Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
DUNLAP - On a night junior Rachel Stichter broke records in the 1600 and 3200, leading her Wawasee girls track team to the Northern Lakes Conference championship, there was little distance between the top three boys teams.
Stichter had two of Wawasee's three first-place finishes Thursday night at Concord in the second night of the NLC Meet, breaking Northridge graduate Tiffany Brenneman's record time of 5:09.68 from last year with her winning mark of 5:06.29.
While her new record time in the mile was impressive in itself, it was her new record time in the 3200 - which she later said she was unaware of - that drew great attention.
Stichter shattered Northridge graduate Emily Ewing's record time of 11:31.50 from the 2000 meet by 13 seconds, dropping the new record time to 11:18.53. Runner-up Stephanie Swendsen from Northridge also broke Ewing's record with her second-place time of 11:24.35, finishing 23 seconds ahead of third-place finisher and teammate Jessie LaFree.
"Not to die from the 800," said Stichter when asked her plan for winning the 3200. "I wanted to recover and take it easy until I had to pick it up and go for it. I'm happy about the record, but it's surprising. I just wanted to get points for the team so we can hopefully pull off the NLC championship."
Stichter helped her team do exactly that, as Wawasee ran away with the team championship after scoring 125 points. Wawasee went 7-0 in regular season conference meets and won the NLC outright.
"This is a great finish to a season," said Wawasee girls coach Kevin Gilbert. "What a way to top off our undefeated regular season, by winning the conference meet. We had a lot of good times, that's how we came out on top."
The Warriors, who finished second in five events and third in four events, also took first in the 400 relay with sophomores Havilah Rensberger, Gloria Boesenburg and Jessie Spearman, and junior Claire List. The Warrior foursome ran a time of 50.74 seconds and beat rival Warsaw by nearly a second.
Warsaw finished second in the team standings with 99.5 points, followed by Northridge (89.5), Elkhart Memorial (89), NorthWood (58), Plymouth (52), Goshen (44) and Concord (28).
The Tiger girls team took first in four events, as sophomore Julie Seiss won the high jump, 800 and then ran the anchor leg for the 1600 relay, teamming up with Katie Furnivall, Karrie Burch and Ashley Kitchens to run a winning time of 4:06.71.
Warsaw's other first-place finish came in the long jump, where Mariel Land won with a leap of 16-7.
In the boys competition, the team championship came down to the 1600 relay, the meet's 16th and final event.
After 15 events, Elkhart Memorial and Wawasee were tied with 121 points, while Warsaw had 116 points.
The Tiger foursome of Tony Castillo, Dan Erickson, Thomas Balestri and Nate Miller won the event with a time of 3:23.47, pushing Warsaw intto a second-place tie in the team standings with Wawasee at 126 points.
Memorial finished second in the 1600 relay and won the NLC Meet 129 points, and also won the outright NLC title as the Crimson Chargers were undefeated in regular season conference action.
After losing to just Memorial in the regular season, Warsaw finished second in the final NLC standings, while Wawasee was third.
Following Memorial, Warsaw and Wawasee in points Thursday were NorthWood (77), Concord (52.5), Plymouth (46.5), Northridge (33) and Goshen (33).
All totaled, Warsaw won two events at the NLC Meet and had four second-place finishes and six third-place finishes.
The Tigers' only other win came in the pole vault where senior Kyle Boley took first with a conference record-tying height of 15-0.
Boley, who struggled at last week's Max Truex Invitational after he didn't begin vaulting until the 14-0 mark, came in at 13-0 at NLC Meet and found his rhythm.
"He came in at 13-0 and got his confidence," said Tony Boley, his father and vaulting coach. "He got his confidence and then got in a groove. I told him to just have fun. The Max Truex wasn't fun, this was fun."
Boley, who also finished second in the 110 hurdles, tied the conference record of 15-0 the past two years.
For Wawasee, Luke Stoffel won the 1600 and 3200, Alex Similton the high jump, and Anthony Argentino the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles.
Argentino's two NLC Meet wins came after a trying senior season in which he missed a number of meets with mono. Argentino said he tested positive for mono after spring break and didn't return to action until last Friday's Kelly Relays. He estimated himself to be at 80 percent last night.
"My times weren't great, but it felt good," said Argentino, who struggled last year as well after rolling his ankle in the long jump competition. "When I ran the 110 race, I was tired. I won't be at full strength for awhile. Coach told me if I wasn't puking I was pushing myself hard enough."
The Warriors also took second in one event and third in one event.
The Warsaw and Wawasee girls compete Tuesday in the Warsaw Sectional, while the boys teams compete Thursday in the Goshen Sectional.
GIRLS
Team Scores - Wawasee 125, Warsaw 99.5, Northridge 89.5, Elkhart Memorial 89, NorthWood 58, Plymouth 52, Goshen 44, Concord 28
Pole vault - 1. Obryan (EM) 9-8, 2. Steiner (NW), 3. Hinton (NW), 4. Cors (EM), 5. Fritschi (NR), 6. Lee (P)
Discus - 1. Boling (EM) 122-08, Kronk (NW), 3. Bauman (Waw), 4. Mills (EM), 5. Mast (NW), 6. Hessel (P)
Shot put - 1. Mills (EM) 38-0, 2. Duncan (NW), 3. Hessel (P), 4. Kronk (NW), 5. Sparks (War), 6. Peoples (EM)
Long jump - 1. Land (War) 16-7, 2. Jackson (EM), 3. Harrell (NR), 4. Seiss (War), 5. Koehn (G), 6. Emanuel (G)
High jump - 1. Seiss (War) 5-4, 2. Davis (EM), 3. Clouse (Waw), 4. Gadson (EM), 5. Wolf (Waw), 6. Bechtel (G)
3200 relay - 1. Northridge (Swendsen, Miller, Pezzanite, Jackson) 9:29.77, 2. Wawasee, 3. Goshen, 4. NorthWood, 5. Concord, 6. Plymouth
100 hurdles - 1. Davis (EM) :16.53, 2. Jakubowicz (NR), 3. Helm (C), 4. Timmons (War), 5. Quinby (P), 6. Steffen (NW)
100 - 1. Burroughs (P) :12.96, 2. Spearman (Waw), 3. Rensberger (Waw), 4. Burch (War), 5. Capre (NW), 6. McAllister (EM)
1600 - 1. Stichter (Waw) 5:06.29, 2. Swendsen (NR), 3. LaFree (NR), 4. Rodriguez (P), 5. Pollen (Waw), 6. Rozelle (G)
400 relay - 1. Wawasee (Rensberger, List, Boesenburg, Spearman) :50.74, 2. Warsaw, 3. Memorial, 4. NorthWood, 5. Northridge, 6. Plymouth
400 - 1. Jackson (NR) 1:01.23, 2. Furnivall (War), 3. Calhoun (C), 4. Kitchens (War), 5. Petersen (EM), 6. Mark (Waw)
300 hurdles - 1. Kolbus (G) :47.69, 2. Boesenburg (Waw), 3. Davis (EM), 4. Quinby (P), 5. Campbell (NR), 6. Clay (War)
800 - 1. Seiss (War) 2:17.08, 2. Jackson (NR), 3. Stichter (Waw), 4. Pollen (Waw), 5. Werst (C), 6. Miller (EM)
200 - 1. Burroughs (P) :26.18, 2. Spearman (Waw), 3. Burch (War), 4. Rensberger (Waw), 5. Capre (NW), 6. Harrell (NR)
3200 - 1. Stichter (Waw) 11:18.53, 2. Swendsen (NR), 3. LaFree (NR), 4. Trcka (G), 5. Houvener (War), 6. Hartman (EM)
1600 relay - 1. Warsaw (Furnivall, Kitchens, Burch, Seiss) 4:06.71, 2. Wawasee, 3. Goshen, 4. Northridge, 5. NorthWood, 6. Concord
BOYS
Team Scores - Elkhart Memorial 129, Warsaw 126, Wawasee 126, NorthWood 77, Concord 52.5, Plymouth 46.5, Goshen 33, Northridge 33
Pole vault - 1. Boley (War) 15-0, 2. Hostetler (EM), 3. Morningstar (EM), 4. Anuta (War), 5. (tie) Cottrell (P), Dunithan (Waw)
Discus - 1. Fearnow (EM) 171-02, 2. Smith (EM), 3. Sparklin (G), 4. Sabo (NW), 5. Caudill (War), 6. McKibbin (Waw)
Shot put - 1. Koronkoiewicz (G) 56-8 3/4, 2. Sparklin (G), 3. Fearnow (EM), 4. Smith (Waw), 5. Walker (EM) 6. Vesta (C)
Long jump - 1. Chupp (NW) 22-4, 2. Maierle (War), 3. Butler (C), 4. Kerby (Waw), 5. Miller (War), 6. Adams (NW)
High jump - 1. Similton (Waw) 6-4, 2. Messmore (War), 3. Duvall (EM), 4. (tie) Butler (C), Kaiser (Waw), 6. Faulkner (G)
3200 relay - 1. Plymouth (Quintana, Hutchinson, Sullivan, Byelick) 8:02.82, 2. Wawasee, 3. Warsaw, 4. Concord, 5. Memorial, 6. Northridge
110 hurdles - 1. Argentino (Waw) :14.93, 2. Boley (War), 3. Huber (NW), 4. Swain (Waw), 5. Sands (War), 6. Aiken (C)
100 - 1. Jordan (EM) :11.11, 2. Chupp (NW), 3. Brown (NW), 4. Balestri (War), 5. Johnson (Waw), 6. Thompson (C)
1600 - 1. Stoffel (Waw) 4:24.92, 2. Suggs (EM), 3. Holbrook (War), 4. Sabo (NR), 5. Matteson (EM), 6. Quintana (P)
400 relay - 1. NorthWood (Hochstetler, Brown, Huber, Chupp) :42.52, 2. Warsaw, 3. Memorial, 4. Wawasee, 5. Concord, 6. Plymouth
400 - 1. Brown (NW) :49.89, 2. Prieb (C), 3. Castillo (War), 4. Sullivan (P), 5. Mock (Waw), 6. Erickson (War)
300 hurdles - 1. Argentino (Waw) :39.09, 2. Brown (Waw), 3. Battjes (EM), 4. Huber (NW), 5. Maierle (War), 6. Jamriska (P)
800 - 1. Suggs (EM) 1:56.77, 2. Clark (C), 3. Slabaugh (Waw), 4. Byelick (P), 5. Sabo (NR), 6. Mansfield (War)
200 - 1. Jordan (EM) :22.26, 2. Chupp (NW), 3. Miller (War), 4. Balestri (War), 5. Johnson (Waw), 6. House (C)
3200 - 1. Stoffel (Waw) 9:40.94, 2. Collins (NR), 3. Holbrook (War), 4. Fritz (NR), 5. Walterhouse (EM), 6. Burnworth (War)
1600 relay - 1. Warsaw (Castillo, Erickson, Balestri, Miller) 3:23.47, 2. Memorial, 3. Plymouth, 4. Wawasee, 5. NorthWood, 6. Northridge
