Tigers Win First Sectional Since 2001 GOSHEN — The corner has been turned. Nine days after winning its first Northern Lakes Conference crown since 2001, the Warsaw boys track and field also captured its first sectional title in a decade Thursday in Goshen. "This is incredible," Warsaw senior Zac Erba said. "At the beginning (of my high school career), I don't think we won a meet. We had a couple good guys, but that was about it. It was more about individuals, but each year we've gotten progressively more like a team. This year, we are truly a track team." Utilizing every athlete, the Warsaw Tigers won the Goshen Sectional, their 22nd overall, by scoring 108.5 points. Concord, who Warsaw split the NLC crown with, finished second with 99, followed by Fairfield (85), Elkhart Central (75) and Northridge (72) to round out the top five. Wawasee finished seventh at the meet, scoring 33 points. Qualifiers from the Goshen Sectional move on to Thursday's Kokomo Regional, which begins at 6 p.m. Three years ago, Warsaw finished eighth at the sectional, but has gotten better with each year, placing fifth in 2009 and third last season. Coming into the 2011 campaign, the guys knew they had some talent, but also knew it was some young talent. "I knew we could be good, but I didn't know exactly how good," Erba said. "I didn't know how much Concord had lost or Northridge or Goshen, but I knew we could be up there." Illustrating the youth of the team, six seniors — Scott Smyth, Trevor Callahan, Robert Strahan, Cameron Huffer, Jordan Scroggs and Zac Erba — scored points in the sectional win, while three juniors, three sophomores and five freshmen also scored points. "Having an opportunity to do something special with a young group — I was pretty concerned," Warsaw head coach Matt Thacker said about his mindset coming into the meet. Perhaps putting his concerns at ease was the fast start his guys had as the 3200 relay of Smyth, Callahan, sophomore Jacob Poyner and junior Spencer Rheinhardt won the first event of the evening, followed by freshman Stephen Kolbe's first-place finish in the high jump. "It's really special," Kolbe said. "It's pretty awesome. I'm still trying to comprehend what's happening right now." Entering the season, the freshman wasn't sure how he'd perform, but after winning last week's NLC meet by clearing 6-foot-5, he came back and won the sectional by getting over the bar at 6-7. "Coming into the season, I was probably expecting to only get six feet," he said. "Then, I just kinda went from there." Following Wawasee senior Ben Klaybor's exit at 6-2, the high jump event came down to Kolbe and Concord senior Eric McCray. Each competitor kept clearing jump after jump until McCray finally succumbed, as he failed to clear 6-7 on three attempts. "I was talking to one of (Concord's) coaches, and I said, 'When they get that high, you can't root against anyone.'," Thacker said. "It was just a blast to see them." Warsaw's third champion at the meet was Poyner, who won the 1600 in 4:21.70. Along with the event champions, the top four finishers from each event also advance to the regional, where Warsaw will be represented in 10 of 16 categories. Second-place finishers for the Tigers were sophomore Wyatt Jones (400), Rheinhardt (800) and its 1600 relay of freshman Ryan Goon, freshman Chad Goon, Jones and Rheinhardt. Placing third were Warsaw's 400 relay (junior Zack Rooney, freshman Tristan McClone, Chad Goon, senior Robert Strahan), Huffer (300 hurdles), Scroggs (3200) and junior Cameron Fritzel (shot put), while fourth-place finishers were Callahan (1600), freshman Ellis Coon (3200), Rooney (long lump) and Erba (discus). "When you have freshmen and sophomores going on to regional, that's an exciting feeling," Thacker said. Along with Klaybor's third-place finish in the jump, Wawasee's Nathan Cook also advanced to the Kokomo Regional, placing third in the 110 hurdles. Claiming an NLC and sectional crown may have been something the Tigers thought was a possibility when they began training for the season, but after beginning the season at 1-2 with losses to Penn and Concord, the expectations may have dipped. However, Warsaw went on to win all six of its other NLC meets and placed fifth at the Goshen Relays and second at the Max Truex before winning the Tippecanoe Valley Invitational and the freshman/sophomore Huntington North Invitational. All those results led up to Thursday's sectional championship, knocking off Concord for the second time in just over a week. "Before we left to come here, we talked about how it's not how you start, it's how you finish," Thacker said. "A couple years ago, you didn't hear about Warsaw a whole lot. There were individuals here and there, but as a team, we hadn't (won) in a while. It's just nice to see the kids buying into what we're doing with the weight room, the athletic development. With the parents and the school — it's just something special." And for a senior like Erba, walking off the Goshen field Thursday felt a lot better than it did following the team's eighth-place when he was a freshman. "It feels great," Erba said. "So much better than three years ago."
WARSAW 108.5, CONCORD 99,FAIRFIELD 85, ELKHART CENTRAL 75, NORTHRIDGE 72, GOSHEN 71, WAWASEE 33, NORTHWOOD 31, ELKHART MEMORIAL 23.5, JIMTOWN 19, ELKHART CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 4
3200 Relay — 1. Warsaw (Scott Smyth, Trevor Callahan, Jacob Poyner, Spencer Rheinhardt) 7:58.75, 2. Concord (Steven Mulroy, Clinton McCray, Keenen Burnett, Eric McCray) 8:00.92, 3. Northridge (Lucas Miller, Trevor Moore, Mitchell Eby, Marshall Hawn) 8:04.39, 4. Goshen (Luke Kauffman, Louis Kissinger, Alfonso Torres, Tyler Wynn) 8:17.67, 9. Wawasee (Devan Couter, Michael Pena, Josh Olson, Joey Bornman) 9:04.15; 100 — 1. Daimon Leader (EC) 11.28, 2. JJ Frey (Nr) 11.29, 3. Devan Emerson (J) 11.48, 4. Tony Pung (G) 11.53; 110 Hurdles — 1. Levi Welch (J) 14.93, 2. Connor Bontrager (F) 15.32, 3. Nathan Cook (Waw) 15.49, 4. Grant Bass (C) 15.55, 7. Taylor Cone (War) 15.75, 8. Zac Patrick (Waw) 15.85; 200 — 1. Frey (Nr) 22.78, 2. Brett Baumgartner (F) 22.83, 3. Urston Smith (EM) 23.00, 4. Mario Whyte (EC) 23.03, 8. Robert Strahan (War) 24.08; 1600 — 1. Poyner (War) 4:21.70, 2. Wynn (G) 4:24.29, 3. Daniel Zelaya (C) 4:27.51, 4. Callahan (War) 4:32.05, 16. Reid Stichter (Waw) 4:54.09, 21. Couter (Waw) 5:11.45; 400 Relay — 1. Concord (Bass, W. Mulroy, Dominique Holt, S. Mulroy) 43.47, 2. Fairfield (PJ Neff, Tanner Foust, Tregg Fisher, Baumgartner) 43.57, 3. Warsaw (Zack Rooney, Tristan McClone, Chad Goon, Strahan) 43.85, 4. Goshen (Mykal Kauffman, Daniel Deboni, Chunie Pung, T. Pung) 44.04, 5. Wawasee (Patrick, Cook, Josh Dingeldein, Josh Sumpter) 45.31; 400 — 1. Frey (Nr) 50.09, 2. Wyatt Jones (War) 50.58, 3. Thayne White (NW) 50.89, 4. Smith (EM) 50.98; 300 Hurdles — 1. Bass (C) 39.45, 2. W. Mulroy (C) 40.97, 3. Cameron Huffer (War) 41.60, 4. Bontrager (F) 41.67 800 — 1. Dillon Hinen (F) 1:57.21, 2. Rheinhardt (War) 1:58.50, 3. Justin Guerra (EC) 1:59.31, 4. Wynn (G) 1:59.55, 6. Poyner (War) 2:01.95, 8. Riley Stichter (Waw) 2:02.72, 14. Thunder Olsen (Waw) 2:12.35; 3200 — 1. Hawn (Nr) 9:53.40, 2. Kauffman (G) 9:59.47, 3. Jordan Scroggs (War) 10:04.93, 4. Ellis Coon (War) 10:05.01, 6. Adam Doll (Waw) 10:11.35, 15. Joey Bornman (Waw) 11:03.38; 1600 Relay — 1. Concord (W. Mulroy, C. McCray, E. McCray, S. Mulroy) 3:21.72, 2. Warsaw (Ryan Goon, C. Goon, Jones, Rheinhardt) 3:23.87, 3. Elkhart Central (Genoris Crawford, Steven Robinson, Whyte, Guerra) 3:28.09, 4. Goshen (Jamie Graves, Deangelo Snipes, Kauffman, Wynn) 3:29.46, 8. Wawasee (Brandon Morris, Jeremy Sorensen, Garly Windle, Olsen) 3:39.89; Long Jump — 1. Steven Robinson (EC) 20-11, 2. Leader (EC) 20-7.25, 3. Holt (C) 20-6, 4. Rooney (War) 20-3.5, 5. Morris (Waw) 20-3, 11. Taylor Anderson (War) 19-3.5, 12. Zach Rensberger (Waw) 19-0.5; High Jump — 1. Stephen Kolbe (War) 6-7, 2. E. McCray (C) 6-6, 3. Ben Klaybor (Waw) 6-2, 4. William Stueve (NW) 6-1; Discus — 1. Taylor Slone (EC) 153-10, 2. Jason Spriggs (C) 147-3, 3. Jake Walter (F) 146-1, 4. Zac Erba (War) 144-0; Shot Put — 1. Walter (F) 55-1.5, 2. Brandon Daniels (G) 52-6, 3. Cameron Fritzel (War) 49-6, 4. Slone (EC) 48-7; Pole Vault — 1. Chase Pinion (F) 13-8, 2. Garrett Hess (NW) 13-4, 3. Aaron Krabill (G) 13-4, 4. Albert Gongwer (NW) 12-6, 11. Kyle Clevenger (Waw) 11-0
