Whitko Continues TRC Dominance
![Whitko's boys track team won its seventh TRC title in nine years Tuesday night at the conference meet at Indiana Wesleyan. (Photo provided)](https://www.inkfreenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/whitkoboystrack-1.jpg)
Whitko’s boys track team won its seventh TRC title in nine years Tuesday night at the conference meet at Indiana Wesleyan. (Photo provided)
MARION – Whitko hasn’t generated a lot of buzz in the track world that, say, a Fort Wayne Northrop or Warsaw has, but is developing a nice little dynasty within the Three Rivers Conference. The Wildcats boys team won its seventh TRC team title in nine years by securing five championships to outdistance runner-up Rochester, 122-103, in a weather-driven meet Tuesday night.
Whitko’s girls had Kaitlyn Reed win a pair of titles in helping the Lady ‘Cats to a third-place team finish.
Whitko went one-two in two of the boys events. Garrett Elder and Alex Wilson held the fort in the 100 dash, with Elder winning at 11.62 and Wilson second at 11.66, and the shot put duo of Gavin Howard and Walker Hobbs topped the list with throws of 52-10.25 for Howard and 48-10 for Hobbs. Wilson was also second in the 200 dash at 23.18, a stitch behind Tippecanoe Valley’s Neil Clampitt at 23.18, and was runner-up in the long jump at 20-6.5. Clampitt would take third in the long jump at 20-0.5.
Wilson, Elder, Brady Weeks and Gavin Powell were the top 4×100 relay runners, crossing at 44.16, and Alex Morales won the 110 hurdles at 15.45.
Conner Sherwin gave Whitko another field title in discus with a top throw of 146-8.
Weeks was second in the 300 hurdles at 42.45 and fourth in the 110 at 16.40. Hobbs was fourth in the discus at 130-7, RJ Patrick was fourth in pole vault at 10-0, and the Wildcats 4×400 relay was third at 3:39.27.
Valley was second in the 4×400 at 3:34.76 and Tippy’s Will Hassenplug was fourth in the shot put at 43-2.25. The Vikings finished tied with Southwood for sixth in the team standings with 46 points.
“The kids were dialed in last night and were really focused on winning,” said Whitko boys head coach Ron Cherry, who has won eight total TRC titles with Whitko. The Wildcats have won nine TRC titles overall. “We knew that Rochester was loaded with excellent distance runners, so the meet came down to us scoring more points with our sprinters, hurdlers, and throwers than they scored with their distance runners. I was also impressed with how our kids responded to the 1.5-hour lightning delay. After the long break, they still came out focused and competed hard even though the meet didn’t conclude until 11:20 p.m.”
Reed was up to her old track in the girls conference meet, providing speed and elevation in her quest to return to the IHSAA state finals.
Reed easily claimed the 100 dash at 13.21, beating teammate Suzi Sickafoose’s runner-up time of 13.62. Reed then finished second in the 200 at 27.27, just a hair short of Southwood’s Ellie White at 23.23. Sickafoose was third in the 200 at 27.65 and Tippy’s Lexi O’Connell was fourth at 27.89. White would beat Sickafoose to the line in the 400 final at 1:00.53, .21 better than the Whitko junior.
Reed was tops in the high jump, where she advanced to the state finals last June, with a TRC-winning jump of 5-1. In long jump, Reed was fourth at 15-9.
Whitko’s Brigit Nemitz was third in the two-mile at 12:23.37 and fourth in the one-mile at 5:38.76. Valley’s Sarah Tucker was fourth in the 100 at 13.83 and the Valley 4×100 relay team was second at 52.90. Of note was a fall by O’Connell in the 100 hurdles on the third-to-last hurdle during prelims, leaving the defending champion out of the final.
Maconaquah took the TRC girls title with 114 points, edging Southwood’s 107. Whitko was third at 79 and Valley was ninth at 32.
Whitko and Tippecanoe Valley boys teams will head to Bremen next Thursday for the Bremen Sectional while the Whitko and Valley girls teams will prep for Tuesday’s Rochester Sectional.