Center Grove’s Austin Hennessy (151) tries to catch runners from North Central, Franklin Central and Bishop Chatard near the end of the 4x400 relay during Saturday’s state meet.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
BLOOMINGTON
Disappointed with the results of his first two events of the evening, Will Riley wasn’t about to leave Indiana University’s Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex still feeling that way.
So the Greenwood junior went out and grabbed the runner-up spot in the 200 meters. That followed a fourth in the 100 and a Woodmen disqualification in the 4×100 relay.
“Since I got third last year in the 100, it kind of downed me to run a worse time and get a worse place than last year,” Riley said. “But it fueled me for the 200 for sure. That drove me. I just wanted to try my best to win it.”
Riley’s 200 time of 22.00 seconds was slower than his regional effort of 21.69. But Saturday’s persistent rain led to slower times in the sprint races.
“It’s a lot colder on the muscles,” Riley said. “It’s hard to stay loose.”
Riley clocked the fastest preliminary time in the 100 with a 10.94. He ran 10.88 in the final. Bloomington North’s Jaidyn Johnson won both the 100 (10.52) and 200 (21.77).
Then in the 4×100 relay, the baton never got to Riley for the anchor leg after a botched second exchange.
“It happens,” Riley said. “We have a lot of returners going on to next year, so hopefully we’ll be back.”
Center Grove, on the other hand, had no such trouble in the 4×100. Running in the lane beside Greenwood in the middle of three heats, Ben Tapak, Daxon Sauer, Finn Sauer and Brady Dicken won that heat in 42.35. They then watched as only Hamilton Southeastern (41.79) beat their time.
Tapak, Brevin Holubar, Daxon Sauer and Austin Hennessy finished fourth in the 4×400 relay in 3:17.70, bringing the Trojans into a tie for sixth place in the team standings with 24 points.
“I’m very pleased with the kids’ resiliency in dealing with the elements and trying to keep a level head and just trusting themselves with their preparation to be able to deal with it,” Center Grove coach Brad Timmons said. “They didn’t waver in the face of adversity, and that’s a testament to how they were raised and how we try to keep them coached. All of them performed to their best, and I think all of them walked off the track feeling like they gave it their all.”
Two other Trojans wrapped up their high school careers with medals. Carter Pheifer finished fifth in the pole vault with a personal best of 15 feet, 3 inches. He had finished ninth as a sophomore but did not place last year.
“I really wanted to go place on the podium because I messed up my sophomore year and my junior year,” Pheifer said. “I had to get a high place this year. I was hoping to get 15-6, but I barely missed it on my second jump.”
The pole vault, high jump and long jump were moved indoors to Gladstein Fieldhouse because of the rain.
“I actually didn’t mind it that much since I’d been in there a few times for indoor state and practices,” Pheifer said. “I would have preferred to jump outside just because it’s a better atmosphere. But it was fun.”
Kyle Montgomery finished sixth in the 1,600 in 4:16.65. The Iowa-bound Montgomery was in 10th place after 1,200 meters before passing four runners on the final lap.
“My plan going in was to take out the first 200 pretty quick, get in good position and then just kind of sit there around 10th and then at the end, just kick it an and pass as many people as I could,” Montgomery said. “So I think I did pretty good with that plan because I had good position at the beginning, so then I didn’t really have to worry that much about making passes in the middle of the race. The last 300, I had a lot of energy left, so I just took off because it’s my last race of the season.”
Center Grove’s other point came on a ninth-place finish from Tapak in the 300 hurdles (39.24).
Also for the Trojans, Gavin Rockwell finished 13th in the 3,200 (9:19.99), Mason Vrshek took 14th in the 800 (1:58.11), Hennessy was 18th in the 400 (49.78) and Daxon Sauer came in 29th in the 100 (11.62). Center Grove finished 24th in the 4×800 relay (8:18.36).
The Trojans caught a bad break when Dallas Johnson, who had run the third-fastest qualifying time in the preliminaries of the 110 hurdles, injured his hamstring early in the finals race. He tried to finish, but was disqualified for pushing over the remaining hurdles.
“That’s gut-wrenching, and it makes me sick to my stomach because he’s been battling some injuries at the start of the season, and then he has a stress fracture in his fibula, so he’s been in a boot these last three weeks,” Timmons said. “We’ve been trying to nurse Dallas along, and he’d been getting better and better and just getting stronger out of the blocks and better at his technique and was feeling more and more confident and kept dropping time. We had a real good feeling coming into this meet, and then to see him suffer a hamstring pull is just gut-wrenching, knowing how hard he worked and how it was going to be a chance for him to leave this track season as an All-State athlete.”
Whiteland senior Benian Walls did not have the same trouble with his oft-injured hamstring. Wells, who had finished seventh in the regional but earned a callback to the state meet, placed sixth with a leap of 21-11 1/4.
“I’m definitely satisfied,” Walls said. “It was nice just having an improvement based off the injuries I have had. It’s a great way to end my senior year.”
Walls had strained the hamstring on his first jump at the state indoor meet.
“It was different (than jumping outside),” Walls said. “I feel like it was a loop because we were just inside earlier in the year, and we came back inside at the end of the year.”
Jackson Hartwell, who won the regional to become Edinburgh’s first boys track state qualifier in 64 years, finished 21st at 20-7 1/2. He was seeded sixth with his regional best of 22-6 1/4.
“I’ve never jumped at an indoor track before,” Hartwell said. “This is my first time, and I honestly didn’t do my best or really that good today, even though I jumped 20s. I feel like I tried my best. I just need to next year, practice more, stay more consistent on putting my work in so I can get more consistent jumps.”
Greenwood’s Jeremiah Carter finished 29th in the long jump at 19-9. The Woodmen were 25th in the 4×800 relay in 9:19.51.
Indian Creek’s lone state qualifier, Braxton Freeman, tied for 15th in the high jump at 6-4.
Franklin caught a tough break when J.D. Sever, who was in position to medal for a second straight year in the 300 hurdles, hit the next-to-last hurdle and finished 27th in 43.30. Sever, who earlier had finished 14th in the prelims of the 110 hurdles (14.93), was still able to end the night on a high note when he was named the winner of the Mental Attitude Award.
Sever, who also won multiple varsity letters in soccer and football for the Grizzly Cubs, plans to study engineering at Purdue.
Franklin’s Carson Sommers tied for 11th in the pole vault at 14-6, while Whiteland’s Hayden Luttman no-heighted. The Grizzly Cubs’ Alex Leugers tied for 17th in the prelims of the 100 (11.27).
“I was talking with the coach from Carmel, and I said you just hate it for kids that they’ve tapered their workouts, and they’re looking forward to having a fantastic state finals track meet, and you end up trying to compete like you’re racing in your own shower at your house,” Timmons said. “It’s just an awful situation for kids. You feel bad for everybody and for everybody that was here. You want to have a nice, sun-shiny night, no wind and get a chance to really show what you can do, and then rain and wind comes in, and it’s tough.”
