FORTVILLE — Bruce Kendall was hoping to get one or maybe two meets in for his boys track and field team before Mt. Vernon’s spring break kicked off for the next two weeks.
As luck would have it, the Marauders exceeded expectations with four in 10 days.
Kendall’s Marauders opened the 2020-21 season at Fishers on March 6, followed by a trip to Lawrence Central on March 10 before trekking to New Albany this past weekend to compete in the 2021 Hoosier Southern Relays on Saturday.
On Tuesday, the Marauders squeezed in one more meet at home against Warren Central, losing, 89-39, but with a predicted short-handed lineup.
“I really didn’t know what the weather would be, and I told some of the kids if they had (spring break) trips, they could go, so we came in short here today, but we just went with what we got,” Kendall said. “We didn’t have a season last year, so we wanted to make sure we could get in as much as we could.”
The Marauders’ dual netted five first-place finishes and a solid 1-2 run by senior Tyler Strantz and freshman Colin Strachman in the 3,200-meter run.
Strantz crossed the finish line in 10 minutes, 55.254 seconds for first place and Strachman came in at 11:05.572.
Strantz was coming off a personal best time of 10:40.75 during the Hoosier Southern Relays on Saturday when he placed 12th overall.
Mt. Vernon finished tied for second in the team standings in New Albany with North Central (Indianapolis) during the meet with 49 points behind Floyd Central’s 67. Lawrence Central was fourth with 46 points, according to Athletic.net.
“We’ve just been working really hard. We had a lot of meets. We didn’t think we’d get this many with the weather and stuff, but I’m glad we got this one in,” Strantz said. “It wasn’t too bad today. There wasn’t a lot of wind.”
The temperatures dropped into the 40s, but the Marauders overcame the elements to post seven second-place performances and four third-place finishes.
“Our distance hasn’t been quite as good as we wanted, so coming in today and finishing 1-2 that was really good. It was good to have another teammate out there with me most of the race,” Strantz said.
Without a season in 2019-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marauders are essentially starting over, sort of, and working with several new faces compared to their 2018-19 roster.
“We don’t know much about these kids yet because we didn’t have a season last year, and we’re missing some kids that just sort of disappeared after last year,” Kendall said. “I had to get in a mini season before (spring) break and then when we come back, we’ll find out what we got.”
Against Warren Central, the Marauders received key points in the two field events and three races.
Junior Keagan La Belle was the winner in the long jump at 20-00.50 on his second and third of four attempts. He posted a 20-02.25 in New Albany four days prior.
Senior Andrew Jones won the 400 for the Marauders in a time of 54.010 to stay ahead of two Warriors’ runners, who were clocked at 55.286 and 55.912, respectively.
The Marauders secure another win in the 300 hurdles from freshman Andres Langston, who outpaced the Warriors for first in 44.741.
Mt. Vernon won the pole vault competition with junior Caden Wildey’s height of 8-00.00.
The Marauders grabbed a third-place finish in the 100 from Wildey in a time of 11.638 seconds behind a 1-2 run by Warren Central in times of 11.196 and 11.436, respectively.
In the 110 hurdles, the Marauders came in second with Langston running a time of 17.332 seconds behind Warren Central’s winning time of 16.500.
Mt. Vernon’s 3,200 relay team of Colin Brown, Andrew Heffner, Joseph Blagrave and Reyce Morgan was second to Warren Central by a narrow margin 9:00.360 compared to 9:00.828.
Langston was also third in the high jump, clearing 5-10.00 inches on his sixth attempt.
Senior Matt Foor was second in the shot put with a distance of 43-06.00 on his third and best attempt in four tries.
Another runner-up placement went to junior Austin Rush of Mt. Vernon in the 1,600 behind a time of 4:53.838. Warren Central won the event in 4:51.013.
The 400 relay team of Wildey, Cameron Parsley, Jones and La Belle teamed to take second place in 45.235 behind Warren Central’s time of 44.506.
Mt. Vernon was fourth in the 800, and third in the 200. Parsley finished the 200 in a time of 24.337.
Sophomore Kyler Grill was fourth in both the shot put and discus with distances of 39-00.50 and 103-80.00, respectively.
“It’ll be good to kind of get a little bit of a rest from the meets, but we’re still going to be working hard throughout the break,” Strantz said. “We want to be ready for the meets in April and May.
“It’s really nice to have a season. Last season, I worked really hard throughout the winter and we had one race and then it was over,” Strantz added. “I worked really throughout last season, even though we didn’t have any meets and coming back this season, it’s really nice to compete.”
Mt. Vernon returns to action at home against Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Yorktown on Tuesday, April 6 with the Terre Haute Invitational to follow on Saturday, April 10.
