On another windy and chilly night, the Warsaw Tigers travelled to Goshen HS to take on the Concord Minutemen and Goshen Redhawks, pitting two undefeated teams in a battle for first place in the conference. Both the Tigers (3-0 NLC) and Minutemen (3-0 NLC) had strong wins against the Mishawaka Cavemen last week and the stage was set for a tremendous night of competition and performances. While Goshen was strong in multiple events, the meet's focus was on the clash between the Tigers and Minutemen in each event. Every race, jump and throw was meaningful; every point earned was valuable. Leading into the final event of the evening, Warsaw held a slim 65-62 lead with a balance of 5 points going to the winning 4x400m team. A relay win would give that team not only the meet win, but an undefeated record and inside track towards a regular season dual meet title.
Concord got off to a surprising start to the meet with an upset win over Warsaw in the 4x800m Relay. They followed that with quality efforts in the 110H and 100m Dash races. However, the Tigers responded with 1st and 2nd place finishes in Pole Vault, High Jump and Long Jump to even the meet. Concord showed its distance prowess by winning the 1600m but the Tigers regained momentum after the 4x100m with big performances in the 400m Dash and 300m Hurdles, the latter event where the Tigers took the top three spots. Concord fought back with huge performances in Discus, but a massive Personal Best by Noah Chew of 53' 0" Shot Put put the Tigers back into contention. Warsaw's depth helped to keep the score close after the 800m Run and 200m Dash. Impressive efforts by Warsaw distance runners in the 3200m set up the meet for the final event. With both teams coming into the meet with the two fastest times in the NLC and both squads in full support mode lining the track, the 4x400m was just what the end of a high school meet should be: excitement and competition.
From the very start, both teams alternated holding small leads in the first three legs with Concord pulling slightly ahead after the 3rd leg. However, with an anchor leg run of 49.4 seconds, Jeremy Johnson overtook the lead in the first 100m and never let up enroute to a new relay season best time of 3:31.72. Other Tiger runners included: Andrew Frush, Colton Martin, and Morgan Johnson.
It should be noted that although the meet was decided in the final event, it would not have been possible without a full team effort of runners, jumpers and throwers scrapping for places and points throughout the meet. The Tigers depth in every event played a key part in these wins tonight.
This double meet win puts Warsaw at 6-0 (5-0 NLC) on the season. Next up for the Tigers is the Max Truex Invitational on Friday, April 29 starting at 6:00p. Participating teams include: Carroll, Homestead, LaPorte, Carmel, Berrien Springs (MI), Penn, Valparaiso, and Ft Wayne Wayne. This should be an excellent night of competition between a lot of quality programs. The Tigers wrap up their regular season with a visit to Plymouth HS on Wednesday, May 4 to take on the Pilgrims and NorthWood Panthers (5:00p start).
Last Night's meet results are attached.
