State-placings and school records were set in Bloomington Saturday.
Hancock County track and field athletes are hopeful they can return to the Indiana University campus in June for the same and better results, outdoors.
The university hosted the Hoosier State Relays, the indoor track and field state championships, Saturday, a precursor to the outdoor season that gets underway for most schools with dual meets in early April.
Greenfield-Central junior high jumper Elliot Ryba, an outdoor state-qualifier last year, had Hancock County’s best finish. He placed fifth in the high jump with a clearance of 6-feet, 5-inches. He was one-inch shy of his personal best.
The Cougars’ distance medley relay, a combination of runs of 1200, 400, 800 and 1600 meters, placed eighth.
The quartet of Chris Ross, Ian Jack, Carter Crouch, and Griffen Wheeler knocked 23 seconds off their previous school record with a time of 10:36.4.
New Palestine and Mt. Vernon each scored in the meet with school-record performances.
Sage Halter broke a 43-year old New Palestine record in the pole vault, clearing 14-feet, 3-inches to take seventh place.
The old record of 14-feet was first set in 1980 by Mark Gilpin and was tied in 1999 by Chad Clark, who is currently the Dragons’ pole vaulting coach.
Mt. Vernon’s 4×800-meter relay team of Tristan Trevino, Colin Strachman, Ahmed Saleh and Caden Cassada finished eighth with a school-record time of 8:10.44.
Greenfield-Central’s six team points were good enough for 23rd place. New Palestine and Mt. Vernon, with two points each, tied for 35th.
For the Cougars, Kirk Knecht placed 14th in the long jump with a leap of 20-feet, 4-inches. Reese Hill was 16th in the shot put with a distance of 47-feet, ¾ inches. The 4×800 relay team of Michael Runions, Luke Haffner, David Wasson and Peter Hummel placed 23rd with a time of 8:52.15.
Mt. Vernon’s Cam Parsley was 13th in the long jump at 20-6. Andres Langston finished 17th in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.72 seconds. The Marauders’ 4×400 relay team was 16th with a time of 3:33.57.
Brownsburg won the team event with 50 points. Carmel and Fishers tied for second with 49 points.
No county girls’ competitor scored points for their teams, but that didn’t mean there weren’t impressive performances.
Greenfield-Central’s Savannah Lake broke her own school record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.86 seconds. She placed 11th overall
Just missing out on a medal and top eight finish, Mt. Vernon pole vaulter Riley Nielsen placed ninth by clearing 11-feet.
Also in the 60 dash, Mt. Vernon’s Mya Eppert finished 23rd with a time of 8.03 seconds. Mt. Vernon’s 3200-meter relay team finished 18th with a time of 10:16.92.
Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central begin their outdoor seasons Tuesday, April 4. The Marauders will host a tri-meet with Greenwood and Roncalli. G-C will welcome Beech Grove and Southport. New Palestine begins its dual competitions on April 6 with a meet at Shelbyville that will also include Greenfield-Central.
Eastern Hancock was the first county school to go outdoors. The Royals had a meet on March 16 with Knightstown and Tri. They will be back in action Thursday, April 6 with a dual against Madison-Grant.
