Tigers Edged By Penn At Regional
By SCOTT DAVIDSON
Sports Editor
KOKOMO – The Warsaw boys track program has come a long, long way the last few years.
The Tigers proved that again Thursday night despite coming up just short in their bid for back-to-back regional championships.
No. 8 Penn edged out the No. 7 Tigers 83-82 to claim the team title at the Kokomo Regional. Warsaw, just one year ago, won the championship itself by a one-point margin over Kokomo.
It was the fourth overall regional title for the Penn program and its first since 2004. Warsaw’s championship a year ago, by the same scant one-point final margin, was its third overall and first since 1984.
There was plenty of good news however for Warsaw as the three Tigers earned individual regional championships with impressive performances.
Senior Spencer Rheinhardt dominated the 800, winning in 1:55.07 for his first individual regional title. Sophomore Stephen Kolbe cleared 6-7 to win the high jump championship and sophomore Ellis Coon won the 1,600 in 4:20.56.
Those three champions earn a berth in the State Finals June 2 at Indiana University in Bloomington. They will be joined by teammates Jacob Poyner and Wyatt Jones, who placed second in the 1,600 and third in the 400 respectively. Warsaw’s 4 X 400 relay team of Jones, Rheinhardt, Ryan Goon and Chad Goon, which placed second to Penn in the final event of the meet, is also headed to State.
The top three finishers in each event plus anyone meeting the state standard earned a spot at the State Finals.
“It’s been a great journey,” said Rheinhardt, prior to learning the final team scores. “From where we were my freshman year until now. This year has just gotten better and better. It’s all about the team. It’s the best feeling in the World if we win again.
“It’s a real good feeling for me to win my first regional championship. This year has been really important to me. I’ve been waiting for it to be a dominant runner.”
Kolbe had plenty of inspiration to help him out jump top seed Tony Shead of South Bend Clay by one inch. The Tiger then just missed on a school-record attempt of 6-9 1/2.
“I was second here last year so I got some redemption tonight,” said Kolbe, who soared despite being sick recently. “It feels very good to win it. I had cleared 6-6 the first meet this season, but had not done it since and that definitely inspired me. I just had it tonight and it was a perfect time for it.
“I’m very pleased. I felt some pressure tonight to make it to State. Getting through regional was my main goal.” Warsaw had an impressive effort in the 1,600 as Coon won with junior teammate Jacob Poyner right behind him in 4:22.05.
Also placing in the top eight and earning points for Warsaw were junior Jones in the 100 (eighth), junior Taylor Cone in the 110 hurdles (fifth) and 300 hurdles (fifth), junior Poyner in the 800 (fourth), junior Robert Murphy in the 3,200 (fifth) and senior Zach Rooney in the high jump (eighth). Warsaw’s 4 X 100 relay team placed fourth as did its 4 X 800 relay foursome.
“You can’t deny the effort we had and the guys wanted to win,” said Warsaw coach Matt Thacker. “Not everything went our way tonight, but those things happen. We’ve had a lot go right this year. Second is difficult, but we have nothing to hang our heads about. You can’t win them all.
“Penn has a heck of a group. It’s a regional and we knew it would be a grind. That’s the way it is. There are all kinds of intangibles in this meet. The regional is just a different animal. That’s just the nature of the beast.
“It’s amazing what this team has done. It’s been an impressive ride. It’s about the kids buying in to what we are trying to do.”
Thacker, in his fourth year as WCHS coach, has seen an impressive season by his group. The Tigers went 7-0 in conference meets, then won the Northern Lakes Conference Meet and the Goshen Sectional. The team beat out Penn at both its own Max Truex Invitational as well as the prestigious Goshen Relays to win those championships as well.
Junior Thomas Grant won both the 100 (10.92) and 200 (22.14) and senior Kyle Johnston set a regional record in winning the pole vault at 15-9 to pace Penn. The Kingsmen, who edged Warsaw 67-65 in a dual meet early in the regular season, claimed its first regional team title since 2004.
Penn also got 28 huge points from its outstanding relay teams. The Kingsmen won both the 4 X 100 (with a new regional record time of 42.04) and 4 X 400 relay races and were second in the 4 X 800. The 4 X 400 victory, in the meet’s final event, saw Penn (3:21.47) edge out Warsaw (3:22.06) down the stretch of the final leg as Penn’s Timothy Deal pulled away to earn an extra huge two points as the winning Kingsmen got 10 points for the victory while the Tigers scored eight as runner-up in the relay race. TEAM SCORES
Penn 83, Warsaw 82, Mishawaka 62.5, South Bend Clay 49, Kokomo 44, Fairfield 43, Elkhart Memorial 32, South Bend St. Joseph’s 31, Concord 26, Goshen 23, Eastern (Greentown) 23, South Bend Riley 20, Manchester 15, Jimtown 12, South Bend Adams 9, Rochester 8, Northfield 8, Rochester 7.5, Western 6, Culver Academy 6, Bremen 5, Elkhart Christian 5, Tippecanoe Valley 4, Glenn 4, LaVille 3, Elkhart Central 3, Pioneer 2, Cass 2, Plymouth 2, Wawasee 2, Logansport 1, Taylor 1.
4 X 800 Relay
1. Mishawaka (Jordan Annis, Justin Duvall, Miguel Lozano, Eric Hancock) 8:03.08; 2. Penn 8:07.46; 3. Goshen 8:12.91; 4. Warsaw 8:25.22; 5. Elkhart Memorial 8:26.95; 6. Eastern (Greentown) 8:30.08; 7. South Bend St. Joseph’s 8:30.68; 8. Culver Academy 8:32.50.
100 Dash
1. Thomas Grant (Penn) 10.92; 2. Devontea Millsaps (Elkhart Memorial) 10.99; 3. Wesley Thomas (South Bend Clay) 11.05; 4. Kegan McNeeley (Manchester) 11.13; 5. Brett Baumgartner (Fairfield) 11.32; 6. Devan Emerson (Jimtown) 11.36; 7. Blake Thomas (Eastern-Greentown) 11.47; 8. Wyatt Jones (Warsaw) 11.56.
110 Hurdles
1. Jordan Hunt (South Bend Clay) 14.94; 2. Taylor Killings (Kokomo) 14.95; 3. Curlean Williams (Mishawaka) 15.38; 4. Grant Bass (Concord) 15.55; 5. Taylor Cone (Warsaw) 15.60; 6. Colin Huff (Penn) 15.89; 7. Drew Shepherd (Cass) 16.21; 8. Jay’Shon Jones (Taylor) 16.58.
200 Dash
1. Thomas Grant (Penn) 22.14; 2. Brett Baumgartner (Fairfield) 22.29; 3. Shaquille Vann (South Bend Adams) 22.54; 4. Kegan McNeeley (Manchester) 22.67; 5. Sam Lacher (Bremen) 22.92; 6. Wesley Thomas (South Bend Clay) 23.14; 7. Tony Moses (Kokomo) 24.89; 8. Urston Smith (Elkhart Memorial) 25.58.
1,600 Run
1. Ellis Coon (Warsaw) 4:20.56; 2. Jacob Poyner (Warsaw) 4:22.05; 3. Joey Zielinski (South Bend St. Joseph’s) 4:26.53; 4. Joel Hartman (Elkhart Christian) 4:30.14; 5. Lucas Runyan (Glenn) 4:32.27; 6. Bruce Bragg (South Bend Riley) 4:36.35; 7. Leopoldo Burguete (Culver Academy) 4:39.55; 8. Dominic Patacsil (Logansport) 4:44.90.
4 X 100 Relay
1. Penn 42.04 (Joseph Weller, Sean Domal, Thomas Grant, Timothy Deal) (new meet record replacing 42.10 set by Lawrence Central in 1989); 2. Elkhart Memorial 42.32; 3. South Bend Clay 42.72; 4. Warsaw 43.33; 5. Fairfield 43.36; 6. Kokomo 43.55; 7. Eastern (Greentown) 44.06; 8. South Bend Riley 44.44.
400 Dash
1. Tony Moses (Kokomo) 48.70; 2. Conner Sowders (Penn) 49.73; 3. Wyatt Jones (Warsaw) 49.93; 4. Thomas Capers (South Bend Riley) 50.05; 5. Nolan Sponseller (Tippecanoe Valley) 51.35; 6. Jordyn Williams (LaVille) 51.84; 7. Matt Dorris (Pioneer) 52.30; 8. Aaron Hensley (Mishawaka) 52.36.
300 Hurdles
1. Grant Bass (Concord) 38.68; 2. Timothy Deal (Penn) 38.74; 3. Jordan Hunt (South Bend Clay) 39.29; 4. Tyler Bradley (Mishawaka) 39.37; 5. Taylor Cone (Warsaw) 40.95; 6. Cristian Barron (Goshen) 41.25; 7. Bryson Sparks (Kokomo) 41.37; 8. Ryan Goon (Warsaw) 42.02.
800 Run
1. Spencer Rheinhardt (Warsaw) 1:55.07; 2. Dillon Hinen (Fairfield) 1:56.50; 3. Joey Zielinski (South Bend St. Joseph’s) 1:56.55; 4. Jacob Poyner (Warsaw) 1:58.51; 5. Eric Hancock (Mishawaka) 2:01.58; 6. William Hibbard (Culver Academy) 2:02.01; 7. Jared Peek (Elkhart Memorial) 2:02.33; 8. Matt Lee (Plymouth) 2:02.83.
3,200 Run
1. Miguel Lozano (Mishawaka) 9:35.54; 2. Caleb Augustus (Northfield) 9:37.32; 3. Matt Grider (Western) 9:40.25; 4. Josh O’Brien (South Bend St. Joseph’s) 9:43.36; 5. Robert Murphy (Warsaw) 9:44.62; 6. Andrew Timmons (South Bend Adams) 9:45.52; 7. Jordan Annis (Mishawaka) 9:45.59; 8. Blake O’Dell (Northridge) 9:47.53.
4 X 400 Relay
1. Penn (Mark Richards, Christian Hill, Conner Sowders, Timothy Deal) 3:21.47; 2. Warsaw 3:22.06; 3. Elkhart Memorial 3:25.91; 4. Mishawaka 3:26.13; 5. Fairfield 3:27.25; 6. Concord 3:29.75; 7. South Bend St. Joseph’s 3:30.45; 8. Bremen 3:31.80.
Long Jump
1. Tony Shead (South Bend Clay) 23-1 1/4; 2. Devan Emerson (Jimtown) 22-5 3/4; 3. Grant Cole (Eastern-Greentown) 22-2 1/2; 4. Timothy Deal (Penn) 22-0; 5. Curlean Williams (Mishawaka) 21-5; 6. Armon Bridgeforth (Kokomo) 21-1 1/2; 7. Dillion Lockwood (Fairfield) 21-0; 8. Marquis Schieber (Jimtown) 20-3 3/4.
High Jump
1. Stephen Kolbe (Warsaw) 6-7; 2. Tony Shead (South Bend Clay) 6-6; 3. Reade Carboneau (Goshen) 6-3; 4. Ramsen Bet-Nimrod (Rochester) 6-3; 5. Robert Lambert (Mishawaka) 6-3; 6. Mike Buchanan (Mishawaka) 6-3; 7. Waylon Coulter (Kokomo) 6-2; . 8. Zach Rooney (Warsaw) 6-1.
Discus
1. Joe Demaegd (South Bend St. Joseph’s) 162-6; 2. Jason Spriggs (Concord) 162-2; 3. Kyle Ostrander (Fairfield) 154-7; 4. Cole Sellers (Manchester) 154-5; 5. Darrion McAlister (Kokomo) 152; 6. Alex Soptich (Elkhart Memorial) 149-4; 7. Dalton Hines (Fairfield) 146-11; 8. Samuel Daggy (Penn) 146-4.
Shot Put
1. Josiah Price (Eastern-Greentown) 55-8 1/2; 2. Brandon Daniels (Goshen) 54-9 1/2; 3. Tony Thomas (South Bend Riley) 53-5; 4. Marcus Dozier (South Bend Riley) 52 1/2; 5. Darrion McAlister (Kokomo) 51-3; 6. Michael Snider (Elkhart Central) 50-11; 7. Jacob Schwartz (Wawasee) 50-2 1/2; 8. Adam Lacefield (Plymouth) 50-0.
Pole Vault
1. Kyle Johnston (Penn) 15-9 (new meet record, replacing 15-8 set by Kyle Gann of Western in 2007); 2. Matt Horsman (Mishawaka) 13-9; 3. Josh Rheinheimer (Northridge) 13-6; 4. Cameron Kitson (Fairfield) 13-6; 5. Avery Barrett (Kokomo) 13-6; 6. Cameron Bugno (Rochester) 13-0; 7. Waylon Coulter (Kokomo) 13-0; 8. Tanner Bradley (Mishawaka) 12-6.