Warsaw Boys Track Team Dominates Penn In Season Opener
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
While the calendar said it was April Fool’s Day, there was no joking around on the part of Warsaw’s boys track team Tuesday. In their season opener, and its only meet before spring break, the Tigers won 10 of 16 events in windy conditions and dominated the Penn Kingsmen 88-43. “We got one in, that was our goal,” said Warsaw coach Matt Thacker, whose team doesn’t have another meet until it hosts Northern Lakes Conference foes NorthWood and Plymouth on April 17. “This is our only meet before spring break, so it was nice to get out and compete. We saw some really good things, and some things we can work on.” The Tigers and Kingsmen finished first and second in last year’s Kokomo Regional, with Warsaw edging Penn 76-73. Tuesday’s meet was anything but close, as the hosts showed off their talent and depth. Of the 10 events the Tigers won, they claimed the top two spots in five events and swept the top three finishes in two events. Senior Michael Miller, who was on the baseball team last season, though he was injured, won the 100-meter dash in 11.22 seconds. Classmates Gabe Furnivall (11.64) and Tristan McClone (11.69) finished second and third, respectively. Miller, Furnivall and McClone teammed with senior Tanner Balazs, another addition to the track team, to win the 4x100 relay in 43.65 seconds. Senior Storm Stapleton won the 200 in 24.15 seconds, while McClone was second in a time of 24.18. “We’re as deep in the sprints as we’ve been,” said Thacker, who has a number of athletes back from last year’s squad that finished fifth at the state meet. “Michael Miller was on the baseball team last year. He’s still a work in progress, but he definitely showed he has some speed. Having him and Tanner Balazs on the team adds to our depth, and they both ran well tonight. “Miller going 11.2 in the 100 was nice,” added Thacker. “To go 1,2,3 in the 100 and have Gabe and Tristan both run 11.6s on a windy day like today is good. We’re strong in the sprints.” Warsaw was also strong in the distance events, as senior Ellis Coon, who missed the track season last year with a foot injury, won the 1,600 in a time of 5:23.19, while teammate Nick Bergen, a junior, was second in 5:26. Bergen and Coon swapped finishes in the 3,200, as Bergen won in 10:27.42 and Coon ran a runner-up time of 10:27.49. In the 800, the Tigers took the top three spots with senior Tyler Houvener (2:04.89), junior Daniel Messenger (2:08.24) and senior Ismael Calderon (2:08.33). Messenger, Calderon and Houvener teammed with sophomore Owen Glogovsky to win the 4x800 in a time of 8:28.80, 10 seconds ahead of Penn’s runner-up team. “We have a lot of depth in our distance group too,” said Thacker. “Ellis and Nick ran well, so did the 4x800 team. It was also nice to see Ismael up there running with Tyler and Daniel in the 800.” The Tigers took first and second in the high jump with senior Stephen Kolbe (6-2) and sophomore Brock Riley (6-0), and in the 400 with sophomore Landon Perry (53.06) and senior Ryan Goon (53.38). Warsaw junior Caleb Klusman won the 110 hurdles in 16.57 seconds. The Kingsmen won just two running events, as Max Weaver (43.97) took first in the 300 hurdles and the team of Christian Wittendorf, Thomas Gales, Zach Oakley and Tim Deal won the 4x400 in a time of 3:28.38, beating Warsaw’s foursome of Perry, Ryan Goon, Chad Goon and Furnivall by half of a second. Penn also won in the shot put, discus, long jump and pole vault.
