05-14-1999
DUNLAP – When describing Thursday night’s boys NLC track meet at Concord High School, Warsaw coach Troy Akers put it best: “They won the battle but we won the war.”
With a team score of 131 points, NorthWood won the NLC meet. The Tigers finished second with a team score of 115. But, due to the fact that points from the meet are added to regular season records and that Warsaw was undefeated in regular season conference meets, the Tigers are the outright NLC champions. NorthWood finished second in the overall standings. Wawasee finished tied with Plymouth for a final placing of fifth.
“This year and last year everybody gauged themselves against Warsaw,” said NorthWood coach Mark BeMiller. “Give Akers credit, they came in without their top two studs. To beat a team like that is an accomplishment.”
Warsaw ran last night without the injured Jon Hill, 1998 NLC champ in the 100, 200 and 1600 relay, and the suspended Jose Esquivel, 1998 NLC runner-up in the 100 and 300 hurdles as well a member of the champion 400 and 1,600 relay teams.
What kept the Tigers close to the Panthers last night in the absence of the seniors was the field events. For the second year in a row, Warsaw produced the NLC champion in the discus. Last year it was junior Steve Fribley, this year it was sophomore Jarod Leasure. Leasure’s throw of 144-2 bested second-place finisher Andy Mitschelen of NorthWood by nearly six feet.
“It’s all in how you prepare yourself in the head,” said Leasure. “I’m proud of Ryan Brennan and the way he performed tonight.”
Brennan, another Warsaw sophomore, finished third with a throw of 136-10. Wawasee’s Tom Bryan placed fourth in the discus with his effort of 136-3.
In the other throwing event, the shot put, Warsaw placed two in the top six. Wes Rodman, the meet’s No. 1 seed, finished second with his 49-6 1/2 effort. Fribley ended up fourth with a throw of 48-4. Wawasee’s Jamie Salazar and his throw of 48-6 1/2 was good enough for third place.
Akers said after last week’s Max Truex Invite that he could count on his field events, and rightfully so. Thrown into the mix with the throwing events, were Justin Bellamy’s first-place effort of 6-4 in the high jump, Zach Sheetz’s second-place effort in the pole vault and Steve Fussle’s fourth-place finish in the long jump. NorthWood’s Jon Cook and Corey Brown finished first and second in the long jump, respectively.
What Akers said he was concerned about was the running events he had to replace Hill and Esquivel in.
“We did what we had to do,” said Akers. “The field events, that’s where we had to score a lot of points. We placed two people in a lot of events and set some new personal records. We set a new record in the 3,200 relay. There were a lot of surprises tonight. Tomorrow people will read the newspaper and wonder who won the 100. An outside linebacker won the 100.”
Warsaw’s Aaron Chabot won the 100 with a time of 11.55 seconds.
To say that it was a cat fight between the Tigers and Panthers would be an understatement. After 14 of the 16 events, Warsaw and NorthWood were tied at 107. NorthWood double-placed in the 3,200 with Aaron Hoover leading the pack with his time of 9:52.39. Teammate Mark Davidhizar came in third. In the evening’s final event, the 1,600 relay, NorthWood’s Matt Traub edged Warsaw’s Greg Seiss at the line to finish second behind Wawasee’s championship team of Lambert, Rustin Mikel, Travis Klenke and Dustin Young.
Overall, Warsaw finished with five first-place finishes, NorthWood with three and Wawasee with one.
BeMiller was named 1999 NLC coach of the year. The conference title makes the fifth in six years for Akers. Akers won NLC titles his last three years as girls coach at Wawasee and the past two years with the Warsaw boys.
Warsaw, NorthWood and Wawasee will compete in the Goshen Sectional Thursday.
1999 BOYS NLC TRACK MEET
Team results – 1. NorthWood 131, 2. Warsaw 115, 3. Concord 94, 4. Goshen 72, 5. Wawasee 41, 6. Plymouth, 7. Northridge 16
Final season standings – 1. Warsaw, 2. NorthWood, 3. Concord, 4. Goshen, 5. (tie) Wawasee, 5. Plymouth, 7. Northridge
abbreviations – NorthWood (NW), Warsaw (Wr), Concord (C), Goshen (G), Wawasee (Wa), Plymouth (P), Northridge (NR)
3,200 relay – 1. Warsaw 8:04.56, 2. Goshen, 3. Plymouth, 4. Wawasee, 5. Concord, 6. NorthWood
110 hurdles – 1. Martin (C) :14.95, 2. Traub (NW), 3. Cook (NW), 4. Peterson (C), 5. Lambert (Wa), 6. Cline (Wa)
100 – 1. Chabot (Wr) :11.55, 2. Jackson (C), 3. Emerson (C), 4. Brown (NW), 5. Thrush (G), 6. Rodriguez (P)
1,600 – 1. Chalfant (Wa) 4:27.59, 2. A. McKalips (G), 3. Rice (Wr), 4. Hoover (NW), 5. J. McKalips (G), 6. Davidhizer (NW)
400 relay – 1. Concord :43.92, 2. NorthWood, 3. Goshen, 4. Warsaw, 5. Plymouth, 6. Wawasee
400 – 1. Seiss (Wr) :51.55, 2. Brennaman (NW), 3. Murto (G), 4. Smith (C), 5. Ridderman (Wr), 6. Fleenor (G)
300 hurdles – 1. Martin (C) :37.76, 2. Cook (NW), 3. Traub (NW), 4. Lambert (Wa), 5. Wiesman (NR), 6. Hill (Wr)
800 – 1. A. McKalips (G) 1:59.93, 2. Dock (Wr), 3. Mikel (Wa), 4. Greenlee (NW), 5. Sands (C), 6. Lewis (P)
200 – 1. Covey (C) :23.24, 2. Thrursh (G), 3. Rodriguez (P), 4. McKenzie (C), 5. Barker (P), 6. Vogt (Wr)
3200 – 1. Hoover (NW) 9:52.39, 2. J. McKalips (G), 3. Davidhizar (NW), 4. Myers (C), 5. Rice (Wr), 6. Chalfant (Wa)
1,600 relay – 1. Concord 3:28.30, 2. NorthWood, 3. Warsaw, 4. Goshen, 5. Northridge, 6. Wawasee
Pole vault – 1. B. Mitschelen (NW) 13-0, 2. Sheetz (Wr), 3. Traub (NW), 4. Gackenheimer (Wr), 5. Swinehart (C), 6. Halon (P)
Discus – 1. Leasure (Wr) 144-2, 2. A. Mitschelen (NW), 3. Brennan (Wr), 4. Bryan (Wa), 5. Greenawalt (NW), 6. Casey (C)
High jump – 1. Bellamy (Wr) 6-4, 2. (tie) Peterson (C), 2. Miller (G), 4. Brennaman (NW), 5. Faulkner (G), 6. Fitzsimmons (Wr)
Long jump – 1. Cook (NW) 21-1.5, 2. Brown (NW), 3. Riewoldt (P), 4. Fussle (Wr), 5. Holdeman (NR), 6. Klenke (Wa)
Shot put –Ê1. Jordan (NR) 49-8.5, 2. Rodman (Wr), 3. Salazar (Wa), 4. Fribley (Wr), 5. Salinas (P), 6. Abel (NW)
Note – all first-place finishers are considered All-Conference selections
At Large All-Conference – Eric Murto (G), Tom Thrush (G), Jon Hill (Wr)
NLC Coach of the year – Mark BeMiller (NW)