It was a good night for several top-notch Bloomington track athletes to find some redemption.
Yeah, even on a chilly, rainy Saturday at Indiana University's Billy Hayes Track Complex that saw open umbrellas cover the stands for the entire IHSAA State Boys' Track and Field Finals. The weather tested the athletes and fans, moving long jump, high jump and pole vault to the Gladstein indoor facility a good, wet walk from the main stands.
The weather also tested the timing system for a short time, which in turn tested Jaidyn Johnson's patience.
The Bloomington North senior school record holder was anxious to prove he was the best 100 and 200-meter sprinter in Indiana and eventually, he got the chance, sweeping the events and helping lead the Cougars to their best finish ever at state, taking third with 40 points. The previous bests were fourth and 31 set last year.
Last year, Johnson was looking good until a hamstring issue limited him to the 100 (a 10.98 was good for only 17th) and the 400 relay (which set the school record at 41.69 to take third). It cropped up again at the conference meet, but healed well enough for him to turn it loose in the post season.
"It felt good," Johnson said. "I achieved a lot of my goals that I set for this season. And coming back from last year outdoors, there was a lot of redemption and a chip on my shoulder and I got it done.
"Minus the rain and the weather, I just had to stay calm and know that if I just stay relaxed, my feet will guide me to the line."
Chasing records was out of the question on such a damp day.
"I just had to turn my brain off and just win. I really wasn't worried about the time," Johnson said.
Timing, that was another thing. After running his opening heat of the 100, everyone looked up to find the clock hadn't started. The next heat waited until it was fixed, then it was decided Johnson's heat had to re-run. The gun went off, then another field judge stopped the race 40 meters out. The timing was out again.
The rain continued and the wait continued. Finally, it was decided Johnson and the runner-up could leave as they had already qualified, leaving the other seven to run another 100.
"I was so frustrated," Johnson said. "We were just sitting in the cold weather and the rain and it got my muscles so stiff. It definitely did affect me throughout the meet, how sore I was in the 200 final and the quick turnaround in the prelims. I'm just happy I got the job done."
Indeed, Johnson is the first to take both titles since Evansville Harrison's Noah McBride in 2017. He's the only Bloomington athlete to win the 100 and the only other to win the 200 was Cougar Thomas Brashear in 1997.
"That's special," North coach Justin Helmer said.
Winders adds to medal pile
Still just a sophom*ore, North's Caleb Winders upped his medal count to six.
For the second year in a row, he anchored the 3,200 relay to victory and it was a much easier carry this time around thanks to the efforts of his teammates, who gave him a nice cushion to sit on for two laps. North won by six seconds in 7:47.92, not quite the scorching meet record pace of last year, but Winders also had no one near him at the finish line this time after last year's race was won by a mere sixth-tenths of a second.
"Our goal all season was to win," Winders said. "We've been looking at that all season. Going into it, we have five guys who are really good and this has been a battle who gets a spot. It was awesome. We executed perfectly. It was a perfect race.
"Our goal was just to win and if it came with a record (like last year) then OK."
Caelan D'Onofrio's 1:55.35 leadoff got the Cougars out front, then Reed Pierce and Dominic D'Onofrio pushed the lead to five seconds and Winders was on his way.
"It was kind of what Kyle (Clark) did last year, put us in a great spot," Helmer said. "That four-by-eight is confident. They own that within themselves and they went out with the idea, let's go defend that championship and win again.
"It was hard to run really fast times in these conditions, but they competed well."
Winders went on to claim another runner-up finish for the third week in a row in the 800 to Martinsville senior Martin Barco, who had already won the 1,600 (4:06.34) with his usual dominating last lap. Winders took the lead with 300 to go but Barco caught him for a 1:50.97. Winders' 1:51.45 is a career best just a second off the school record.
"He ran a great race and gave himself a chance to win," Helmer said.
"I was a little disappointed not winning but it's fine," Winders said. "I'll get back to work and keep on improving and hopefully come back next year."
North finished the meet by earning eighth in the 1,600 by winning the second heat, as James Bosco, Pierce, Kellen Bishop and Winders went 3:22.20.
Bloomington North aimed high
The Cougars were looking to bring Bloomington its first state team title since the first meet was held in 1904.
Instead, it was Fishers that overperformed well enough to win its first title with 60 points to 54 for Hamilton Southeastern. Bloomington South tied for 21st with 11 points while earning three medals.
North needed a few more things to go its way, but just missed as Caelan D'Onofrio (4:19.87) and Jack Holden (4:20.31) rallied late in the 1,600 but took 10th and 11th. Amare Draughn had a career best 6-6 in high jump but was 10th on misses. Max Wynalda was 12th in the shot put (53-10½) and Jacob Mitchell was 15th in the 3,200 (9:24.61).
"Still the best finish, so we can be happy with that today," Helmer said. "We performed well, just HSE and Fishers were really good. If you look at what they had on paper coming in, they were way over that.
"We scored where we needed to score but then we had a lot of 10ths, 11ths and 12ths in some places where we were hoping maybe we could get some chunks of points, 3 or 4 and build off that."
South's Black, Rheam medal winners
Given everything they've gone through the past two years, like Johnson, South seniors D'Andre Black and Ryan Rheam had nothing but appreciation for the medals they took away from the meet.
For Black, it was the first time he was able to put together two great races at state that got him on the podium.
As a sophom*ore, .002 kept him out of the 110 finals while he took eighth in the 300s. Last year, he has little time to prep for the postseason while recovering from a torn ACL. So he could only run the 110s and turned that into a seventh-place finish.
This time, he was solid through the 110s to take sixth in the finals in 14.61, then in the 300s, he flew to a 39.07, just .07 off the school record, while winning the slow heat. The time would have won the second heat and was good enough to garner fifth.
"It means a lot," Black said. "Just coming out here in this weather and my mindset was, everybody's running in it, so I'm just going to run as best as I can. These are definitely the two medals that I'm the most proud of with all my injuries and stuff and just trying to fight back.
"I've been on the bad side of it this year."
The weather made things tricky.
"It was pretty rough," Black said. "The warm-up track (at Armstrong Stadium) was mud. And then just getting on the track and realizing there was going to be pools of water was going to be really tough. Over the first hurdle, I stepped in a big puddle of water."
The waiting made things a bit tricky for Rheam and partner Joe Zinkan. They had plenty of time on their hands before hitting the track for the 3,200. They arrived fashionably late after going for a warm-up run but remained anxious to get the last race of their high school careers started.
Rheam took the lead early but as the pace picked up, ending with an 8:51.40 by Carmel' Tony Provenzano, just .25 off the legendary Futsom Zeinasellassie's state record, Rheam found himself fighting to hang on to a medal spot and did so in a 9:06.35 that's one of his three best times ever. Zinkan was 16th (9:25.65).
"I was feeling really good," Rheam said. "And then, during (laps 5-6) I was getting passed and I feel it happens a lot in these big races where I'm getting passed and I feel like I have nothing and I have to spend the rest of the time coming back. But it's just mental."
After missing a big chunk of the last two regular seasons, he's just happy it all worked in the end again.
"This one means a lot," Rheam said. "Last year, I set such a high expectation for myself, so going into it, I was hoping for a little more. But when I sit back at what I've been through this season where I didn't think I should have been at this meet.
"The fact I was able to come back and get a medal and run a pretty good time, it means a lot. It's a great way to close out my high school career. It's been great running for Coach (Larry) Williams. He's done a great job adjusting to me and adjusting to what I need."
More close calls
South had its own near misses. Josh Tait bounced back with a 49.56 to move up to 12th in the 400 and anchored the 1,600 relay to a 3:22.84 from a first heat with just four teams to place 11th. Just a half-second faster and they would have medaled.
"If we had one more team right there to help pushed us through, we might have gotten there," Williams said. "But I'm as proud of them as if they had gotten seventh or eighth place.
"Last week was a bit of a disaster and they could have checked out. They didn't and came back and we put in a real hard workout. We decided maybe we went too easy the week before. They accepted that and came in and ran well today. It's going to be a tough senior group to lose. Even the guys who are alternates are seniors who ran 51.5 before."
An all under-class South 400 relay was 18th in 43.60.
"The future is really bright there," Williams said.
Field event shuffle
With only the throws held outside in the rain, the pole vaulters, and jumpers stayed dry and put up some strong marks but also can up just a bit short of earning medals.
Owen Valley sophom*ore Noah Hall cleared 6-6 to match his PR in high jump, but ended up 11th on misses.
South senior Alex Shaevitz, a first-year long jumper, saved his best for last, covering 21-5¾ for 15th. North sophom*ore Evan Cheng was 17th (21-0¼). North sophom*ore pole vaulter Will Steiner made it as high as 13-6 to tie for 18th.
Adams, Shute honored at Unified Meet
Bloomington South was fifth and Bloomington North 11th at the IHSAA's Unified State Meet. Elkhart won with 124 points while South had 88 and North 76.
The Panthers also saw Gavin Adams and Peyton Shute named the 2024 Bobby Cox Spirit of Unified Mental Attitude Award recipients. It's the second year in a row Bloomington athletes have been so honored.
Complete results are available at ihsaa.org.
IHSAA BOYS STATE TRACK AND FIELD MEET
Top 20 team scores: Fishers 60, Hamilton Southeastern 54, (3) Bloomington North 40, Franklin Central 26, Carmel 25, Brebeuf Jesuit 23, Center Grove 24, North Central 24, Martinsville 20, Penn 20, Avon 15.5, Eastside 15, F.W. Northrop 15, Crown Point 14.5, Greenwood 14, W.L. Harrison 14, Brownsburg 12, Floyd Central 12, Lawrence North 12, Homestead 11.5, (T21) Bloomington South 11, Bishop Chatard 11.
100 (10.31, 1981): 1. Jaidyn Johnson, Bloomington North, 10.52; 2. Marcus Townsend, Avon, 10.77; 3. Kellen Watson, Penn, 10.84; 4. William Riley, Greenwood, 10.88; 5. Mason Alexander, Hamilton Southeastern, 10.93; 6. Finley Huber, W.L. Harrison, 10.97. [12. Stephon Opoku, BlmNorth, 11.24].
200 (21.10, 1982): 1. Johnson, Bloomington North, 21.77; 2. Riley, Greenwood, 22.0; 3. Tayshaun Williams, LaPorte, 22.10; 4. Townsend, Avon, 22.15; 5. Huber, W.L. Harrison, 22-20; 6. Zane Catlin, Sullivan, 22.25. [27. Gabe Taylor, BlmSouth, 23.70].
400 (46.98, 2023): 1. Cainen Northington, Evansville North, 48.38; 2. Ivan Weaver, Franklin Central, 48.45; 3. Dehnm Holt, North Central, 48.68; 4. Tristan Powell, Lawrence North, 48.88; 5. Christian Ortiz, Hamilton Southeastern, 49.12; 6. Kervenson Clerger, Franklin Central, 49.13. [12. Josh Tait, BlmSouth, 49.56].
800 (1:49.25, 2011): 1. Martin Barco, Martinsville, 1:50.97; 2. Caleb Winders, Bloomington North, 1:51.45; 3. Joey Ashman, Franklin Central, 1:52.52; 4. Mason Schmitz, Hamilton Southeastern, 1:52.98; 5. Matthew Kim, Fishers, 1:53.36; 6. Charlie Newton, Lake Central, 1:54.91. [15. Rayce Wolff, Martinsville, 1:58.36].
1,600 (4:03.00, 2011): 1. Barco, Martinsville, 4:06.34; 2. Cameron Todd, Brebeuf Jesuit, 4:08.53; 3. Ethan Aidoo, Terre Haute South, 4:13.39; 4. Ian Baker, Brownsburg, 4:15.30; 5. Owen Jackson, Oak Hill, 4:16.23; 6. Kyle Montgomery, Center Grove, 4:16.65. [10. Caelan D'Onofrio, BlmNorth, 4:19.87; 11. Jack Holden, BlmNorth, 4:20.31].
3,200 (8:51.15, 2012): 1. Tony Provenzano, Carmel, 8:51.40; 2. Todd, Brebeuf Jesuit, 8:56.40; 3. Will Conway, Floyd Central, 8:56.71; 4. Kyle Grove, Carmel, 9:00.93; 5. Noah Bontrager, Westview, 9:01.69; 6. Shane Conroy, Portage, 9:02.69. 8. Ryan Rheam, BlmSouth, 9:06.35. [15. Jacob Mitchell, BlmNorth, 9:24.91; 16. Joe Zinkan, BlmSouth, 9:25.95].
110 hurdles (13.64, 1976): 1. Tyler Tarter, Fishers, 13.85; 2. Javion Westfiled, F.W. Northrop, 14.24; 3. Kieran Barnewell, Chesterton, 14.32; 4. James Finley, Andrean, 14.49; 5. Adom Quist, Carmel, 14.58; 6. D'Andre Black, Bloomington South, 14.61. [23. Alan Hays, BlmNorth, 15.39; 25. Ben Boland, BlmNorth, 15.67].
300 hurdles (36.26, 2007): 1. Tarter, Fishers, 37.25; 2. Andres Langston, Mt. Vernon (Fortville), 38.20; 3. Westfield, F.W. Northrop, 38.67; 4. Antonio Smith, North Central, 38.68; 5. Black, Bloomington South, 39.07; 6. Spencer Stout, Wabash, 39.14. [24. Noah Liell-Beyene, BlmSouth, 41.27].
High jump (7-4, 2018): 1. Elliot Ryba, Greenfield-Central, 6-10; 2. Tremayne Brown, Anderson, 6-9; 3. Jordan Randall, Warsaw, 6-8; 4. Jay Hmurovich, Brebeuf Jesuit, 6-7; 5. Caden Collins, Danville, 6-7; 6. Ayden Eckstein, Batesville, 6-6. [10. Amare Draughn, BlmNorth, 6-6; 11. Noah Hall, Owen Valley, 6-6].
Long jump (24-7¾, 1995): 1. Elijah co*ker, Penn, 23-3; 2. JonAnthony Hall, Fishers, 23-1; 3. Michael Griffith, Hamilton Southeastern, 22-7¼; 4. Isaiah Needam, Perry Meridian, 22-5½; 5. Lonte Ward, Indianapolis Lutheran, 22-2; 6. Benian Walls, Whiteland, 21-11¾. [15. Alex Shaevitz, BlmSouth, 21-5¾; 17. Evan Cheng, BlmNorth, 21-0¼].
Shot put (67-11¼, 2021): 1. Nylan Brown, Ben Davis, 63-1.5; 2. Dan Sebert, Eastside, 61-7; 3. Western Ott, Churubusco, 59-4.75; 4. Seamus Malaski, Crown Point, 58-2.5; 5. Aramis Mcnu*tt, Highland, 57-7.75; 6. Seth Brosseau, Roncalli, 57-5.75. [12. Max Wynalda, BlmNorth, 53-10½].
Discus (217-1, 1993): 1. Josiah Bird, Hamilton Southeastern, 182-9; 2. Joel Gates, Fishers, 180-3; 3. Dane Sebert, Eastside, 172-7; 4. Zack Frieden, Kankakee Valley, 171-6; 5. Seamus Malaski, Crown Point, 169-10; 6. Theo Thurmond, Carmel, 163-6.
Pole vault (17-6¼, 2018): 1. Peyton McQuinn, Hamilton Heights, 16-3; 2. Eli Griffin, Homestead, 15-9; 3. Landon Dobbs, Henryville, 15-6; 4. Connor Langsford, Hamilton Southeastern, 15-3; 5. Carter Pheifer, Center Grove, 15-3; 6. Caleb Farr, Tipton, 15-0. [T18. Will Steiner, BlmNorth, 13-6.]
400 relay (40.70, 2023): 1. Hamilton Southeastern, 41.79; 2. Center Grove, 42.35; 3. Fishers, 42.37; 4. Indianapolis Cathedral, 42.44; 5. W.L. Harrison) 42.45; 6. Brownsburg, 42.47. [18. Bloomington South (Taylor, Daniel Irouje, Simon Barnes, Khaliq Akou), 43.60.]
1,600 relay (3:13.66, 1980): 1. North Central, 3:16.88; 2. Bishop Chatard, 3:17.00; 3. Franklin Central, 3:17.45; 4. Center Grove, 3:17.70; 5. Hamilton Southeastern, 3:19.79; 6. Fishers, 3:20.34. 8. Bloomington North (James Bosco, Reed Pierce, Kellen Bishop, Winders), 3:22.20. [11. Bloomington South (John Sobiech, Teagan Bullock, Adrian Rheam, Tait), 3:22.84.]
3,200 relay (7:37.24, 2023): 1. Bloomington North (C. D'Onofrio, R.Pierce, Dominic D'Onofrio, Winders) 7:47.92; 2. Fishers, 7:53.92; 3. Elkhart, 7:54.38; 4. Zionsville, 7:54.81; 5. Wapahani, 7:55.41; 6. Noblesville, 7:55.68. [27. Bloomington South (Bullock, Hunter Tabor, Suoming Zhang, Garrett Pitkin), 8:19.78.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Senior trio finds redemption at wet IHSAA boys state track finals
