05-26-2000
FORT WAYNE –ÊFor Warsaw’s boys track team, Thursday’s Fort Wayne Wayne Boys Regional was an all-or-nothing night.
Warsaw competed in nine events and won two of them. Outside of the two first places, the Tigers had one seventh place and one eighth place. They failed to score in five events.
Fort Wayne Northrop won only one event, but the Bruins made up for the lack of first places with 13 top five finishes. Northrop won the 36-team regional with 70.5 points and was followed by Carroll (Allen) with 66 and Fort Wayne Concordia with 54.
Warsaw, which placed second at last week’s sectional, finished 13th with 23 points. Junior Rob Chalfant placed second in the 3200, earning Wawasee eight points and earning himself a trip to the state finals. The Warriors finished 18th with 10 points, and NorthWood was 19th with eight points.
The top three places in each event advance to the state finals, as well as those who meet a state standard time, distance or height. The top eight places in each event score points.
Warsaw coach Troy Akers talked often of how scoring in the field events has carried the Tigers, but when the regional ended, the season ended for all of Warsaw’s field athletes. Warsaw advances to the state finals in two track events, the 3200 relay and 800-meter run.
Six-foot-4 Greg Seiss played a role in both first places. He competed at the state finals in two events the previous three years, and he will compete at the state finals in two events this year.
He won the 800 with a time of 1:54, more than two seconds ahead of second place. He anchored the first-place 3200 relay team, which won with a time of 8:06.50. Warsaw and Goshen runners were neck and neck for the first three legs of the 3200 relay; only when Seiss pulled away on the final leg did Warsaw pull away and finish nearly six seconds ahead of Goshen.
The Tigers were expected to win the 3200 relay; they were seeded first. On paper, Seiss was not expected to advance to the state finals in the 800, let alone win the race. He was seeded sixth.
But Seiss appeared to be one of the few Tigers peaking during the regional.
“My goodness, all year people have been asking me, ‘What’s wrong with Greg, what’s wrong with Greg,’” Akers said. “Greg showed in the 800 there is nothing wrong with him. It was unbelievable. He had the mindset of ‘catch me if you can.’ He has guts.”
Asked how he went from a sixth-place seed to a first-place finish, Seiss said: “I’m just starting to peak now. I came out late because of basketball, and my workouts have been better lately. Of course, I’ve been more motivated since it is the state tournament.”
Akers said Seiss was slowed during the season when he got sick after spring break.
“There was a two-week period we had a virus go through the team, including the coaches,” Akers said.
Joining Seiss on the winning relay team were senior Jason Sibray, junior Rob Peters and junior Jon Dock.
Seiss competed in the 3200 and 1600 relays at the state finals his freshman year. Like this year, he advanced to the state finals in the 3200 relay and 800 in each of the previous two years.
Others Tigers placing at the regional included junior Jarod Leasure taking seventh in the discus with a throw of 147 feet, 11 inches and junior Chris Gackenheimer taking eighth in the pole vault with a height of 13 feet.
Gackenheimer entered as a No. 12 seed in the pole vault, and the Tigers actually had a No. 3 seed in senior Zach Scheetz. Scheetz’s seeded height was 14-6, while Gackenheimer’s was 12-6. But Gackenheimer placed, and Scheetz did not.
Scheetz vaulted three times, bumped the bar off every time and saw his high school track and field career end. His performance this year bettered last year, when his season ended at the sectional.
Akers thinks Scheetz, while disappointed, will be fine: This coming week he should be accepted into the Naval Academy, where he will continue his track and field exploits.
“In field events, we could have done better,” Akers said. “For whatever reason, we didn’t do as well as we hoped, and that’s unfortunate. I feel really bad for Zach. The work he put into it ... he’s a classy kid who will get through this. Other than the relays and Greg in the 800, the other kids we hoped to advance were Zach and Jarod.
“The psychological aspect makes it neat in track and field, especially in field events, because there’s so much technique involved. You can have a good night or just as easily have one bad night.”
For Wawasee, Chalfant smashed his seeded time. Chalfant came in seeded fourth in the 3200 with a time of 9:37.64, but he finished second with a time of 9:26.18. Edging him was West Noble No. 1 seed John Parson, who won in 9:25.15.
Other local athletes who scored points included Wawasee senior Jerid Stoffel, who took seventh in the 800 with a time of 1:59.37; NorthWood senior Aaron Hoover, who took fourth in the 3200 with a time of 9:35.63; and NorthWood senior Ian Reed, who placed seventh in the long jump with a distance of 21 feet and eighth in the high jump with a height of 6-2.
2000 FORT WAYNE WAYNE
TRACK AND FIELD REGIONAL
Thursday at Wayne High School
Team scores –Ê1. Fort Wayne Northrop 70.5, 2. Carroll (Allen) 66, 3. Fort Wayne Concordia 54, 4. Fort Wayne Wayne 53, 5. Elkhart Central 44, 6. Fort
Wayne South Side 39, 7. Bluffton 29, 8. Concord 27, 9. Leo 25, 10. DeKalb 24, 10. East Noble 24, 10. West Noble 24, 13. Warsaw 23, 14. Homestead 18,
15. Goshen 14, 15. Elkhart Memorial 14, 17. New Haven 11, 18. Wawasee 10, 19. NorthWood 8, 20. Norwell 7, 21. Fort Wayne Elmhurst 6, 21. Lakeland 6, 23. Harding 5.5, 24. Fort Wayne Luers 5, 24. Jimtown 5, 26. Central Noble 3, 26. Fort Wayne North Side 3, 28. Garrett 2, 28. South Adams 2, 28. Fairfield 2
Scoring: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1
*Wayne Regional record
The top three relay teams or individuals in each event advance to the state finals. Also, those who meet state standards advance as well. State cut times, distances and heights are listed in parentheses.
3200 relay (8:02.54) – 1. Warsaw (Jason Sibray, Rob Peters, Jon Dock, Greg Seiss) 8:06.50, 2. Goshen 8:12.24, 3. Leo 8:13.47, 4. Bluffton 8:15.21, 5. Fort Wayne Northrop 8:26.83, 6. Norwell 8:31.02, 7. Elkhart Central 8:32.61, 8. Concord 8:34.42
100 (:11.10) –Ê1. Chris Tredway (Carroll) :10.89, 2. Brandon Wilson (Elk. Cent.) :10.92, 3. Jamie McClain (FW Wayne) :11.15, 4. Leland Gates (FW Northrop) :11.22, 5. David Gater (E. Noble) :11.29, 6. Lawrence Bostic (FW South) :11.30, 7. Terron Wharton (FW Concordia) :11.32, 8. Jesse Johnson (W. Noble) :11.33
110 high hurdles (:14.82) –Ê1. David Williams (FW South) :14.02, 2. Roderick Harris (FW Wayne) :14.32, 3. Frederick Van Dorp (FW South) :14.65, 4. Nick Sullivan (Leo) :14.68, 5. Dave Weeks (FW Northrop) 14.82, 6. Matthew Davis (Elk. Mem.) :14.92, 7. Michael Gamble (E. Noble) :15.02, 8. Ryan Hahaj (FW Northrop) :15.05
200 (:22.42) –Ê1. Brandon Wilson (Elk. Cent.) :22.42, 2. Rolando Scott (FW Concordia) :22.72, 3. Gustin Smith (FW Concordia) :22.79, 4. Jesse Johnson (W. Noble) :22.82, 5. Leland Gates (FW Northrop) :22.85, 6. Chris Tredway (Carroll) :22.99, 7. Brad Tumbleson (S. Adams) :23.02, 8. Andrew Cummins (Elk. Mem.) :23.15
1600 (4:23.80) –Ê1. Brett Grover (Bluffton) 4:20.80, 2. Ryan Johnson (DeKalb) 4:20.86, 3. Andrew McKalips (Goshen) 4:21.06, 4. Nate Peffley (FW Northrop) 4:21.10, 5. Matthew Cummins (Elk. Mem.) 4:25.40, 6. Scott Borchelt (FW Concordia) 4:26.43, 7. Tim Hieman (E. Noble) 4:32.14, 8. Ian Wilson (Homestead) 4:36.51
400 relay (:42.97) –Ê1. FW Concordia :42.51, 2. FW Wayne :42.85, 3. FW Northrop :42.91, 4. Carroll :43.42, 5. Elkhart Central :43.52, 6. Concord :43.65, 7. FW South Side :43.85, 8. Harding :44.30
400 (:49.75) –Ê1. Gustin Smith (FW Concordia) :48.99, 2. Cedric Jackson (FW South) :49.06, 3. Kenneth Meteiver (Elk. Mem.) :50.10, 4. Justin Smith
(Concord) :51.23, 5. Lee Brindel (Leo) :51.83, 6. Nathaniel Banks (Elk. Cent.) :51.86, 7. Nathan Yoder (Lakeland) :51.95, 8. Adam Reasoner (W. Noble) :52.45
300 hurdles (N/A) –Ê1. Daniel Martin (Concord) :37.67, 2. Chris Tredway (Carroll) :38.01, 3. Roderick Harris (FW Wayne) :38.88, 4. Justin Diehm (E. Noble) :39.78, 5. Mike Skeeters (Homestead) :39.98, 6. Ronald Elliott (FW Wayne) :40.08, 7. Nick Sullivan (Leo) :40.12, 8. Adam Rockenbaugh (Elk. Cent.) :40.72
800 (1:56.71) –Ê1. Greg Seiss (Warsaw) 1:54.00, 2. Jonathan Amt (FW Concordia) 1:56.23, 3. Jordan Shown (DeKalb) 1:57.17, 4. Andy Schmitz (FW Northrop) 1:58.17, 5. Justin West (Carroll) 1:58.67, 6. Ryan Heath (Leo) 1:59.04, 7. Jerid Stoffel (Wawasee) 1:59.37, 8. Chad Scott (W. Noble) 1:59.67
3200 (9:31.63) –Ê1. John Parson (W. Noble) 9:25.15, 2. Rob Chalfant (Wawasee) 9:26.18, 3. Brett Grover (Bluffton) 9:28.82, 4. Aaron Hoover (NorthWood) 9:35.63, 5. Ryan Johnson (DeKalb) 9:44.60, 6. Cody Brown (C. Noble) 9:45.40, 7. Thomas Wolfe (Fairfield) 9:50.14, 8. Brandon Reichert (FW Northrop) 9:58.68
long jump (21-9) –Ê1. Lawrence Bostic (FW South) 22-5 1/2, 2. Collin Applewhite (Elk. Cent.) 22-1 3/4, 3. Ryan Hahaj (FW Northrop) 21-9 3/4, 4. Richard Jones (FW Northrop) 21-9 1/2, 5. Maurice Satterfield (Lakeland) 21-5 1/2, 6. Rolando Scott (FW Concordia) 21-2 1/2, 7. Ian Reed (NorthWood) 21-0,
8. Chris Heckler (New Haven) 20-11
high jump (6-4) –Ê1. Scott Bushong (Carroll) 6-8, 2. Jy Gehring (Bluffton) 6-7, 3. Michael Corley (FW Wayne) 6-6, 4. Ryan Hahaj (FW Northrop) 6-4, 4. Marcus Alexander (Harding) 6-4, 6. Alan Scherer (Leo) 6-4, 7. John Williams (FW North) 6-3, 8. Ian Reed (NW) 6-2
discus (158-0) –Ê1. Tom Stirlen (FW Northrop) 159-7, 2. Kyle Cleaver (Homestead) 156-2, 3. Bronson Germano (FW Elmhurst) 155-6, 4. Ryan Gerschoffer (Jimtown) 154-4, 5. Gene Donnelly (FW Luers) 149-8, 6. Taylor Treesh (DeKalb) 148-4, 7. Jarod Leasure (Warsaw) 147-11, 8. Klint Kammerer (E. Noble) 147-9
shot put (55-2) – 1. Klint Kammerer (E. Noble) 57-0, 2. Jeremy Gillingham (New Haven) 52-11, 3. Joe Villegas (W. Noble) 52-8, 4. Joseph Whickcar (Elk.
Cent.) 51-11, 5. Tom Stirlen (FW Northrop) 51-8, 6. Jared Feichter (Carroll) 51-2, 7. Zach Dommer (New Haven) 49-11, 8. Gene Donnelly (FW Luers) 47-10
1600 relay (3:23.67) –Ê1. Fort Wayne South Side 3:20.26, 2. Concord 3:20.43, 3. Fort Wayne Wayne 3:21.81, 4. Homestead 3:25.43, 5. Fort Wayne Concordia 3:25.96, 6. Elkhart Central 3:26.60 (only the top six times were available)
pole vault (14-2) –Ê1. Paul Gensic (Carroll) 15-10*, 2. Dustin Runkle (Carroll) 15-6, 3. Jeff Martzall (FW Northrop) 15-0, 4. David Mahlan (Carroll) 15-0, 5. David Stead (Norwell) 14-6, 6. Anthony Wagler (DeKalb) 14-6, 7. Andy Bodey (Garrett) 13-6, 8. Cory Gackenheimer (Warsaw) 13-0
(The previous pole vault record was 15-9, set by North Side’s Robert Shank in 1987.)