Cloverdale's Moghadam vaults into state finals

Friday, May 29, 2015
Chris Moghadam

BLOOMINGTON -- A pole vaulter who barely snuck into regional after a fifth-place finish at sectional vaulted himself right into the state finals with his performance Thursday night.

Cloverdale senior Chris Moghadam found his inner springs for a leap of 13 feet, seven inches, nearly two feet higher than his sectional jump of 11 feet, 10 inches.

That performance was a bit of a disappointment for Moghadam, who had jumped 12 feet, six inches at both the Putnam County and WCC meets.

It was, however, good enough to meet the three-participant standard and advance to regional with a tie for the 12th seed.

Moghadam far exceeded his seed and his previous jumps, finishing behind defending state champion and state record holder Deakin Volz of Bloomington South.

Volz's leap of 17 feet bested the rest of the field by a cool three feet, five inches.

But none of should matter to Moghadam, who graduates from CHS on Saturday and then has one more bit of high school business before moving on to Indiana State University as a Presidential Scholar in the fall.

The ISHAA Boys' Track and Field State Finals is set for Friday, June 5 at Indiana University in Bloomington.

While Moghadam is the only Putnam County athlete advancing to state, he was joined by several teammates and county rivals at regional.

His second-place finish paced the Clovers to 13 points and a 12th-place finish in the meet. North Putnam and Greencastle finished as part of a five-way tie for 20th with four points.

Clover junior Evan Monnett was fifth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:01.92. Classmate Nick Blundell was 10th in the 800 in 2:06.98.

Hurdler Tyler Kaeff brought his impressive freshman season for the Clovers to a close by placing eighth in the 300 hurdles (42.34) and 10th in the 110 hurdles (16.69).

The Clover 4X400 relay team of Kaeff, R.T. Mann, Monnett and Blundell was 15th with a time of 3:41.66.

For the Cougars, senior Jensen Conlin led the way with a discus throw of 130 feet, 10 inches, good enough for fifth place.

The North Putnam 4X100 relay team of Brad Hodges, Jordan Bean, Kaleb Warner and Tucker Lowe was ninth in 45.84 seconds.

Sophomore high jumper J.T. Matthews set the standard for Greencastle, finishing sixth with a leap of six feet, one inch.

Senior Austin Mitchell finished eighth for the Tiger Cubs with a shot put of 46 feet, 11.75 inches. Fellow thrower Joe January concluded his sophomore season finishing 15th with a discus throw of 112 feet, nine inches.

The GHS 4X800 relay team of Jacob Lewis, Jacob Crawley, Braden Pershing and Preston Headley finished 13th in 8:56.43.

South Putnam had no top-eight finishes and therefore did not record a team score. However, sophomore Kieffer Vittetow was ninth in the 3,200 with a time of 10:12.23 and junior Joe Masters was 11th in the shot put with a distance of 45 feet, 10.75 inches.

South Putnam senior Berndt Freeman had qualified for regional in the 1,600 and was seeded sixth. However, he was not listed among the official results. The reason for the scratch was unclear as of press time.

At Bloomington North

IHSAA Boys' Track Regional

Putnam County Results

800: 5. Monnett (Cl) 2:01.92, 10. Blundell (Cl) 2:06.98

3,200: 9. Vittetow (SP) 10:12.23

110 Hurdles: 10. Kaeff (Cl) 16.69

300 Hurdles: 8. Kaeff (Cl) 42.34

4X100 Relay: 9. North Putnam (Hodges, Bean, Warner, Lowe) 45.84

4X400 Relay: 15. Cloverdale (Kaeff, Mann, Monnett, Blundell) 3:41.66

4X800 Relay: 13. Greencastle (Lewis, Crawley, Pershing, Headley) 8:56.43

High Jump: 6. Matthews (Gc) 6-1

Discus: 5. Conlin (NP) 130-10, 15. January (Gc) 112-9

Shot Put: 8. Mitchell (Gc) 46-11.75, 11. Masters (SP) 45-10.75

Pole Vault: 2. Moghadam (Cl) 13-7

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