GOSHEN – It was a perfect night to take a step forward. What else is there to do at a rare track meet this spring?

After suffering through a miserable first few weeks to the so-called spring sports season, Goshen hosted a Northern Lakes Conference boys track triangular Monday night that featured the hosts, Concord and Wawasee. Goshen did its work, winning 79-53 over Wawasee and 95.66-36.33 against Concord. The 80-52 win by Wawasee over Concord, however, left a lasting impression on Scott Lancaster and his Wawasee coaching staff.

“This was a really good meet for us competition-wise,” said Lancaster. “Goshen is a very good team and Concord is fast and challenges us in some areas. Putting together back-to-back meets against good competition really excites me. We are a very young team, having a large but talented sophomore class. To step up two meets in a row is good to see.”

Wawasee’s Michael Pena breaks out of the blocks at the start of the 100-meter dash against Goshen and Concord. (Photos by Mike Deak)

Coming off a big weekend on the same track during after a highly successful Goshen Relays, the NLC mood Monday from Wawasee was reinvented and rejuvenated. Wawasee won nine of the 16 events, led by an impressive showing by sophomores Clayton Cook and JJ Gilmer.

Cook won the 110 hurdles (15.22) and swept both the 100 (11.33) and 200 (22.86), both in dominating fashion. Cook also came from behind to catch Goshen’s Abraham Medellin in the final 10 meters of the 4×100 dash, using his 6’4″ frame to outlean the considerably shorter Medellin at the line for a 44.42 win. Joining Cook in the celebration were teammates Michael Pena, Jake Hutchinson and Gilmer.

Gilmer, who ran the third leg of the 400 relay, did his best work in the field. Swapping back and forth between the long jump and the high jump, Gilmer didn’t miss a beat in clearing 19’08.25″ of sand in the long jump then bouncing over to the high bar. After outlasting the remainder of the field, Gilmer and Goshen’s Sam Byler matched each other’s jumps. Byler would bow out at 6’0″ but Gilmer kept going.

The springy sophomore cleared 6’1″, then 6’3″ and then 6’7″. Going for the school record of 6’8″, Gilmer nearly cleared 6’8.5″ to have the record outright, but three attempts yielded misses – the second of which had Gilmer barely clip the bar with his ankle on the downward swing.

Chad Eppley prepares to throw the shot put during his winning round at Goshen.

“A lot of these times tonight is because we are fresh, we haven’t run in a lot of meets yet,” offered Lancaster. “I don’t like not training, but there is a benefit to it. We had a ton of PRs tonight, and that is what we are basing our whole program on, improvement. So, I am happy.”

The field events also had a pair of Warriors sweep the throws. Ethan Brown claimed the discus honors with a toss of 139’07” while teammate Chad Eppley reigned in the shot put, sending the pill 47’03.5″.

Wawasee’s final show of force came in the 3200, where Adam Doll would not be denied. Jumping out to a quick lead from the start, Doll ran with Goshen’s Luke Kaufman and Gerardo Abad for seven laps. In the final lap – one that has haunted Doll on that very track in year’s past – Doll cranked the dial several notches and ran away from Kaufman for a personal-record run of 9:59.33, a full five seconds ahead of Kaufman’s runner-up time.

“We really can’t coach fire in the belly,” Lancaster said. “It was nice to see kids like Zach Cockrill, who was sick, run a 53 split in the 400 relay. JJ chased down a kid in the relay that was 30 meters ahead of us. That is fire in the belly.

Kevin Carpenter clears the bar in the pole vault.

“When the kids kept asking us what the score was, and we were figuring it out, we kept saying we needed points,” Lancaster continued. “Clayton then went out and hammered the 200. Those are the things we need to be successful. Our top end kids need that to advance in the state tournament. Our younger kids need to do that to help us score points. We may have lost to Goshen, but kids scored points and that will certainly help us down the line.”

Reid Zimmerman had a big night for Goshen, winning the 800 (2:01.76), 1600 (4:30.11) and teaming up to help the 4×800 relay team to a winning 8:46.78.

Concord’s lone green flag came from Darnell Bean in the 400, a 52.92 winner.

Wawasee (2-2 NLC) will get back at it Thursday when it hosts its only home meet of the season against Elkhart Memorial and Northridge.