GREENFIELD — All eyes were on Greenfield-Central’s Elliot Ryba.
A state runner-up in the high jump at the 2023 IHSAA Boys Track and Field State Finals — the highest finish from an underclassman — Ryba was the favorite to be the 2024 state champ.
“Junior (season) state, I didn’t expect to win,” Ryba said. “There was already a 7-foot high jumper at that point. I didn’t have that quite yet but getting second at that meet felt really good in the moment.
“Into (this) season — I got second, now I have to win. It really just pushed the goal of, ‘You need to win this one because you can’t get second twice.’”
Ryba cleared 6-feet, 8-inches in his runner-up year. He cleared 7-feet during his final regular season. With a jump of 6-feet, 10-inches at the state finals held at Indiana University in Bloomington he became a state champion, Greenfield-Central’s first track and field state champion since 1982. Jim Gluys won the discus 42 years ago with a distance of 168-feet, 4-inches.
Ryba is the Daily Reporter Hancock County Field Athlete of the Year for the second straight year.
“The experience from (my junior year) seeing what it feels like being one of the last couple jumpers in the state helped control my nerves going into the last state championship,” Ryba said.
Ryba handled all the pressure that goes with being the favorite and then going on to winning a state title, but the expectation of being a state champion, at least in the high jump, was far from a life-long dream.
Ryba was a distance runner up until the latter portion of his freshman season. He came on late just to fill a spot in the lineup.
At the time, newly-hired head coach Aaron Smith didn’t have anyone else to do it. Messing around at the high jump pit after a practice, Smith noticed Ryba was the best they had and he entered him in a junior varsity meet.
Ryba later placed fifth in the Hancock County Meet, but was unable to clear a height at the sectional.
In 2022, it all changed with one text message.
At the Greenfield-Central Sectional, Ryba — who had jumped 6-feet, 3-inches during the regular season — finished fifth. He was only able to clear 6-feet.
With the top four placers advancing to the regional he thought his season was over. His focus had turned on getting ready for the upcoming fall season for the cross country team.
Then, a couple days after the sectional meet, he got a text message — or callback — saying he was advancing to fill the remainder of the field for the regional meet.
“I was getting prepared for cross country season and had two weeks before training,”Ryba said. “I got a text that said I made it through and I had to get back to work.”
Ryba’s regional performance was phenomenal.
Back at home for the Greenfield-Central Regional, Ryba cleared 6-feet, 6-inches, three inches higher than his career-best. He placed second and earned a spot to the state finals.
At the regional, he had missed on his first attempts at 6-2 and 6-4 before clearing both heights. Hitting 6-6 was a little more dramatic, he made the height on his third and final attempt.
“[The callback] definitely impacted my career,” Ryba said. “That regional, the weather was much better than the sectional. Having the opportunity of nothing to lose — to just try to clear as high as I can — worked getting me to state. That experience my sophomore year really helped getting me toward that state-title competitiveness. I was more comfortable on the big stage.”
Ryba tied for 10th at the state meet with a height of 6-4, but he had come to the realization, with two seasons remaining, he had a chance to do something special.
“Once I made the regional and had that 6-6 jump that pushed me to state, for a lot of colleges, that’s a good mark for the lower D-I schools,” Ryba said. “Seeing I could get there as a sophomore really just pushed my goals to see how high I could go.”
With twice making it over the bar at 7-feet, he surpassed that ‘lower D-I’ level for schools and will be continuing his academic and athletic career in the Big 10 at Purdue University.
It’s definitely a combo of academics and athletics with Ryba. He was No. 3 in his graduating class and had a 4.415 grade-point average. He plans on studying Aerospace Engineering with the possibility of working for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) after graduation.
“It doesn’t seem real, not that I don’t think of Elliot as a state champion, but he’s just Elliot,” Smith said of his humble star. “It’s awesome for our program to see a normal guy go from where he started, had this development, and now can share that with other high jumpers.”
According to high jump coach Jordan Andis, you could probably have added assistant coach to Ryba’s resume’. The state champ worked with teammate Bradley Streveler all season to help the newcomer be the only freshman high jumper at this year’s state meet.
“I’ve seen him this year, especially with Bradley, be able to not only do it, but be able to teach it. I think (Elliot) is probably the biggest reason Bradley had the season he did because he had Elliot every day in practice,” Andis said. “(Elliot) has a natural ability, learned it, and now he knows enough to teach it, helping Bradley and (the girls’ team’s top jumper) Madison Sonsini.”
Smith added that with all that Ryba has done athletically for the school and the track and field program, he is most proud of how his star jumper has grown.
“He’s a great example as a person as well,” Smith said. “To me that’s more important. It’s awesome that he’s a state champion, but he’s developed as a person and has been a leader.
“What has made me most proud, honestly, he became a Christian this year and not only that, he’s been willing to share that everywhere he’s gone.”
After winning the state title in Bloomington on June 1, Ryba said it hadn’t quite sunk in on being a state champion. There’s still a little bit of that feeling over one month later.
“It’s an honor,” Ryba said. “It’s hard to think about. It still feels weird just saying, ‘I won the state meet.’”
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The Daily Reporter
2024 All-Hancock County
Boys Track and Field Team
Eastern Hancock: John Henry Gray, Hayden Jackson, Preston Markley, Brandon Metz, John Rodriguez-Lemasters, Aaron Redmon, Noah Wheeler
Greenfield-Central: Liam Brinkruff, Zachary Blevens, *Carter Crouch, Reese Hill, Austin Kincer, *Kirk Knecht, Vincent Kouao, Aaron Lee, Cash Looper, Braylon Mumaugh, *Chris Ross, *#Elliot Ryba, *Bradley Streveler, Jalen Stuckey, David Wasson
Mt. Vernon: Austin Baugh, *Caden Cassada, *Charlie Cole, Chris Edmonds, Nate Hauser, Wilson Hoeppner, Cooper Hunziker, Xaiden Jenson, *Tre Jones, *Andres Langston, Marcus Mellentine, Isaiah Njau, Lukas Quispe, Zaidyn Ramsey, *Sawyner Ruminer, *Ahmed Saleh, *Sebastian Sprague, Tyler Tharp, Noah Virt, Brady Webber, R’mani Wells, Davon Williams
New Palestine: Will Bardonner, Jake Cooper, Quinn Crawmer, Daniel Davis, Dylan Dragoo, Hayden Flanagan, JT Koch, David Pack, Desmond Palmer, Charlie Rigsbee, Gavin Smith, Colton Spears, Eli Wasson
*State qualifier
#State champion
Track Athlete of the Year: Andres Langston, Mt. Vernon
Field Athlete of the Year: Elliot Ryba, Greenfield-Central
Coach of the Year: Nick Clarkson, Mt. Vernon
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2024 Hancock County Spring Sports Honors
Sport;Athlete of the Year;Coach of the Year
Boys volleyball;Eli Martin, New Palestine
Girls track events;Bella Sotelo, Eastern Hancock;Mark Foster, Greenfield-Central
Girls field events;Ellie Meyer, Eastern Hancock
Boys track events;Andres Langston, Mt. Vernon; Nick Clarkson, Mt. Vernon
Boys field events;Elliot Ryba, Greenfield-Central
Girls tennis;Coming July 17
Boys golf;Coming July 20
Baseball;Coming July 24
Softball;Coming July 31
