The Warsaw boys track team won its fifth straight NLC Meet title Tuesday night.

WARSAW – The Warsaw boys track team came to compete Tuesday night.

Wawasee star Clayton Cook definitely did too.

The host Tigers proved to be the cream of the crop once again in the Northern Lakes Conference meet.

Cook once again simply proved to be the best individual track athlete that the league has to offer.

Warsaw fought off a strong challenge from Goshen to lay claim to the program’s fifth straight NLC Meet championship.

The Tigers, who have won 34 straight NLC regular-season meets, scored 146.5 points. The Redskins were runner-up with 130.

Warsaw, despite the loss of a stellar senior class from last year’s NLC, sectional and regional championship squad, answered the challenge with plenty of fresh faces in the mix this time around.

Rashaan Jackson took second n the long jump for the Tigers.

“Our guys came to compete tonight,” said Warsaw coach Matt Thacker. “To win five in a row is pretty cool. All of them are sweet. We’ve pulled out close meets this year (NLC wins over Goshen and Northridge) and tonight was close and we pulled it out.

“The expectation is there for us to compete and give our best effort. I wanted to take the focus off us and not have the guys worry about us and they responded. We scored more points tonight that I had it scored out last night (Monday). My hat’s off to our kids. They did a great job.”

“Brock (Riley) was huge for us with a PR in winning the high jump. Tommy Hickerson was big for us in the long jump and we got big points from our pole vaulters (Lucas Cone and Steven Reinholt).

“I’m not sure that this was our best meet of the season, but it was pretty dang close.”

Junior Owen Glogovsky led the way on the track for the champions. The distance ace took top honors in the 1,600 in a top time of 4:26.45. He also claimed first in the 3,200 in a winning effort of 9:42.15.

The Tigers also got championship performances on the track from junior Ross Armey in the 300 hurdles (40.22) and senior Daniel Messenger in the 800 (1:57.68).

The Warsaw 4 X 400 relay team put an exclamation point on the title with a win to close the meet. The team of Armey, Messenger and juniors Landan Perry and Riley Rhodes won in 3:26.93. It was a sweet comeback for Rhoades, who tripped and fell near the finish line in the 400 while battling for the win. Rhoades was the top seed in the 400 entering the meet.

Junior Brock Riley won the high jump for the Tigers by clearing 6-4.

Andrew Scheidt placed second in the discus for Warsaw.

Warsaw also got second place efforts from Perry in the 400, senior Rashaan Jackson in the long jump and senior Andrew Scheidt in the discus.

Cook was the individual shining star of the meet as the Warriors, who went 0-7 in NLC dual meets, picked up a fourth-place team finish with 89 points.

Cook, a state finalist last year and a Ball State football recruit, simply put on a show. He won the 110 hurdles in 14.74, dominated the field in the 200 in winning in 22.37 and anchored the first-place 4 X 100 relay team. For good measure, he was also third in the long jump.

“My goal coming in was to set the meet records in the 200 and the hurdles and I didn’t do that,” said Cook. “But, it feels great winning events and I ran pretty fast times tonight.”

Cook teamed with seniors JJ Gilmer and Tyler Courter and sophomore Cole VanLue to win the 4 X 100 in 43.81.

“Our boys are a big meet team and I’m happy with how they competed tonight,” said Wawasee coach Scott Lancaster. “We knew that we would outscore some of the teams tonight that beat us head-to-head during the season. Clayton did what he needed to do. Our 4 X 100 team was not as fast as they could have been, but it’s hard to complain with a win. I think the last time we had a 4 X 100 relay team win the conference was like in the 1980s.”

Gilmer won the long jump title for the Warriors with a 21-1 effort. He was second in the high jump at 6-4.

Junior Jaxon Bame was third in the 400 for Wawasee and senior Jon Walker third in the discus.

Northridge was third in the team standings with 102 points. Wawasee took fourth with its 89, followed by Elkhart Memorial (86), NorthWood (75.5), Concord (65) and Plymouth (37).

Warsaw and Wawasee will compete in the Goshen Sectional on May 21.

Clayton Cook was a dominating force for Wawasee Tuesday night.