A year ago, Kokomo ripped out a 32-1 advantage in the long and high jumps to lay waste to Western's chances for the team championship in the IHSAA Boys Track and Field Sectional at Walter Cross Field.

Thursday night, the Panthers got the performances they expected from Tommy Jenkins and Sean Holsapple before turning last season's deficit in the jumps completely around to win the sectional championship outright, outscoring the host Wildkats 139.5 to 123.

The two teams have battled for the team title the last few years. They tied for first in 2003 and Kokomo took the title last year. This time, the Panthers took it outright for the first time.

Tom Henning and Blayne Burkholder placed third and fifth in the long jump to bring the Panthers within 13-10 compared to being outscored 18-0 last year. Brandon Youngdale tied his own Western record in winning the high jump and Brad Speck added a tie for sixth.

Those were the types of performances Western coach Dana Neer told his team it would need to win the sectional.

"Our athletes are not only outstanding individuals but outstanding competitors. We detailed Monday where we would have to place to pull it out," Neer said. "We fine tuned it Wednesday. The guys knew the game plan and they came in prepared. Everyone excelled."

The Panthers scored in all 16 events and placed two people in eight of them.

Kokomo coach Tom Byrnes noted the Panthers' preparedness.

"I have to congratulate Dana and Western. They had a very good meet. Every time we tried to make a run, they stay right with us," he said. "The pole vault, the long jump, they had people in place right there with us."

Jenkins led the Panthers' charge by claiming blue ribbons in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and racing to the finish line first as the anchor of the 400 relay that also had Alex Sigler, Adam Trost and Holsapple.

"That was classic Tommy. He set a school record in the 200 and the 400 relay broke the school record," Neer said. "Tommy was as confident as any athlete can be. We really believed he would win the 100 and 200. With him anchoring the 400 relay, it was just a matter of time in getting the record, although we thought it would be next week.

"We made a coaching mistake there. We thought we were in lane four and instead we were in five. We had to mark our lanes pretty fast, but the guys were able to pull out a great race there."

Holsapple and Kokom's Justin Pugh had three great races throughout the meet. The Panthers' Holsapple came away with first in the high hurdles. Pugh turned the tables on him in the 300 intermediates and then outraced Holsapple on the final 400 meters of the 1,600 relay.

"In the highs, that was a classic race. It's been brewing a while with Justin and Sean," Neer said. "It was billed to be a great race and it was. Justin knew he had to come back in the 300s and he did."

Western senior thrower Jacob McDorman jumped in with a second place in the shot put, throwing 48 feet, more than 3 feet better than his seed, and fifth in discus.

"He's been throwing so well in practice this week. When he said he threw 48, I wasn't shocked but it was a great surprise," Neer said. "That was one event, we had to outscore Kokomo."

Kokomo's Jesse Rayl, who surprised everyone in winning the long jump last season, defended his title and Eastern's Austin Roark was second as both bettered 20 feet. Henning went 19-10 and Burkholder was fifth at 19-9.5.

"Joey Dyer, our long jump coach, had them prepared and jumping with confidence," the Western coach said. "We were prepared to go in the hole by about 10 points there, but we only lost three so we greeted that with a sense of relief.

"Tom had a great effort and Blayne was a bit disappointed he didn't win the pole vault, but he scored 12 points instead of the 10 if he'd only won the pole vault. Our plans were to pursue every point we could and that's exactly what happened there."

That was the story with three of the pole vaulters.

After taking third in the 300 hurdles, the Kats' Brad Imbierowicz went 15-0 to take first in the vault. Burkholder was second at 14-6. Zeb Bartolome finished third in the vault at 12-6 and also anchored the Kats' 400 relay, was sixth in long jump and finished fourth in the 200. Kyle Gann added a fourth for the Panthers by going a personal best 12-6 as well.

In addition to Jenkins winning the 200, Sigler provided another big boost for Western. After the 800, Kokomo had cut the lead from 15 (76-61) to six (78-72).

"Alex took fifth in the 200 out in lane one and that was big because Kokomo had come back in the 800 on us," Neer said. "Our distance runners, Michael Marley and Luke Minor, gave us a great effort too. This is the meet we've prepared for all year long and they knew what they had to do. They met and exceeded our expectations."

Marley came through fourth in the 1,600 run and third in the 3,200 and Minor was seventh in both.

Taylor senior Christopher Sinnett was a double winner as he claimed first in the 1,600 and then held off Eastern rival Tony Martin for eight laps to win the 3,200. Both runners broke 10:00 in that race. Sinnett will be joined at the regional by teammate Jason Thompson, who finished third in the 100.

Finishing third in the team standings with 72 points, Peru's 3,200 relay of Mick Heron, Tony Zimmerman, Cody Siblisk and Conrad Warder broke the meet record with their time of 8:20.96. Zimmerman added a first in the 800 and Warder took first in the 400 dash. That event also saw Northwestern's Aaron Mervis win the second section and finish second overall.

Travis Brewer helped the Braves tie Eastern for fourth at 55 by finishing second in the 100 and 200 dash and Matt Cox earned second in the high jump and fourth in the long jump.

Pioneer's Lucas Beach claimed both throwing events.

PREP TRACK
IHSAA Kokomo Boys Track and Field
At Walter Cross Field, Thursday
Team scores: Western 139.5, Kokomo 123, Peru 72, Maconaquah 55, Eastern 55, Pioneer 38, Logansport 36.5, Taylor 33, Northwestern 30, Madison-Grant 21, Cass 19

Scoring summary

3,200-meter relay: 1. Peru (Mick Heron, Tony Zimmerman, Cody Siblisk, Conrad Warder), 8:20.96 (broke meet record of 8:21.77 set by KOkomo in 2000); 2. Kokomo (A.J. Robinette, Devin White, Ryan Perry, Kyle Wheeler), 8:34.32; 3. Eastern (Brad Dean, Brent Hickman, Ryan Martin, Johnathan Fansler), 8:38.59; 4. Western (Ryan Orr, Trevor Mann, Shawn Parkins, LeeDavid Resto), 8:44.24; 5. Pioneer (Matt Boller, Nathan Dewitt, Bryce Caudle, COry Osborn), 8:46.20; 6. Logansport, 8:47.60; 7. Cass (Ollie Lopes, Amelio Lopes, Dean Sixby, Richard Woolever), 9:16.99; 8. Maconaquah (Charles Duckwall, Ian Gay, Adam Crawshaw, Justin Jenkins), 9:22.61
110 high hurdles: 1. Sean Holsapple (W), 15.18; 2. Justin Pugh (K), 15.50; 3. Josh Schultz (MG), 15.72; 4. Kyle Pulley (MG), 16.22; 5. Kyle Irwin (W), 16.35; 6. Jason O'Haver (E), 16.48; 7. Clay Mannering (C), 17.38; 8. Brad Plank (C), 18.84
100 dash: 1. Tommy Jenkins (W), 11.50; 2. Travis Brewer (M), 11.70; 3. Jason Thompson (T), 11.78; 4. Collyn Ramsey (K), 11.79; 5. Austin Roark (E), 12.05; 6. Caleb Loposser (C), 12.19; 7. Terral Smith (K), 12.36
1,600 run: 1. Christopher Sinnett (T), 4:33.74; 2. Siblisk (Peru), 4:39.75; 3. Matt Ullmer (NW), 4:42.01; 4. Michael Marley (W), 4:42.96; 5. Jared Holycross (M), 4:43.58; 6. Bryce Caudle (Pio), 4:44.50; 7. Luke Minor (W), 4:49.16; 8. White (K), 4:50.01
Discus: 1. Lucas Beach (Pio), 145-2; 2. Patrick Long (L), 140-0; 3. Conner McCulley (C), 138-7; 4. Zach McDowell (E), 133-5; 5. Jacob McDorman (W), 132-7; 6. Andrew Betzner (M), 122-2; 7. Shawn Wedmore (MG), 119-9; 8. Clint Akers (K), 119-8
400 relay: 1. Western (Alex Sigler, Adam Trost, Holsapple, Jenkins), 43.98; 2. Kokomo (Ramsey, Smith, Jesse Rayl, Zeb Bartolome), 44.99; 3. Logansport, 45.65; 4. Peru (Clint Heisler, Jarod Morgan, Jason Hull, Rob Snyder), 45.99; 5. Taylor (Thompson, Alex Waltman, Tucker Gregory, Ishan Gohil), 46.36; 6. Maconaquah (Matt Cox, Andrew Dick, Josiah Waite, Travis Brewer), 46.41; 7. Eastern (Justin Rash, Tyler Kuhlman, Weston Reed, Roark), 46.53; 8. Pioneer, 46.68
High jump: 1. Brandon Youngdale (W), 6-5; 2. Cox (M), 6-4; 3. Pugh (K), 5-10; 4. Ethan Flick (E), 5-10; 6. (tie) Brad Speck (W), Michael Bell (L), 5-8; 8. Steve Swinford (Peru), 5-8
400 dash: 1. Warder (Peru), 51.92; 2. Aaron Mervis (NW), 52.46; 3. Alex Holofchak (K), 52.99; 4. Scott Imler (L), 53.27; 5. Zavier Sanders (NW), 53.44; 6. Luke Little (M), 53.71; 7. Rison (W), 54:01; 8. Cole Deason (L), 54.20
300 intermediate hurdles: 1. Pugh (K), 40.87; 2. Holsapple (W), 41.12; 3. Brad Imbierowicz (K), 41.67; 4. Mannering (C), 41.84; 5. Irwin (W), 41.88; 6. Pulley (MG), 44.00; 8. Kurt Graham (Pio), 45.35
800 run: 1. Zimmerman (Peru), 2:04.34; 2. Wheeler (K), 2:05.17; 3. Ullmer (NW), 2:05.89; 4. Fansler (E), 2:06.04; 5. Nathan Dewitt (Pio), 2:08.42; 6. Perry (K), 2:09.00; 7. Orr (W), 2:09.55; 8. Brice Roads (L), 2:10.01
200 dash: 1. Jenkins (W), 22.81; 2. Brewer (M), 23.53; 3. Heisler (Peru), 23.62; 4. Bartolome (K), 23.74; 5. Sigler (W), 23.83; 6. Ramsey (K), 23.83; 7. Brent Woodruff (L), 24.37
3,200 run: 1. Sinnett (T), 9:55.84; 2. Tony Martin (E), 9:58.80; 3. Marley (W), 10:07.47; 4. Siblisk (Peru), 10:19.48; 5. Andrew Bedwell (Peru), 10:25.98; 6. Brandon Sheline (K), 10:43.46; 7. Minor (W), 10:45.53; 8. Mason McGovern (K), 10:47.73
Long jump: 1. Rayl (K), 20-8; 2. Roark (E), 20-0.5; 3. Tom Henning (W), 19-10; 4. Cox (M), 19-10; 5. Blayne Burkholder (W), 19-9.5; 6. Bartolome (K), 19-8.5; 7. Waltiman (T), 19-7.5; 8. Brad Morris (E), 19-4
Shot put: 1. Beach (Pio), 60-0.5; 2. McDorman (W), 48-0; 3. Brandon Parks (M), 47-4; 4. McDowell (M), 45-11.5; 5. Daniel Jenny (MG), 45-7; 6. Jonas Troyer (M), 45-2; 7. Patrick Lone (L), 44-1; 8. Evan Shilling (L), 43-1
Pole vault: 1. Imbierowicz (K), 15-0; 2. Burkholder (W), 14-6; 3. Bartolome (K), 12-6; 4. Kyle Gann (W), 12-6; 5. Ora Etchison (E), 11-6; 6. Matt Shaffer (Pio), 11-6; 7. Heath Kline (Peru), 11-0; 8. Matt Wilborn (T), 11-0
1,600 relay: 1. Kokomo (Holofchak, Perry, Wheeler, Pugh), 3:31.42; 2. Western (Speck, Rison, Irwin, Holsapple), 3:33.27; 3. Northwestern (Josh Gallaway, Ullmer, Sanders, Mervis), 3:34.92; 4. Logansport, 3:36.53; 5. Peru (Zimmerman, Warder, Heron, Morgan), 3:40.40; 6. Maconaquah (Duckwall, Holycross, Jenkins, Luke Little), 3:41.68; 7. Pioneer, 3:42.02; 8. Madison-Grant, 3:43.84