MIC Tourney: Top-ranked Warren Central dominates on the track en route to title

By Brandon Jones
Indiana Runner Sports Coordinator

The top-ranked Warren Central boys track team showed why it is Indiana’s finest team April 27 at Ben Davis.

The
Warriors placed a distant seventh place in the evening’s opening
event 4×800 meter relay. From that point on, coach Dennis McNulty’s
troops would not lose another event on the track.

That opening
relay was taken by surprising North Central (Indianapolis) as the
10th-ranked Panthers were blessed with a 1:57 opening leg by sophomore
Barry Wilkins which was bookended with a solid anchor by junior Kris
Kinkead.

In between, it was Ben Davis and third-ranked Lawrence
North providing the main challenge for North Central, but Kinkead was
able to hold off a threat from the Giants’ Nick Sefton to win in
8:03.77, to Ben Davis’ 8:03.82.

Then it was the Warren Central
show on the track. Junior D’Juan Richardson dominated the finals of the
110 meter hurdles in flawless fashion. Richardson’s time of :14.24 is
Indiana’s best in 2007 and was over a half-second ahead of runner-up
Jordan Luallen of sixth-ranked Center Grove.

Speaking of
Indiana’s best times, Warrior senior Devin Pipkin overcame a slow start
to grab the 100 meter conference title in :10.69.

Pipkin was
trailing Lawrence North’s Tra Wilson coming out of the blocks, but was
able to recover and hold off a challenge from No. 4 Carmel senior
Andrew Stull who surged late to grab second.

The next event on
the track was the 1600 meter run. Warren Central’s De’Sean Turner
entered as the heavy favorite, but would end up fighting for his life
over the final 300 meters.

Turner was trailed by the Carmel duo
of Jacob Rich and Logan Rosenberg for the first 1200 meters of the race
as the runners were running a solid pace (1:08, 2:17, 3:18) at the time.

Rosenburg,
who ran the race of his life, was dropped as the final 400 meters
started. Suddenly, Turner found himself in a rare position … trailing.

Rich
made a strong move with 300 meters to go and grabbed the lead from the
Warrior senior. Turner responded to the challenge only for Rich to
“re-respond”. Turner moved ahead for good with about 120 meters to go
to win in 4:15.45, to Rich’s 4:16.10.

The next race of the night
featured Indiana’s finest 4×100 meter relay teams. Ben Davis entered
with the top seed time, but Warren Central and Carmel were not far
behind.

The Giants wasted little time showing why they had
already run under 42 seconds for this race as they led the field
through three exchanges.

But it was Warren Central’s Pipkin who
brought the Warriors from behind as the runners came down the
homestretch. The defending state champions (who have a new look in
2007) ran Indiana’s best time in 2007 posting a time of :41.60.

The
“Warren Central Invitational” continued as the Warriors put a dagger in
the field by going 1-2 in the 400 meter dash, led by Brad Ellington’s
:49.95. He edged out teammate Chris Adkins’ :50.34. Another 18
points for the Warriors.

As expected, junior D’Juan Richardson
grabbed his second hurdle victory of the evening in the 300 meter
version. He was trailing Giant senior Josh Compton heading into the
final four flights of hurdles, but was able to hit another gear en
route to a winning time of :38.24. Compton was second in :39.12.

Speaking
of coming from behind, Warren Central’s Ondraius Richardson (no
relation) would have to do so to earn his victory in the 800 meter
run.

It was an 800 meter run that would see multiple lead
changes as North Central’s Barry Wilkins brought the field through 400
meters in 0:56 as he battled Nick Sefton of Ben Davis.

From there, it was Giant transfer Reggie Robinson who stole the show, making a huge move with 300 meters to go.

But
it was too early. Richardson bided his time and made his move in the
last 200 meters, overtaking a fading Robinson and Wilkins to win in
1:57.62.

Pipkin then took to the track and earned the “king of
the sprints” title as he looked smooth in winning the 200 meter dash in
:21.97. Matt Terrell of Ben Davis finished second.

The next event on the track was the 3200 meter run, and Colin and I were in the booth hoping for “Turner versus Rich II.”

But it was not to be.

Turner
and Rich broke away from the field early as the two came through 1600
meters in 4:40. Rich then began to fade and appeared to be coasting as
the Warren senior pulled away.

It was a “time trial effort” for
Turner who won going away in 9:23.99. Rich held off an effort from Ben
Davis’ Andy Wilson to hold on to second place in 9:35.23.

In the track meet’s final event of the evening, what else would you expect?

Warren
Central used strength through the middle legs that the other contenders
could not match. The Warriors turned a close race into a 3 second
margin of victory as they prevailed in 3:21.59.

In the field
events, it was a battle of two of the state’s best in the long jump as
Brandon Leap-Hall (Carmel) and Tra Wilson (Lawrence North) battled for
conference supremacy.

It was Hall’s effort of 22′-05″ that edged
out the efforts of Wilson by a slim margin (22′-04″). It was a solid
field that saw four jumpers over the 22 foot mark.

In the high
jump, Warren Central sophomore Derrick Spight won by a large margin in
clearing 6′-09″. That was five inches better than the effort of Ben
Davis’ Colin Hester who came home second.

In the throws, Terre
Haute South’s Anthony Lewis pulled a minor upset in winning with a best
toss of 172′-00″. Lewis entered with the second best throw this season,
but his effort was good enough to defeat Lawrence North’s Brandon
Pounds who came home second with a best toss of 164′-08″.

It was
Pounds’ teammate Zach Lipscomb who claimed the shot put title with a
best throw of 52’10.50″ to outdistance Ben Davis’ Bryan Hardister by
five inches.

Ben Davis did claim its only conference champion of the night with Kyle Keller’s 14′-00″ effort in the pole vault.

Team scores

1. Warren
Central 153

2. Ben
Davis 112

3. Carmel 103.5

4. Lawrence North 81

5. Center
Grove 69

6. North
Central (Indianapolis)
45.5

7. Terre Haute North 41

8. Terre Haute South 19

Your
individual results:

3200
relay: NC 8:03.77