In a meet dedicated to the memory of 1954 Warsaw Community High School graduate Max Truex, the Homestead Spartans won their second-consecutive Max Truex Tiger Invitational Friday.
"This is probably the funnest meet of the year," Warsaw coach David Hoffert said of the meet dedicated to Warsaw's first Olympian, who set a national high school record in the mile before competing in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. "The guys always look forward to it, because its a true team event. You combine the times together, the jumps together and the throws together to equal the end-all. You have to have some depth to compete here at the Truex."The meet isn't scored by individual times and distances, but through the combined results of a school's two competitors. For example, in the shot put, Warsaw's Leonard Wells and Bradley Shroyer teamed up, winning the event with a combined distance of 294-1.
With the team aspect in mind, a victory at the meet requires more than just a few good athletes.
"Bringing Northrop back in is great, because they haven't been in it for about four years, and they accepted our invitation. Homestead is a quality team and coach (Dick) Shenfeld is a great coach and incredible person as well," Hoffert said of the team which won the invite with 114 points. "When you have those caliber of teams, along with Penn and up-and-coming teams like Triton it is just great competition to have on one track on one night."
Northrop placed second at the meet with 104 points, followed by Warsaw's 92.
As usual, the majority of Warsaw's points came in the field, where Wells was named the meet's Most Outstanding Field Performer. On the evening, Wells had the farthest throw at discus (169-4) and best distance at shot put (54-8.25).
"He's leading the way for us," Hoffert said of Wells, who's one of the state favorites this year in both throwing events. "He's just an incredible person and athlete. He has a great future ahead of him. He's a true team role model. He's a leader in every sense of the word."
At high jump, Warsaw junior David Spangle set a personal best, clearing 6-foot-6, the best jump of any competitor at the meet.
"We actually have three guys that are hovering right at the state cut," Hoffert said. "Leonard in both shot and disc, and has already competed over that level, but has to do it at the sectional and regional meet now. Victor Sapara-Grant is only an inch off at long jump, having jumped 21-7 a couple of times this year. David Spangle also got to 6-6, which is a state cut. So we have three guys that could realistically compete for the top nine at the state meet, earning all-state honors."
Sapara-Grant finished the meet placing second in the long jump (21-4), as well as third in the 200 (23.4) and fourth in the 100 (11.83).
While Wells was the meet's top performer in the field, Wawasee's Eric Brown was the meet's Most Outstandig Sprint Performer, winning the 400 and pulling off an improbably comeback as part of the first-place 1600 relay team.
In the 1600 relay, Brown took the baton almost 25 meters behind the Northrop runner, but battled back to make it close at the finish. As the two runners neared the finish line, Brown leaned forward, while the Northrop runner was leaning back, resulting in a Wawasee win by two-hundreths of a second. The victory helped Wawasee finish with 80 points at the meet, good for fifth place behind Penn's 83.5.
"I never get tired of seeing that happen - he's been doing that since he was a freshman," Wawasee coach Scott Lancaster said of Brown, who was also named the meet's Outstanding Overall Performer. "We paired him down, so he's only running two races instead of three or four. We think he's getting to be tournament-ready."
Warsaw and Wawasee will be back at the Tigers Athletic Complex Tuesday for the Northern Lakes Conference championships.
"We like running at this facility," Lancaster said. "Running with these teams, at these speeds today, gives our kids a good idea of what they're gonna see at conference."
And Hoffert may be the happiest person about the conference meet being at Warsaw, but he seems just as happy with the way his guys have been coming along in 2008
"This year, we knew we were going to have some younger guys," he said. "Watching them mature over this year has been great. Even some of the younger guys that didn't finish first or second here, still set personal records. We aren't the same team we started out as."
The NLC Championships will begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday, featuring both the girls and boys teams.
Team Scores - Homestead 114, FW Northrop 104, Warsaw 92, Penn 83.5, Wawasee 80, Mishawaka Marian 46, FW North Side 45, Triton 43.
High Jump - 1. David Spangle (War) 6-6, 2. (tie) Matt Neuhoff (MM), Joel Sluyter (H) 6-3; Pole Vault - 1. Kyle Campbell (P) 14-0, 2. Jeff Veal (P) 13-6, 3. Philip O'Brien (H) 13-0; Long Jump - 1. Joey Debolt (H) 21-7, 2. Victor Sapara-Grant (War) 21-4, 3. Tyson Searfoss (Waw) 21-10.25; Discus - 1. Leonard Wells (War) 169-4, 2. Jesse McBride (Waw) 146-11, 3. Jeremy Dawson (T) 135-11; Shot Put - 1. Wells (War) 54-8.25; 2. Aris Allen (NS) 53-1.5, 3. Ben Walters (P) 48-11; 3200 Relay - 1. Homestead 8:21.81, 2. Northrop 8:23.47; 110 Hurdles - 1. Andy Alvarez (H) 15.46, 2. Jake Zielinski (MM) 15.92, 3. Ross Heckber (H) 16.11; 100 - 1. Daryl Flowers (N) 11.75, 2. A.J. Smith (N) 11.77, 3. Matthew Miller (P) 11.82; 1600 - 1. Travis Strock (N) 4:36.26, 2. Andrew Piropato (N) 4:46.22, 3. Nate West (War) 4:50.16; 400 Relay - 1. Northrop 44.23, 2. Marian 44.95; 400 - 1. Eric Brown (Waw) 48.89, 2. Ben Krucina (MM) 50.32, 3. P.J. Ford (N) 51.12; 300 Hurdles - 1. Corey Walz (MM) 40.07, 2. Ross Heckber (H) 40.22, 3. Zielinski (MM) 40.82; 800 - 1. Erin Herd (N) 2:03.08, 2. Cedrick Hannah (N) 2:04.40, 3. Kyle Buetler (H) 2:05.11; 200 - 1. James Rogan (N) 23.20, 2. Juan Sanchez (N) 23.20, 3. Sapara-Grant (War) 23.40; 3200 - 1. Sam Bird (N) 10:03.82, 2. Kodi Mullins (H) 10:19.29, 3. Lance Wu (P) 10:20.82; 1600 Relay - 1. Wawasee 3:27.84, 2. Northrop 3:27.86
