WARSAW – The Warsaw boys track team has dominated the Northern Lakes Conference for the last several seasons.

Don’t expect that trend to change this season.

The loaded Tigers, who boast quality and quantity, opened league action in dominating fashion Thursday night.

On a finally mild spring evening, the hosts pounded Plymouth 116-16 and drilled NorthWood 113-19 in an NLC triangular at the Tigers Athletic Complex.

It was a mixture of familiar faces and some key newcomers that powered the Tigers.

Warsaw, which placed a program best fifth at the State Finals in 2013, has now won 22 straight conference meets.

“The NLC comes first and is always No. 1 for us,” said Warsaw coach Matt Thacker. “Do we have bigger aspirations? As a competitor, I think you always do. But, the NLC championship is always our No. 1 goal and will always be.

“The main thing tonight was that it was just nice to put on the uniform and see our guys compete. The thing is that we have talent. We have guys who want to be here and guys who want to win.

“It’s been a process for our program, but track matters to the guys on this team and it’s special to them. The seniors are the backbone of this team, but we have some new guys this season too who are a big part of this team.”

Just how good were the Tigers Thursday night?

Warsaw, which had not competed since beating Penn 88-43 back on April 1,  won all 16 varsity events in the dominating display.

Caleb Klusman led the way on the track for the hosts with a pair of wins. Klusman took top honors in both hurdles races, winning the 110 in 16.33 and taking the 300 in 42.95.

Senior stars like Tristan McClone, Gabe Furnivall, Seth Fouts and Stephen Kolbe showcased their skills for the Tigers.

McClone, the record-setting tailback for the Warsaw football team, won the 100 dash in 11.59 and also took second in the 200. Furnivall won the 400 in 51.33, while Fouts won the shot put with a throw of 55-3 and was second in the discus. Kolbe cleared 6-4 to win the high jump.

The Tigers also got wins from a pair of standout newcomers in senior Michael Miller and junior Rashaan Jackson. Speedster Miller, after a false start disqualified him in the 100, dominated the 200 in a top time of 22.68.  Miller played baseball last spring. Jackson went 19-7.5 to claim first in the long jump competition. Jackson is also a standout basketball player for the Tigers.

Senior distance star Ellis Coon cruised to a win in the 3,200. Coon, who was third at the cross country state finals last fall, missed almost his entire junior track season due to a foot injury. The Tulsa bound standout won the 3,200 Thursday in cruise control with a time of 10:50.36.

Warsaw also got wins from Nick Bergen in the 1,600 (4:56.02), Ismael Calderon in the 800 (2:05.64), Muhammed Fayed in the pole vault (11-0) and Andrew Scheidt in the discus (129-7).

The Tigers also won all three relay events. The 4 X 800 relay team of Bergen, Calderon, Tyler Houvener and Daniel Messenger won in 8:42.74. The foursome of Miller, McCone, Tanner Balazs and Storm Stapleton won the 4 X 100 in 43.71. The quartet of Landon Perry, Chad Goon, Stapleton and Riley Rhoades capped the dominating night by winning the 4 X 400 in 3:32.48.

“The thing is not just that we have the guys winning, but guys taking seconds and thirds for us too,” noted Thacker.

Dylan Campbell was second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 100 hurdles for the Tigers. Also placing second were Tyler Houvener in the 800, Jacob DeBoest in the 3,200, Caleb Ray in the long jump and Mike Miotto in the shot put.

The most absurd thing of all right now is that the Tigers are nowhere to be found in the state rankings.

You better believe that lack of respect is motivating a team that has all the pieces to make a lot of noise at the end of the season at the State Finals.

“I think we are very dominant where we are at in the state,” said Thacker, whose team won sectional and regional championships in 2013. “We just have to continue to push ourselves to get to where we want to be this season.”

Warsaw returns to action next Thursday for another NLC triangular at Elkhart Memorial versus the host Crimson Chargers and Goshen.