Dominating Tigers Cap NLC Perfection
ELKHART – The cream of the Northern Lakes Conference boys track crop rose to the top once again Wednesday night.
As in champion Warsaw.
The No. 8 Tigers completed their perfect and dominating unbeaten run through the conference in impressive fashion with two more wins.
Warsaw topped host Elkhart Memorial 76-56 and Goshen 95.5-36.5 to finish out at 7-0 in league competition.
The Tigers have now posted 20 straight wins in NLC action since a loss to Concord in the first league meet of the 2011 campaign.
Dominating.
That’s the only word to describe what the Tigers did in running roughshod over the league.
Warsaw outscored its seven NLC foes by a combined total of 653.5-270.5.
Dominating indeed.
“I’m just very proud to be a part of this and very proud of our guys,” said Warsaw coach Matt Thacker. “They are a joy to coach and I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of guys.
“This success comes because of the kids and their commitment to achieve greatness. It’s all because of the kids, their parents, their teachers, my assistant coaches, our middle school coaches, everyone involved in the program.
“Our goal is always to go undefeated in the NLC. It’s one of the most competitive conferences in the state and the great thing is that everyone is gunning for you.
“The most important thing is to stay humble. Our kids take winning seriously, but as a staff we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
“I can’t say enough about the efforts of our seniors and their dedication, both on and off the track. They are a special class.”
Warsaw had a couple of amazing performances Wednesday to highlight another stellar showing by its deep and talented roster.
Senior star Robert Murphy won the 800 in an incredible time of 1:54.95. It was not only a personal best effort by three seconds for the Vincennes University bound standout, but it was the second fastest 800 time in the state this season according to his coaches.
“I’m going to have to start bringing a thesaurus to come up with words for Robert,” said Thacker with a smile. “It’s impressive. It puts you in awe.”
Murphy, for his part, was not feeling it prior to his sensational showing in the 800.
“I wanted to make sure to be first tonight, I didn’t have any time in mind,” said Murphy. “I had no energy before the race. But, I feel great about it now.”
Junior Seth Fouts also made some return to the lineup for the Tigers. Fouts, who has been sidelined after an appendectomy, uncorked a huge toss of 56-03 to win the shot put. His winning put was the third best in the state this spring.
“Seth has been talking about doing this and I’ve been telling him I had to see it to believe it,” said Thacker. “Well, he did it tonight and that’s great for us.”
Senior Brysten James, a key cog in Warsaw’s cross country success in the fall, won the 3,200 in a personal best time of 10:20.02.
The Tigers, who were coming off a championship last Friday night in their own Max Truex Invitational, also got wins from the usual cast of characters.
Senior star Jake Poyner won the 1,600 in a time of 4:31.87.
Senior Taylor Cone won the 110 hurdles in 16.36, while Ryan Goon won the 300 hurdles in 41.63.
Warsaw also won the 4 X 800 relay with the team of Poyner, Daniel Messenger, Ismael Calderon and Tyler Houvener clocking in at 8:09.01. The team of Wyatt Jones, Tristan McClone, Gabe Furnivall and Nate Kolbe won the 4 X 100 in 43.43.
The Tigers also got second-place efforts from Jones in the 100, Stephen Kolbe in the high jump, Ben Plummer in the shot put and Jake Fayed in the pole vault.
The list of third-place performances included Owen Glogovsky in the 1,600, Nate Kolbe in the 400, Cone in the 300 hurdles, Calderon in the 800, Furnivall in the 200, David Goon in the high jump and Andrew Scheidt in the discus.
Warsaw hosts the NLC Meet on Tuesday night.