Published: May 10, 2008 11:07 pm            

Aff adds WIC track titles to athletic accomplishments

West Vigo’s Drew Aff is an excellent example of how a talented athlete shines in competition regardless of the sport.

On the advice of West Vigo baseball coach Steve DeGroote, Aff is running track this spring when he’s not playing baseball. The senior has been running for about three weeks and had about “20 minutes of practice on the starting blocks,” but he is already a Western Indiana Conference champion in two events.

Aff sprinted to victories in the 100 and 200-meter dashes in the rain-delayed WIC Track and Field Championships for boys on Saturday at Northview High School in Brazil.

“I’ve thought about [running track], but I haven’t been as serious about it until this year until coach [DeGroote] brought it up to me. I thought if he thought I should do it, it would probably benefit me,” Aff said.

Outside of the performances by Aff and Sullivan’s Gene Bradford, Edgewood athletes dominated the ninth annual WIC meet. Edgewood won its sixth straight championship with 181 points, while Northview slipped by South Vermillion in the final two events, 111-90, for second place. Brown County came in fourth with 70 points, followed by Sullivan with 68, West Vigo 61 and Owen Valley scored 27.

Aff easily won the 100 in 11.34 seconds and the 200 in 23.26 seconds. And the addition of Aff to the 400-meter relay meant the seed times were useless, as West Vigo went into the last handoff tied with eventual champion Edgewood.

“[Aff’s] a very talented young man. Obviously his ability in the sprints, winning the 100 and 200, something really unimaginable in the conference, but obviously did it without too much competition. He definitely makes a big difference with the relay. And the thing of it is, he’s only going to get better. I think next week [in the sectional] you’re going to see he’s running even better times. He’s just coming into his own as a pure runner,” West Vigo coach Bill Petscher said.

Sullivan’s Bradford set the only meet record of the day while defending his WIC titles in the 110-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

Bradford, a junior, won the high hurdles in 15.14 seconds, tying the mark set by Northview’s Logan Whitman in 2004. Bradford overcame a stumbling start to win the 300-hurdles in 41.22 seconds.

“I didn’t feel bad coming out [of the blocks in the 300 hurdles], but I hit probably the first four hurdles and that slowed me down a little bit. I’m just glad I had enough at the end to get my steps down,” Bradford said.

Sullivan also got a first place from high jumper Jacob Willis, who cleared 6 feet.

“I really would have liked to get 6-2 today, to get that under my belt for confidence going into the sectional,” Willis said.

Led by freshman James Craigmyle and sophomore Jon Walton, South Vermillion was in second place much of the meet. South Vermillion’s lack of depth led to a third-place finish.

“The kids have worked real hard all year. We’re a little thin in some places, but it’s a great bunch of kids,” South Vermillion coach Mike Costello said.

Walton won the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 5 1/4 inches on his final attempt. Walton scratched on his first two attempts, thinking about too many little things instead of jumping.

“So I just went for it. I ran as fast as I could [and jumped],” Walton said.

Only a freshman, Craigmyle trailed Edgewood’s Brent Ray much of the 400-meter sprint, but experience from a race at Terre Haute South told Craigmyle that the competition might come back to him on the straightaway and it did. Craigmyle won in 51.73 seconds.

“I really pushed with everything I had on the straightaway,” Craigmyle said.

Northview’s second place came after most of the teams had left because the shot put and pole vault were still competing.

Northview’s Mitch Haviland and Jordan Keller finished one-two respectively in the shot put. Haviland won with a throw of 44 feet, 7 1/2 inches and Keller took second at 44 feet.

Northview’s Jared Royer cleared 12 feet for third and Jordan Maurer topped 11 feet in the pole vault for 10 valuable points.



WIC Boys Track and Field Meet

Team scores — Edgewood 181, Northview 111, South Vermillion 90, Brown County 70, Sullivan 68, West Vigo 61, Owen Valley 27.

3,200 relay — 1. Edgewood 8:27.35 (Goss, Hover, Mest, Reinhold); 2. Northview 8:32.85 (Henke, Latta, Moore, Strain); 3. Brown County 9:04.71 (Allen, Jsh. Burton, Hendricks, Hofstetter); 4. South Vermillion 10:07.59 (Laswell, Peelman, Thompson, Webster); 5. West Vigo 10:32.68.

110 HH — 1. Bradford (Sul) 15.14; 2. Walker (BC) 16.15; 3. Brown (E) 16.50; 4. Walsh (SV) 16.80; 5. Whittington (N) 16.89; 6. Maurer (N) 16.93; 7. Willis (Sul) 17.42; 8. Cramer (WV) 19.18.

100 — 1. Aff (WV) 11.34; 2. Adams (E) 11.59; 3. Wise (E) 11.75; 4. Hughes (SV) 11.78; 5. Collins (WV) 12.10; 6. Crowder (N) 12.19; 7. Alsman (Sul) 12.26.

200 — 1. Aff (WV) 23.26; 2. Adams (E) 23.78; 3. Jackson (SV) 23.82; 4. Craigmyle (SV) 24.19; 5. Ray (E) 24.77; 6. Lisman (Sul) 24.88; 7. Mackey (WV) 25.00; 8. Wilson (OV) 26.52.

1.600 – 1. Hover (E) 4:34.25; 2. Latta (N) 4:35.71; 3. Strain (N) 4:47.57; 4. Webster (SV) 4:51.32; 5. Allen (BC) 4:52.84; 6. Dobson (BC) 4:53.73; 7. Loeper (E) 5:08.51; 8. Deal (WV) 5:18.76.

400 relay — 1. Edgewood 44.90 (Adams, Anderson, Pruett, Wise); 2. West Vigo 45.08 (Wycoff, Collins, Cramer, Aff); 3. South Vermillion 45.92 (Hughes, Jackson, Peelman, Walton); 4. Northview 46.37 (Boetjer, Crowder, Hakman, Whittington); 5. Sulllivan 48.68 (Alsman, Hiatt, Thompson, Willis).

400 — 1. James (SV) 51.73; 2. Ray (E) 51.97; 3. Laswell (SV) 53.07; 4. Arthur (E) 53.27; 5. Lisman (Sul) 53.73; 6. Moore (N) 53.74; 7. Jes. Burton (BC) 56.16; 8. Henke (N) 56.18.

300 H — 1. Bradford (Sul) 41.22; 2. Edwards (E) 41.79; 3. Walker (BC) 42.38; 4. Wycoff (WV) 43.44; 5. Brown (E) 43.53; 6. Peelman (SV) 44.19; 7. Whittington (N) 45.11; 8. Smithson (OV) 45.12.

800 — 1. Jsh. Burton (BC) 2:04.83; 2. Hover (E) 2:08.17; 3. Peelman (SV) 2:08.48; 4. Latta (N) 2:10.67; 5. Tryon (Sul) 2:11.31; 6. Kirby (N) 2:11.53; 7. Mest (E) 2:15.70; 8. Smith (Sul) 2:17.48.

3200 – 1. Dobson (BC) 10:17.27; 2. Strain (N) 10:23.74; 3. Goss (E) 10:37.01; 4. Reinhold (E) 10:5417; 5. Lutes (N) 11:00.63; 6. Webster (SV) 11:19.37; 7. Sanders (WV) 12:44.67; 8. Lichtsteiner (SV) 12:47.26.

1,600 – 1. Edgewood 3:37.25 (Arthur, Edwards, Ray, Wise); 2. Northview 3:45.24 (Henke, Maurer, Moore, Trackwell); 3. Brown County 3:47.95 (Jo. Burton, Jes. Burton, Allen, Gregory); 4. Sullivan 3:50.35 (Bradford, Hiatt, Lisman, Tryon); 5. West Vigo 3:51.15 (Austin, Dimetri, Wu, Wycoff); 5. South Vermillion 3:51.60 (Craigmyle, Hughes, Laswell, Scott).

SP — 1. Havilland (N) 44 ft., 7.5 in.; 2. Keller (N) 44-0; 3. Strader (OV) 43-2.25; 4. Heston (OV) 42-8.5; 5. Nero (Sul) 41-3.75; 6. Warner (OV) 41-1.75; 7. Wagner (E) 40-8.25; 8. Hedges (SV) 39-2.25.

Discus — 1. Breeden (E) 140 ft., 8.75 in.; 2. Bird (OV) 121-10.5; 3. Smith (BC) 120-4.75; 4. Warner (OV) 117-9.25; 5. Nero (Sul) 116-0.5; 6. Keller (N) 115-11.5; 7. Crooks (N) 115-4; 8. Ferguson (E) 114-5.75.

HJ — 1. Willis (Sul) 6 ft.; 2. Burns (E) 5-10; 3. Scott (SV), Walker (BC), Collins (WV) 5-8; 6. Good (E) 5-6; 7. Lynch (N) 5-4; 8. Rodgers (N) 5-2.

LJ — 1. Walton (SV) 19 ft., 5.25 in.; 2. Ray (E) 19-4; 3. Edwards (E) 19-2.75; 4. Peelman (SV) 18-9; 5. Lynch (N) 17-10.25; 6. Wilson (OV) 17-8.5; 7. Cramer (WV) 17-6; 8. Haymaker (BC) 16-11.

PV — 1. Sparks (E) 12 ft., 6 in. (ties meet record by Piatt, Northview, 2004); 2. Snyder (E) 12-0; 3. Royer (N) 12-0; 4. Bradford (Sul) 11-6; 5. Maurer (N) 11-0; 6. Brady (BC) 11-0; 7. Wycoff (WV) 9-6; 8. Stott (WV) 9-6.

        

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