6 individuals, 2 relays moving on

Friday, May 22, 2009
Greencastle's Steven Miller (left) launches out of the starting blocks of the second heat of the 100 meter dash along with Jerrett Ban of North Putnam (middle-left) and Dayne Nelson (right) of South Putnam Thursday night at the Plainfield track sectional.

PLAINFIELD -- It all came down to this.

Track stars from Putnam County descended upon the newly built Plainfield High School athletic complex in hopes of continuing there season next week in Lafayette. And for many those hopes were crushed by the Avon and Brownsburg powerhouses, but for a select few that hope became a reality.

Six individual track stars and two relay teams advanced out of the Plainfield Sectional last night. Greencastle advanced four individuals in Ashton Marshall, Ben Wilson, Greg Lilly and Jordan Hickam and GHS Coach Mike Schimpf was pleased with the efforts his team put out.

"We knew we weren't going to take first so we scaled back so we could get as many people out as possible," Schimpf said. "This is the time of the year that is full of hope and disappointment. We're pleased that some of our athletes get to move on and disappointed that the other's seasons have come to an end and for some their careers."

Marshall finished fourth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 23.47, nudging out North Putnam's Jerrett Ban by two-hundredths of a second to advance to next week's regional at Lafayette Jefferson High School.

Wilson ran a personal best, 2:01.35, in the 800 meter run, placing second while Lilly finished fourth in the 300 meter hurdles finishing in 41.85.

Hickam exploded in the long jump, clearing 21-feet-2-inches, nearly a foot over his seed distance, for third place.

"Jordan Hickam did a great job in the long jump and he gets to go on to regional," Schimpf said. "He comes on late in the year and he is just now starting to bloom and I think he has a chance to get down to state."

Greencastle is also sending its 3,200 relay team to Lafayette next week. The team that consists of Cameron Cash, Ryan Gillespie, Kyle Harlan and Wilson finished third with a time of 8:26.69 and time that made Schimpf smile.

"They did a great job today," Schimpf said. "They shaved a few second off their time and advanced to the regional next week."

Even though the Tiger Cubs had some mishaps Thursday, like their hand off in the 400 relay, Schimpf was overall pleased with his team's performance.

"We bobbled that hand off in the 4X100 and that is the first time this year we have had a hand off that bad and Greg Lily hit three hurdles in the 110 meter race, but he still finished fifth," Schimpf said. "This is a tough sectional to compete in and these guys have competed and worked their tails off all season long and I'm happy that we were able to get some people out today."

South Putnam is sending only one person to Lafayette next week -- Adam Masters.

Masters finished fourth in the discus, throwing 146-feet-6 inches a personal best for him.

"Masters was the only one that made it out and he improved his throw nine plus feet over his conference throw and that was his best all year," SPHS Coach Carl Coons said. "You want to be throwing your best this time of the and that's what he did."

Even though Masters was the only one who Coons got out of the sectional, he wasn't displeased with his team's performance.

"For the most part everybody ran their seed times or better. So I'm not unhappy at all. These kids did the best they could and that's all you can ask of them," Coons added."

North Putnam will be sending Jerrett Ban and its 400 relay team to next week's regional. Ban qualified in the 100 meter dash, finishing second with a time of 11.36. The one event that Ban was expected to get out and even favored to win, the long jump competition, he scratched all three of his attempts.

Ban will be competing in another event as he is part of the 400 relay team along with Paul Enders, Kolten Everts and Jeremy Minor that finished second with a time of 44.23.

Overall Greencastle finished in sixth place with 41 points, while North Putnam finished eighth with 31 and South Putnam finished in 12th with nine points.

"This is a tough sectional to compete in and I think our conference was well represented today," Schimpf said. "Everybody from our conference that competed today scored points so that was a nice thing to see."

All who advanced out of the sectional Thursday will compete next Thursday at Lafayette Jefferson High School at 5 p.m.

For complete results, see the Saturday edition of the Banner Graphic.