RISING TO CHALLENGE

Western’s boys track and field team edged 21-time defending Hoosier Conference champion West Lafayette on Tuesday night to win the conference’s meet on the Red Devil track. Western finished with a score of 127, while West Lafayette was second at 118.5.

The Panthers won three events and scored points in 14 events to take the conference crown. Western’s Josh Everetts won the 1,600 in 4:32.06, Tyler Gilbert won the discus with a heave of 172-0, and the 4x100 relay team of Josh Coleman, Alex Newman, Mica Beard and Zhe’Don Beard completed a lap in :44.88.

“We had a lot of guys step up,” Western coach Gary Jewell said. “For the most part, I don’t like having to run Josh in four events, but we knew we wouldn’t get this opportunity again to win this conference. He performed really well.”

Besides winning the 1,600, Everetts was third in the 3,200, second in the 800 and part of Western’s second-place 4x800 relay team with Nick Hackler, Elijah Woodring and Andrew Granfield.

“He really stepped up. He scored 26 points on his own including the relay,” Jewell said of Everetts. “We had Mica Beard ... got second in the 300 hurdles; he got third in the long jump; he was part of that 4x1. He picked up a bunch of points.

“We got performances across the board. That’s what you want out of a championship is you want guys to step up and do things. We scored in every event except high jump and high hurdles.”

Western’s team of Quaylen Calvin, Jordan Hicks, Woodring and Hackler were second in the 4x400 relay. Hackler was also second in the 400.

Tipton’s Jacob Juday was second in the 110 hurdles.