competition, Truex was a part of the 1956 and 1960 Olympic teams, which competed in Melbourne, Australia and Rome, Italy, respectively. The 1960 Games saw Truex run the 10,000-meter race in 28:50.2, finishing sixth and running the fastest time by an American.
In honor of the school's first Olympian, the Max Truex Invitational is held each year, but first-year Warsaw coach Matt Thacker is also looking to the future.
"Our focus right now is to make track matter for our team and for our community," Thacker said. "We have a solid freshmen/sophomore class, so keeping those guys together will be important. In a meet like this, I think they showed their potential of where they can be."
Warsaw's top finisher was its 3200 relay team of Trevor Callahan, Jeremiah Stichter, Spencer Rheinhardt and David Johnson, which finished second in a time of 8:16.64.
Tiger sophomore Robert Strahan also caught his coach's attention, placing fourth in the 200 (22.89) and seventh in the 100 (11.58)
"Robert Strahan has really picked it up recently," Thacker said. "We talked a lot about running form, having a perfect run. Last week at the Tippecanoe Valley freshman/sophomore meet, he finally grasped that, and was relaxed in the 100 and 200. He really dominated the meet."
Wawasee had a first-place finisher, with Anthony Reyes winning the 100 hurdles in 15.68 seconds, and Tyson Searfoss also had a nice placing, taking second in the long jump (21-0.25).
For the Triton Trojans, Derrick Ameigh picked up eight points with his second-place finish in the 300 hurdles (41.25).
While local athletes performed well, it was the Fort Wayne kids that swept the MVP honors.
Earning the meet's overall best athlete was James Rogan of Northrop, with Aris Allen of North Side taking the honor in the field events.
Homestead's Kodi Mullins and Austen Barnes were named the best distance and sprint athletes, respectively.
'We've had a lot of kids just really working hard," Livensparger said. "The big key is our depth. We have a lot of real good runners, real good kids."
Warsaw and Wawasee are back at the Tiger Athletic Complex Tuesday at 5 p.m. for the Northern Lakes Conference meet.
"We have to concentrate on staying healthy," Thacker said. "We're at the end of the season, and we have a really young team. As coaches, we have to do a good job of monitoring health.
I feel we're in pretty good shape. We've made some strides."
HOMESTEAD 130, FW NORTHROP 99, FW NORTH SIDE 84, PENN 78, WARSAW 77, WAWASEE 72, TRITON 40, MARIAN 29
