Warsaw distance dynamo Robert Murphy won both the 800 and 1,600 Tuesday night in the NLC Meet. The senior set a new meet record in the 800 (Photos by Jim Harris)

WARSAW – The Warsaw boys track team had some ups and some downs Tuesday night.

The No. 8 Tigers definitely had more ups though en route to winning the Northern Lakes Conference Meet for the third straight year.

A record-setting performance by senior star Robert Murphy highlighted the night as the hosts easily had the most in dominating the NLC Championships at the Tigers Athletic Complex.

Murphy won the 800 in a meet record time as the Tigers totaled 169.33 points.

Northridge captured second place honors with 116.5 points with Elkhart Memorial third with 101.83. Goshen was fourth with 88.5, followed by Wawasee (84.33), Concord (63.5), Plymouth (53) and NorthWood (52).

“In a big meet like this you know there are going to be ups and downs and some unexpected things too,” said Warsaw coach Matt Thacker. “The bottom line for us is that we had a lot of kids score in different events.  We had more places score. We’re a big and deep team.

“I’ve said it over and over that Robert just goes out there to win every time. Coach Mills said it best that tonight was the smoothest 800 he’s seen. You have to admit that it was pretty smooth. He’s just a blessing to watch.

“I thought Tristan McClone had a great night for us. He was third in the 100 and ran the anchor leg on our winning 4 X 100 relay team. We had Nate Kolbe third and Caleb Klusman eighth in the long jump for us and that was a huge bonus.”

Murphy, who also won the 1,600, was not even thinking about a record. His time of 1:54.21 in the 800 beat his nearest competitor by almost three seconds Tuesday night and eclipsed the old meet standard of 1:55.22 set by Ryan Stichter of Wawasee in 2003.

“It feels great and to get the record is astonishing,” said Murphy. “I wasn’t going for the record or anything like that. I had no idea until they announced it. I knew I was going to win tonight, but it was still pretty nerve racking. My plan was to just make sure I won the race.”

Standout senior Jake Poyner won the 3,200 for the Tigers. The Wake Forest recruit, who teamed with Murphy and Ellis Coon to lead the Warsaw cross country team to fourth place at the State Finals in the fall, won in a time of 9:31.01.  Poyner also teamed with junior Ismael Calderon, sophomore Daniel Messenger and junior Tyler Houvener to start the Tigers off on the right foot Tuesday night with a win in the 4 X 800 relay event in a time of 8:00.74.

Wyatt Jones placed second in the 100 and 200 and was on the winning 4 X 100 relay team for champion Warsaw.

The Tigers also won the 4 X 100 relay title as seniors Wyatt Jones and Nate Kolbe and juniors Gabe Furnivall and Tristan McClone clocked in at 42.92. McClone ran the anchor leg, holding off a hard-charging Davontea Millsaps of Elkhart Memorial down the stretch. The Memorial team was later disqualified for an illegal baton exchange during the thrilling race.

Junior Seth Fouts, making just his second appearance of the season after being sidelined due to an illness, won the shot put for Warsaw with a throw of 53-05.00.

The Tigers, who have won their last 20 NLC meets,  had a host of athletes score points.

Warsaw got second-place finishes from senior Taylor Cone (110 hurdles), Jones (100 and 200), Poyner (1,600) and its 4 X 400 relay team of Chad Goon, Furnivall, Nate Kolbe and Ryan Goon.

The Tigers also had third-place efforts from Nate Kolbe (long jump), Furnivall (400), Ryan Goon (300 hurdles) and McClone (100).

Other individual champions included sophomore Clayton Cook of Wawasee in both the 110 and 300 hurdles, senior Millsaps of Memorial in the 100 and 200, senior McNeal Stewart of Memorial in the 400,  junior Will Stueve of NorthWood in the high jump, freshman David Doyle of Memorial in the long jump, senior Dan Samuelson of Plymouth in the discus and senior Josh Rheinheimer of Northridge in the pole vault.

Warsaw returns to action in the Goshen Sectional on May 16.

The No. 8 Warsaw boys track team won the NLC Championship Meet Tuesday night at Warsaw.