Tigers Denied Title, Messenger Delivers
SOUTH BEND – The Warsaw boys track team put itself in a position to claim a third straight regional championship Thursday night.
In the end, it was not meant to be for coach Matt Thacker’s team though.
The Track Gods did not smile on the Tigers on a long night at a South Bend St. Joseph Regional that did not exactly run smoothly.
A tough call not only cost Warsaw junior hurdler Ross Armey an individual regional title and a spot in the State Finals, but took away 10 points from the final team standings.
Northridge claimed its third regional title and first since 2009 with with 49 points. Warsaw was fourth with 40 points. The 10 points that Armey would have earned for his first-place performance would have given the Tigers the team title.
Armey was disqualified after it was determined that he hit the final hurdle in the 300 hurdles race, causing Chase Bess of Tipton in the lane next to him to fall. Bess was awarded the title.
“I feel horrible for Ross and awful for our team,” said Warsaw coach Matt Thacker. “He’s worked his butt off and poured his heart and soul into it. Ross handled the situation with the utmost class. He’s the epitome of a student athlete. I love the kid.
“It’s one of those rules you have to live with. If it happens on turn three, no one says anything. It’s the correct call. He hit the last hurdle and the Tipton guy fell. The correct official was in the correct spot to make the call and he did.”
“When was the last time that we had a bad taste in our mouths? I’m not going to forget the taste tonight and our kids won’t either. We will bounce back from this. It’s a testament to our kids and our coaches that our program is at the level we are at.”
Thacker appealed the decision, but it was upheld by the official starter for the meet. Thacker added that the IHSAA would be contacted about the ruling.
The good news for the Tigers came in the form of the trio of Daniel Messenger, Andrew Scheidt and Owen Glogovsky. All three Warsaw athletes punched their tickets to the State Finals on June 5 with top three performances.
Senior Messenger led the way with a championship showing in the 800. The top seed in the race with a time of 1:58.20, Messenger captured the regional title in 1:55.77.
“This means a lot to me,” said Messenger. “From my freshmen year on I was training under Jake (Poyner), Robert (Murphy) and Ellis (Coon). I watched them win titles and it never occurred to me until this year that I was capable of this. This makes me feel like I did the training proud. Ellis was here tonight and gave me a hug and said he was proud of me. That means a lot to me. My goal was to win. I poured everything I had into it. I felt pretty awful at the end of it.”
Senior Scheidt placed second in the discus with a throw of 147-11. Junior Glogovsky earned a third-place finish in the 1,600 with a time of 4:25.45.
The Tigers were fourth in the 4 X 400 with the team of Armey, Messenger, Landan Perry and Riley Rhoades. The 4 X 100 team of Rane Kilburn, Brock Riley, Will McGarvey and Brandon Reinholt also placed fourth.
Landan Perry was fourth in the 400 and Rhoades 12th. Rhoades and the rest of the field in the second heat of the 400 had to rerun the race a half hour after the conclusion of the meet due to a malfunction that occurred in the first race that left officials without any times for the competitors. That second race started at 10:15 p.m.
Jaceb Burish finished in eighth place in the discus for the Tigers.
Walker Hobbs was the top finisher for Whitko. He placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 50-07. Will Bumbaugh of the Wildcats was fifth in the pole vault with a top effort of 12-10. Bumbaugh’s performance was a personal best for him. The Whitko 4 X 100 relay team of Bumbaugh, Garrett Elder, Alex Wilson and Daniel Kirkham ran a season best time of 44.21.
Michael Thacker was eighth in the 100 for Tippecanoe Valley. Teammate Deontee Smith was eighth in the 300 hurdles for the Vikings.
Northridge claimed the team title with 49 points. South Bend St. Joe was runner-up with 42 points. South Bend Washington took third with 41, followed by Warsaw (40), Wawasee (39), Elkhart Central (36), Elkhart Memorial (31), Kokomo (30), NorthWood (27) and Penn (27) to round out the top 10.
Michael Fickert of Northridge was a double champion. He won the shot put (54-03) and discus (159-09) to lead the champion Raiders. John Hankerson of South Bend Washington also captured two titles, winning the 100 in 10.72 and the 200 in 21.84.
Other champions on the track were Andrew McFarland of Columbia City in the 400 (49.77), Wesley Meyer of Rochester in the 1600 (4:22.03), Travis Kulczar of South Bend Riley in the 3200 (9:32.73), Clayton Cook of Wawasee in the 110 hurdles (14.39) and Chase Bess of Tipton in the 300 hurdles (40.41).
JJ Gilmer of Wawasee won the high jump at 6-6. Beau Beeson of Bremen took the pole vault at 14-01 and Mitch Dewitt of Fairfield claimed the long jump with a winning effort of 23-05.50.
The top three finishers in each event advance to the State Finals at Indiana University in Bloomington on June 5.