Six county athletes made the decision to extend their high school track and field career by a week.
On Saturday, the annual Midwest Meet of Champions returns to Hoosier soil as athletes from Indiana, Ohio and Michigan match talents at Indiana Wesleyan University.
The event made its debut in 1974 as a boys meet and continues to be the only scored interstate all-star meet of its kind in the United States. A girls meet was introduced in 1980, with Illinois (1977-94) and West Virginia (1997-2001) having previously taken part.
Indiana’s boys roster includes former Center Grove pole vaulter Conner Burries, the recent state runner-up, and his Trojans teammate Raef Sauer, along with Greenwood thrower Dylan Mayhew.
Burries, who twice established new school records during the postseason, made it over 16 feet by approximately half a foot at state. He’s confident he can clear 16-3, 16-6 or both, at Indiana Wesleyan against the best senior vaulters that the neighboring states have to offer.
“Going into it, I’m taking it as my last high school meet, and really trying to improve my PR,” said Burries, who will begin competing at Indiana State in the fall. “We’re putting together all of our top competitors in Indiana against the other states, so it will be fun.
“I think focusing on the competition beings out the best.”
Mayhew, fresh off an eighth-place performance at state in the shot put, plans to attend the University of Indianapolis — where Greenwood classmate and longtime best friend Brayden Gardner will be one of his teammates.
“My motivation is I get one more chance to break the school record and represent Greenwood one more time,” said Mayhew, whose shot put of 57 feet, 5 inches at state was two inches shy of Jayme Washel’s school record set in 1992.
“I’ll go to bat for that school until I can’t anymore.”
Sauer ran first leg of Center Grove’s 4×800 relay, which placed second at state with a school-record time of 7:42.91.
For the girls, former Center Grove athletes Kylie Crum and Bella Hodges will wear their state’s uniform on Saturday, as will former Whiteland state qualifier Drew Mallory.
Hodges, who placed eighth in the 800-meter run at the state meet in 2 minutes, 15.94 seconds, looks forward to joining her Indiana teammates. She has experience as an all-star after qualifying for the state meet in cross country as an individual in October.
“I did it during cross country, and it was so fun,” said Hodges, a Purdue Fort Wayne signee who was also part of the Trojans’ 22nd-place 4×400 relay at state. “You get to meet people from all over the state, and I think it’s really cool to compete against those other states.”
Crum and Mallory will be part of the shot put and discus competitions after securing medals in the state meet.
Crum placed sixth in the shot put with a best of 41 feet, 8¼ inches; Mallory finished seventh in the discus with a toss of 131-5.
