After big sectional effort, area athletes headed to Evansville track regional

Friday, May 18, 2012
South Putnam's Ryan Chestnut won the shot put at Thursday's sectional meet with a toss of 53-3.

TERRE HAUTE -- Despite the utter domination by the duo of Terre Haute schools of the IHSAA Boys' Track and Field Sectional Meet at Terre Haute North Vigo on Thursday afternoon, Greencastle, Cloverdale, South Putnam and North Putnam managed to push a score of Putnam County student-athletes into next Thursday's regional meet in Evansville. North Vigo scored 148.5 points to win the sectional title on their home track, with South Vigo coming in a close second at 145. Next, four schools were separated by 10 points including Greencastle in third with 55 and Cloverdale in sixth with 45 points. South Putnam came in eighth scoring 27 points, followed by North Putnam in nineth with 25 points.

Greencastle led the Putnam County group with six events moving foward to the regional next Thursday in Evansville. Their first group to qualify came in the 4x800 relay as Elijah Brattin, Ryan Stevens, Taylor Secrest and Tyler Hudson placed fourth with a time of 8:37.95. The 4x100 Relay sprinted to third in one of the closest races of the day, sending Hayden Stuckwisch, Chad Keyt, Mac Shuee and Nate Haynes through. Hudson placed third in the 800 with a time of 1:59.69, and Stevens became the second double-entry for Greencastle, finishing fourth in the 3,200 at 10:07.45. Stuckwisch qualified in high jump, leaping 6-2 for second in the event, in the long jump, bounding 20-5.25.

Greencastle head coach Mike Schimpf was proud of his team, though thought they could have done even better than the six they advanced.

"It was a little warmer than we thought it would be this afternoon, but our guys did really well," he said following the last events. "We had a couple guys just miss qualifying."

Cloverdale qualified for regionals in five events, beginning with Wade Warren's 16.25 second time in the 110 hurdles. Alex Law missed a first place ribbon by just 0.08 seconds, finishing second in the 200 dash with a time of 23.66. Warren and Law, along with David Rexroat and Bret Brumfield, finished one spot behind Greencastle in the 4x100, edging Sullivan's group by only 0.05 seconds for the final transfer position. Joe Rumley was one of three first place Putnam County athletes, winning the 800 by nearly two full seconds at 1:56.41.

In the 4x400, Brumfield, Devon Nees, Jourdan Smith and Rumley combined for a 3:29.11 time, exactly eight full seconds faster than fourth place Sullivan.

Despite their success, Cloverdale's head coach Andrew Tyler thinks they have plenty to work on.

"At this point in the season it's just the little things we'd like to tweak," Tyler said. "Guys tightening up at the ends of races, that slows them down and costs us races."

South Putnam advanced just two athletes through to Evansville. The first came early on with Wes Riner dashing to an 11.69 time in the 100. The Cougars had to wait until the final event was tabulated to celebrate Ryan Chestnut's commanding 53 feet three-inch shot put throw.

"We had some really good performances tonight," South Putnam head coach Carl Coons said of his athletes, "they all worked hard, and it was a nice effort over all for us tonight.

"We have two guys going to the regional down in Evansville and a young team of just five seniors. This was a good opportunity for them to get their feet wet tonight."

North Putnam advanced a single athlete, picking up the vast majority of their points from positions 5-8, the four non-transfer spots. Sprinter Tyler Shorter, afflicted with a eye-ailment that scratched him from his strongest events, managed to overcome his lack of depth preception and win the 100 by 0.1 second.

Cougar skipper Tony Grey wasn't disappointed with his team's nineth place finish.

"We showed a lot of heart today," Grey remarked of his team. "We've been really bothered by injuries all week.

"(Tyler) Shorter had one of his eyes swell shut this morning so we had to scratch him from two of his best events, but he still went out there and won the 100-meter for us."

In all, the two Terre Haute schools won 10 events, doubling the amount of victories by the remaining eleven squads combined. The most dominant performance of the meet was THSV's Jackson Bertoli blowing by his competitors with a 3200 time of 9:26.07, 16.17 seconds faster than Tyeson Mundy's second place time. By one official's count, Bertoli added eight seconds to his lead on the second-to-last lap alone. Terre Haute Vigo North and South will each send massive contingents to Evansville next week.

"The odds were really stacked against us all here," Schimpf added. "The Terre Haute teams really had some great runners."

Full sectional agate will be in Saturday's editon of the Banner Graphic.

At Terre Haute North

Team Results

1. Terre Haute North Vigo 148.5, 2. Terre Haute South 145, 3. Greencastle 55, 4. Northview 49.5, 5. West Vigo (46), 6. Cloverdale 45, 7. Sullivan 34, 8. South Putnam 27, 9. North Putnam 25, 9. Riverton Parke 25, 11. Clay City 15, 12. South Vermillion 5, 13. North Central (Farmersburg) 3