'He's just a stud.' With Watson out, Coker takes the spotlight for Penn boys track in NIC

ELKHART — Penn coach Chad Wetzel had a simple question for Elijah Coker before Thursday’s Northern Indiana Conference boys track and field championship meet.

“Do you want to be conference MVP?” Wetzel asked.

Coker immediately said "yes" — and then backed it up.

The Kingsmen senior was a four-time winner, helping Penn edge host Elkhart to win the team championship. Coker reigned individually in the 100- and- 200-meter dashes and the long jump, as well as running a leg of the winning 4X100-meter relay team.

High school polls: Where is Penn boys track ranked this week?

“Overall, I feel great,” Coker said of his performance. “My legs were a little bit tired by the end, but I was able to persevere and push through it. … Our team has an insane amount of depth. It’s never been this deep before. It’s so fun at practice. We have a whole bunch of speedsters.”

Coker has had a fantastic season so far for the Kingsmen. On any other team, he’d be winning three of four events each meet.

One problem — he runs alongside Kellen Watson, who’s even faster than Coker.

Coming into this week, Watson had one of the three fastest 100-meter dash times in the state. Watson usually also runs the 200 instead of Coker, while the two are both on the 4X1 relay team that’s also amongst the best in Indiana currently.

NIC girls track: Glenn's Goodsell, Washington's Swanson win three events: Penn takes team title.

An unfortunate injury in practice earlier in the week, though, left Watson on crutches for the NIC meet Thursday. While the junior wasn’t wearing a brace of any kind, Wetzel is still unsure if the star runner will be able to go for next week’s sectional.

“It’s pretty heartbreaking; I’ve lost a little bit of sleep over it and probably picked up a few more gray hairs in the beard,” Wetzel said of Watson’s injury. “It’s defeating not for me, but for the team and him. He’s such an awesome kid; he’s quiet, doesn’t say much and just takes care of business. We’re trying to stay as optimistic as possible that we’ll get him back.”

While not having Watson is a blow for Penn, it also opened up the door for Coker to take center stage on a cold, wet night in Elkhart.

“Our sprint group is very close-knit, and with Watson being out, Coker saw an opportunity to jump-in and win conference MVP,” Wetzel said. “He’s just a stud.”

With the regular season now over, Coker is looking to finish his high school career in style. As a junior, he finished third at state in the long jump while also competing in the 200-meter dash and 4X100-meter relay. Add the 100-meter dash to that list, and Coker will be a busy man these next three weeks before heading off to Indiana State University to compete in both football and track.

“My body has never felt this great before,” Coker said. “I feel like I’m just going to keep on feeling better, keep on stretching, performing and practicing hard every single day. … I definitely want to come home with some medals and hardware. But more importantly, I want to finish strong as a team; just help push my teammates through the rest of the season, and hopefully we all come home with some medals.”

2024 NIC Boys Track and Field Championships

Top three finishers in each event:

Final team standings: Penn 154.6, Elkhart 137, Saint Joseph 84.2, Riley 50.6, Adams 48, Bremen 42, Jimtown 28, New Prairie 25, Washington 22, Marian 21.6, John Glenn 11

100-merer dash: Elijah Coker, Penn, 10.81; Zachary Anderson, Elkhart, 10.91; Nathan Munson, Elkhart, 10.97

200-meter dash: Elijah Coker, Penn, 21.96; Kohen Turner, Penn, 22.39; Zachary Anderson, Elkhart, 22.43

400-meter dash: Bishop Williams, Jimtown, 50.61; Hudson Fox, Bremen, 51.22; Dylan DeDario, Penn, 51.78

800-meter run: Max Huckleberry, Elkhart, 2:01.97; Bol Agwick, Adams, 2:02.03; Jackson Ezzell, Elkhart, 2:03.01

1,600-meter run: Max Malloy, Elkhart, 4:18.36; Aaron Richter, Elkhart, 4:24.83; Isaac Howk, Adams, 4:25.54

3,200-meter run: Max Malloy, Elkhart, 9:27.84; Luke Kincaid, Bremen, 9:31.19; Brandon Mueller, Penn, 9:37.84

4X100-meter relay: Penn 42.29; Washington, 43.36; Saint Joseph, 43.87

4X400-meter relay: Penn, 3:27.67; Adams, 3:31.74; Saint Joseph, 3:34.63

4X800-meter relay: Elkhart, 8:05.08; Bremen, 8:09.50; Riley, 8:11.41

110-meter hurdles: Luke Kaufhold, Saint Joseph, 15.01; Austin Pflugner, Riley, 15.97; Thomas Galiher, Penn, 16.05

300-meter hurdles: Luke Kaufhold, Saint Joseph, 40.28; Tray’von Fleming, Riley, 41.23; Jaedon Parker, Penn, 41.38

High jump: Trinton Harris, Elkhart, 6-04 feet; Tayshon Bardo, Penn, 6-03 feet; Torrey Wilson, Washington, 6-01 feet

Long jump: Elijah Coker, Penn, 22-05 feet; Trinton Harris, Elkhart, 21-03.50 feet; Bill Imanene, Saint Joseph, 20-07.75 feet

Pole vault: Brady Farrell, Saint Joseph, 13-00 feet; Owen Black, Penn, 12-06 feet; Caleb McClaid, Bremen, 12-06 feet

Discus: Isaac Fronk, New Prairie, 162-01 feet; Trenton Bias, Elkhart, 155-09 feet; Evan Adams, Adams, 148-09 feet

Shot put: Isaac Fronk, New Prairie, 52-04.5 feet; Kaleb Johnson, Marian, 50-08 feet; Evan Adams, Adams, 48-07.5 feet

Note: names on the relay teams not listed because results given had incorrect names on them. We apologize for the inconvenience.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Elijah Coker takes spotlight for Penn boys track in NIC meet