Men's Showing Does Not Disappoint

By: Brice Cleland


The girl’s HSR was a very exciting meet, but the men’s races certainly rivaled it on Saturday.  From the very beginning of the day with Shane Crawford to the very end of the day with the 4A-5A DMR, the meet was packed with great competition.

            In 1A-3A, the 55 dash was one of the highlights of the day.  Shane Crawford (Winamac) won in an amazing time of 6.26, besting his own record by about 0.15 seconds and running faster than Indiana’s own Mark Jelks.  Zawadi Holliday (FW Concordia) and Kanteh Kamada (South Bend St. Josephs) both turned in good times as well, with both running 6.65.  Ryan Masters was a close fourth in a time of 6.67.

            In the 55 hurdles, Cory Anderson (Oak Hill), Sam Stinson (Danville), and Thomas Anderson (Culver) formed a predictable top 3 in the race.  Randy Stafford (South Knox) also put in a good race, finishing 4th.

            Right on the heels of the 55 dash and 55 hurdles, another great race, this one 3200 meters long, was run.  Andrew Poore (Bishop Chatard) turned in a great and very smooth performance, running a 9:12.34, and crushing Carr’s old record of 9:18.  Curtis Carr (Brown County) turned in a great race as well 9:23.21, another great time for this early in the year.  Although distanced by the great top 2, Andy Weatherford (Greencastle) and Aaron Kremer (Bishop Chatard) both ran great races as well.

            In the 4x200, Gary Wirt barely edged Bishop Chatard by a mere 0.04 seconds in another great race.  Northwood and Bremen rounded out the top 4 in this race.

            In the 4x400, South Bend St. Josephs dominated the competition, running a 3:28.93 to win by about 4.5 seconds.  As promised the next places were greatly contested, with Beech Grove, Brebeuf Jesuit, and Evansville Reitz taking the next three places in a very close finish.

            In the boys 4x800, a possible exciting race between Andrean and South Knox was eliminated by South Knox’s DNF.  But, Andrean went on the win in 8:13.44, only about 0.3 seconds off the old record.  They were closely followed by a strong Evansville Reitz team, with Brebeuf Jesuit and Oak Hill about 20 seconds back from the top 2.

            In the DMR, Bishop Chatard (10:48.33), led by two of the top finishers in the 3200, took an easy win over Andrean.  Andrean barely edged Northwestern by 0.8 seconds and Greencastle took forth about 9 seconds behind them.

            In the shot put, Ben Stephen (Union County) won as expected with a good throw of 58-03.50.  Well behind, but still with a good performance was Chad Wertman (Southridge), Dustin Gilpatrick (Heritage Hills), and Craig Myers (Hanover Central).

            In the long jump, Kanteh Kamada (South Bend St. Josephs) won with a jump of 21-04.75 as expected.  Following him were Trae Childress (Forest Park), D.J. Harbit (Hamilton Heights), and Austin Roark (Eastern) all jumping over 20 feet.

            In the high jump, Tim Fletcher (Austin) was a surprise winner with a jump of 6-06.00.  Tied with him in height, but not in misses was Chase Clevenger (Yorktown), last year’s 5th place finisher at state.  Josh Parsons (Northeast Dubois) jumped 6-05.00 to finish third, and next 7 competitors all cleared 6-00.00.

            The pole vault was a good competition, with Derek Cullison (Danville) winning with an outstanding vault of 15-06.00.  Kyle Gann (Western) also had a good day, vaulting 14-00.00.  After these two, Jeremy Pratt (Rushville Consolidated) and Chris Ladd (Churubusco) both cleared 13-06.00, with Pratt placing third with fewer misses.

 

            The 4A-5A competitions were as exciting as or even more exciting than the small school competitions.  In the 55 dash, Devin Pipkin (Warren Central) ran a great race with a time of 6.39, just hundredths off of Jelks big school meet record.  Tra Wilson (Lawrence North) gave him a close racing, running a 6.42.  Following these two were Brad Ellington, Warren Central’s second placer, and Jeff Lane (New Albany).

            The 55 hurdles, Carl Buchanon (South Bend Clay) showed that other people in the state can run the hurdles, winning with a time of 7.46.  D’Juan Richardson (Warren Central) was a close second in 7.48, making for another great race.  Behind these two were two runners from Lawrence Central, Michael Roberts and DeJuan Mitchell.

            The 3200 for the big schools was another one of the highlights of the whole day, showcasing perhaps the deepest field of distance runners the state has ever seen.  Bobby Moldovan (FW Northrop) won off a late race surge in a great time of 9:16.63.  Henry Lee (Gary Roosevelt) was the big shocker in the race, closing hard to finish second in a time of 9:19.16.  Jake Rich (Carmel), Tito Medrano (Lafayette Jeff), and Adrien Dannemiller (Martinsville) rounded out the top 5 in a field with 15 runners under 9:50!

            Warren Central, Ben Davis, and Pike finished 1-3 in the 4x200 this year, with all three teams making it two straight years of good finishes in the race.  Warren Central’s winning time was a great 1:29.33.  Following the top 3 were Lawrence Central and Lawrence North in a close finish.

            In the 4x400, Warren Central dominated the field, winning by almost 3 seconds in a time of 3:21.95, a great time for an indoor race.  Lawrence North was second in 3:24.80, and Franklin Central’s team featuring some distance runners edged out Portage for third.

            The 4x800 was another one of the races that defined the meet.  Franklin Central’s tough team won in an amazing 7:58.50.  Warren Central ran 8:00.44 in a great race to the finish with Franklin Central.  Portage turned in a great performance as well, running an 8:01.04.  The race featured 9 teams under 8:17 this early in the year.  This year may yield one of the greatest state 4x800 races ever.

            In arguably the best race of the meet, Carmel’s Jake Rich held off a charging De’Sean Turner (Warren Central) to win a time of 10:29.25 over Warren’s 10:30.18.  Jake Rich’s amazing display of guts was very exciting, but Turner’s 4:15 mile to catch Carmel was perhaps an even more amazing feat.  Bobby Moldovan (Fort Wayne Northrop) got his team off to a great start and they held off Plainfield to place third in a tough field.

            In the shot put, Brandon Pounds (Lawrence North) pulled off an easy victory as expected.  Josh Wells (New Albany), Bob Belden (Decatur Central), and Bryan Hardester (Ben Davis) rounded out the top 4 of the competition.

            In the long jump, there was some great competition as Brandon Leap-Hall (Carmel) was a little bit of surprise winner with a jump of 22-11.50.  Following him was David Burroughs (Plymouth), a state qualifier last year.  Tra Wilson (Lawrence North) and Malcolm Pennix (South Bend) finished out the top 4, and the field had 6 jumpers over 22 feet.

            In the high jump, Tyrone McKinney (FW Northrop) won with a jump of 6-06.00.  Last year’s 10th place jumper at state, Derrick Spight (Warren Central) was close behind in a jump of 6-04.00.  The next 10 jumpers were all over 6 feet, in an incredibly strong field.

            In the pole vault, Kevin Schipper (FW Bishop) and Corey Shank (FW Northrop) both beat Hunter Hall (Homstead) with Schipper and Shank vaulting 16-03.00.  Hunter Hall vaulted 16-00.00 in a great three way competition.  These three vaulters will likely be the top three at state again this year.