After the event was cancelled last year due to weather, the Max Truex Tiger Invitational got back on track Friday at the Tiger Athletic Complex. The 29th annual boys track and field relay invitational was won by the LaPorte Slicers with 112 points, with Warsaw following closely behind with 108 points. Tippecanoe Valley also competed in the seven-team meet, tying with Mishawaka Marian for sixth place with 18 points. "You finish just short, but it leaves that taste in your mouth," Warsaw coach Matt Thacker said. "At least I hope so. We ran hungry all night, we performed hungry. Hopefully, we just keep performing that way." The format for the meet, which is named after 1954-Warsaw High School graduate and Olympian Max Truex, sets two representatives in each event. The combined score of the two then determines the winner of the event. For example, even though the Warsaw 3200 relay of Scott Smyth, Jacob Poyner, Trevor Callahan and Spencer Rheinhardt got first-place overall with a time of 8:00.17, Warsaw finished second place in the event as the Tigers other relay team placed 10th in a time of 8:50.91. LaPorte won the event with one team placing second in 8:05.07 and the other finishing fourth in 8:31.11. As far as overall first-place finishes go, Warsaw's only other first-place, outside of the 3200 relay, was Jacob Poyner, who had the fastest time in the 1600 with 4:31.90. In all, Poyner was a part of the first-place 3200 relay, won the 1600 and joined Ryan Goon, Wyatt Jones and Rheinhardt on the 1600 relay that finished third overall in 3:24.10. Poyner's efforts helped him share the Most Outstanding Distance Runner with LaPorte's Mitch Hubner. "Jacob gives us whatever we need," Thacker said. "He runs to win," Thacker added. "He's not just out here to run to get in shape. He runs to win." Poyner is a part of the Tigers strongest unit, the distance team, which also had Rheinhardt place second overall in the 800. "Coach (Rob) Peters does a phenomenal job coaching our distance crew," Thacker said. "Those guys are always prepared and ready to run." While the distance team is solid, Thacker is still looking for the other areas to improve. "We're still trying to solidify some sprint situations," he said. "Wyatt Jones has helped us out in the 200 recently and Robert Strahan is coming along. We're still pretty consistent in the high jump, but long jump is kind of average for us, but we're scoring." As the times, distances and heights come along, Thacker sees a will in his team to improve. "Some of the question marks have been erased," he said. "The bottom line is, our kids want to win. They want to compete, and that's the exciting thing. A lot of the guys competing are freshmen and sophomores, and a lot of the juniors and seniors can see them competing, so it's kind of an odd situation. Our older guys are kind of buying into the younger guys. It's unique." The meet's Most Outstanding Sprinter was the state's defending champion in the 100 and 200 champion, Hobart's Jarvis McMillian. Hobart's Jeremy Koselke was the Most Outstanding Field Event Athlete. Following a week of rain that postponed more events than were played, Thacker seemed happy to just get back on schedule. "The most important thing was having good weather," he said. "April's been a mess, so spring hasn't been real kind to anybody. It was nice to run under the sun without very much wind." Warsaw hosts Northridge Wednesday.
LAPORTE 112, WARSAW 108, FW NORTH SIDE 104, PENN 91, HOBART 90, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 18, MISHAWAKA MARIAN 18
