Warren, Simanton, Simonson head to State Meet

The Whitewater Penguins track team tripled the amount of athletes heading to state that they had last year.

Senior Jeret Warren and freshmen Trey Simanton and Trace Simonson all placed in events at the Eastern C Divisional Track Meet held last Thursday in Glasgow.

Warren is the only returning state athlete for the boy’s squad. This will be his third year at the big dance.

He ran the 1600 meter run in last year’s state meet and placed eighth with a time of 4:42.87.

This year, not only did Warren qualify for state in the 1600, he qualified in the 800 as well.

In qualifying for the 1600, Warren displayed one of the most impressive burst of speed in his career.

Warren started the race amongst the top six runners and kept position for a majority of the race, a strategy that had a few on the sidelines wondering.

All season Warren’s typical strategy has been to kick it into another gear at the last 300 meter of the run, however in Glasgow against strong runners in the Eastern C, Warren knew he had to kick sooner.

“My plan was to kick at the 300 maybe 350’s as usual, but I was sitting in sixth and everyone started picking up, so I figured I might as well start my kick early,” Warren said. “So I kicked the last 500.”

He admitted that kicking that early did indeed feel a little different, but he knew he could push through.

He took third in the race with a time of 4:50.1.

Warren nearly won the 800, but lost by a hair to Nashua’s Line Nickels. Warren placed second with a time of 2:08, which is a new personal best. His previous best was 2:16.16, which he posted at the Cal Wearley Memorial in early April.

Warren ranks the track at Laurel as his second favorite behind Glasgow, which means his last two races could be the best he’s ever had.

“It’s probably my favorite track,” Warren said of Laurel. “It’s probably my second favorite because I like Glasgow’s track. It’s running surface is all weather, it‘s got a lot of good memories and I know pretty much every square inch of it. I’ve been running here for so long.”

Trey Simanton took sixth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 47.2. The time was a new best for Simanton.

Trace Simonson has been strong in javelin all year, but the competition looked fierce in warm-ups, with many throwers hitting marks around the 130 mark.

Simonson was in good spirits though the cold windy day wasn’t ideal.

“Knowing that you’re probably one of the best in the division, it makes you feel pretty good,” Simonson said.

Simonson was amongst the youngest in the competition, but he hit a mark of 134-05 on his first throw.

“It felt pretty good,” Simonson said about the throw. “I know I can do better because I’ve thrown further in practice. But to finally get one out there in a meet is pretty good.”

The throw would stand and Simonson would end up making it to state by placing sixth in the event. The throw was his personal best.