North rules 'home turf' in boys track and field sectional

By Andy Amey
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE May 16, 2008 01:32 am

— “It’s fun when it’s done.”
Shakamak’s Anthony Witt was really only talking about his final event Thursday night, the third leg of his school’s 1,600-meter relay, and not the entire high school boys sectional track and field meet at Terre Haute North.
But a lot of the competitors and more than a few of the fans might have extrapolated his quote for a broader meaning concerning a meet run in a chilly drizzle, and its organizers and starters responded by zipping through the the events quickly and efficiently.
At least one of the competitors wasn’t ready to be done, however.
“This was my last meet on my home turf,” said Patriot senior sprinter Shaun Smith, “and I wanted to end it pretty good.”
Smith did exactly that, winning both the 100- and 200-meter dashes in impressive fashion — a state-qualifying time of 10.90 seconds in the 100 — and anchoring the Patriots’ 400-meter relay team.
“My goal was 10.8 today [in the 100] … but I feel real good about my time,” Smith said, referring the weather that’s plagued track and field the entire spring. “Whatever the weather, you’ve always got to adjust to it. I tell myself, ‘Everybody’s in the same conditions. Just go out and run your race and be strong.’ ”
Smith and Witt, who held off stiff challenges from Terre Haute South’s Andrew Sullivan in the 1,600 and from North’s Zach Mayhew in the 3,200, were the only individual double winners, but there were plenty of noteworthy performances.
“We had kids do things we did not expect,” said coach Chris Conner of North, whose team has an insurmountable lead over South with the pole vault still to come at 5 p.m. today. “Some of them almost jaw-dropping.”
“A lot of guys performed above and beyond what we considered,” echoed coach Eric Graves of South. “We had a great meet; I’m proud of all the guys.”
North’s big wins, in Conner’s mind, came from a first-year thrower and a sophomore jumper.
“Frank Toth won discus for the first time ever,” he said, “and despite the loss of [injured freshman] Daniel Gabbard, who had the best long jump [on the Tribune-Star Honor Roll], Scott Weatherford pulled through with a personal record.”
Also winning for North were Aaron Edwards in shot put and Zach Jenkins in high jump. Jenkins was also part of the winning 1,600 relay team for the Patriots, who swept all three of those races.
Shakamak dominated the distance wins, with Drew Gambill outsprinting Sullivan for first place in the 800; Sullivan’s Gene Bradford and South’s John Haley split the hurdles wins; and South Vermillion freshman James Craigmyle won the 400.
Sullivan, Mayhew and West Vigo’s Drew Aff were valiant in multiple runner-up finishes, but both Witt and Smith lived up to their star billings.
“I didn’t figure this would be a day you could run away with it,” said Witt, who had Sullivan on his shoulder in the 1,600 and Mayhew right there the entire distance of the 3,200. “I just tried to focus on my splits and not worry about who was behind me.”
“Anthony is obviously a great runner,” said Mayhew. “My plan was to stick with him as long as I could and hope to pull the upset at the end. I didn’t quite have it in the bank today.”
Mayhew’s dogged pursuit resulted in a personal best for him in the event, and Witt threatened the state standard even in the less-than-ideal conditions.
“I just tried to duck my head on the backstretch [while running into the wind],” Witt said. “You can’t always get [personal records] on a night like this, but you can get stronger … I tried to run tonight to get better.”
Then, after finishing those eight laps, he sprinted to the end of the track to join his relay team that was about ready to compete in the very next event. Thus the opening quote.
“Turning around [to run a second straight race] is not my favorite thing to do,” Witt admitted, “but I’ve had a great time with [Gambill, James Marlow and Jacob Stevenson].”
Smith has had a great time period, he said after his strong performance.
“Terre Haute North track has done a lot for me,” he said. “I couldn’t be more grateful to my coaches, Chris Conner and especially my sprint coach Ernest Holman.”

Boys sectional

(Pole vault is 5 p.m. today)
Team scores — Terre Haute North 163 (14 regional qualifiers, 3 relays), Terre Haute South 121.5 (9, 3), South Vermillion 67.5 (7, 1), Northview 62 (6, 1), Shakamak 58.5 (5), Sullivan 30.5 (3), West Vigo 25 (2, 1), Clay City 24 (0, 3), Linton 19 (1), North Central 11 (1), Riverton Parke 2.
100 — Shaun Smith (THN) 10.90, Drew Aff (WV) 11.47, Elias Brown (THS) 11.66, Mike Hughes (SV) 11.74, Lucas Strassler (THN) 11.74, Garry Payne (CC) 11.78, Dean Haseman (Sh) 11.82, Ryan Sutton (CC) 11.95.
200 — Smith (THN) 22.43, Aff (WV) 23.59, Brown (THS) 23.90, James Craigmyle (SV) 23.97, Chris Jackson (SV) 24.12, Lonnie Wiram (THS) 24.21, Strassler (THN) 24.98, Jaron Powell (L) 25.40.
400 — Craigmyle (SV) 52.11, Zach Jenkins (THN) 52.94, Dillon Hare (THN) 53.81, Logan Laswell (SV) 53.86, Dylan Bubeck (THS) 54.56, James Marlow (Sh) 55.10, Powell (L) 55.18, John Lisman (Su) 55.52.
800 — Drew Gambill (Sh) 2:00.56, Andrew Sullivan (THS) 2:03.61, Landry Moore (Nv) 2:04.38, John Davis (THN) 2:07.48, Milton Brinza (THN) 2:09.41, Caleb Peelman (SV) 2:10.85, Matt Collier (THS) 2:12.98, Robert Tryon (Su) 2:13.89.
1,600 — Anthony Witt (Sh) 4:25.45, Sullivan (THS) 4:28.74, Brandon Query (THN) 4:39.61, Ethan Jacob (NC) 4:40.42, John Latta (Nv) 4:40.47, Brinza (THN) 4:42.82, Ryan Lutes (Nv) 5:00.70, Clayton Harlan (THS) 5:01.03.
3,200 — Witt (Sh) 9:22.73, Zach Mayhew (THN) 9:25.52, Conor Strain (Nv) 10:09.68, John Mascari (THN) 10:16.96, Taylor Head (THS) 10:40.71, Lutes (Nv) 10:50.17, Morgan Goetschel (THS) 10:51.51, Brice Webster (SV) 11:03.79.
HH — John Haley (THS) 15.17, Gene Bradford (Su) 15.53, Dayne Hosier (THN) 16.37, Andy Walsh (SV) 16.38, Joel Whittington (Nv) 16.51, Kenny Payne (THS) 16.69, Orry Heffner (CC) 16.90, Jacob Willis (Su) 17.28.
IH — Bradford (Su) 41.42, Haley (THS) 41.63, Hosier (THN) 43.40, Whittington (Nv) 44.12, Cameron Coleman (L) 44.17, John Stevenson (Sh) 44.43, Deli Stinnett (THS) 44.55, Russell Peelman (SV) 44.57.
400 relay — Terre Haute North (Tim Swank, Ben King, Strassler, Smith) 44.66, West Vigo 45.81, Terre Haute South 46.09, Clay City 46.22, South Vermillion 46.89, Northview 47.13, Linton 47.61, North Central 49.48.
1,600 relay — Terre Haute North (Connor Lentz, King, Hare, Jenkins) 3:34.71, Terre Haute South 3:39.00, South Vermillion 3:41.42, Clay City 3:45.56, Sullivan 3:47.04, Shakamak 3:47.74, Northview 3:50.54, West Vigo 3:51.32, North Central 4:08.60.
3,200 relay — Terre Haute North (Brinza, Davus, Query, Mayhew) 8:22.82, Northview 8:31.98, Terre Haute South 8:41.07, Clay City 8:45.13, South Vermillion 9:07.26, Linton 10:24.95, North Central 11:25.45.
HJ — Jenkins (THN) 6-0, Adam Austin (THS) 6-0, Willis (Su) 5-10 and Jaret May (Sh) 5-10, Dion Scott (SV) and Chris Rose (THS) 5-8, Broc Hudson (THN) 5-8, Timothy Crabb (RP) 5-6.
LJ — Scott Weatherford (THN) 20-6, Marlow (Sh) 20-5Ľ, Jon Walton (SV) 19-5˝, R.Peelman (SV) 18-11, Nate Housley (THS) 18-4ľ, Evan Myers (THS) 18-1˝, Tim Swank (THN) 17-7, Logan Lynch (Nv) 17-4Ľ.
D — Frank Toth (THN) 121-1˝, Josh Bridwell (THS) 120-0, Stefan Sparks (L) 119-8, Jordan Keller (Nv) 118-8˝, Aaron Edwards (THN) 117-1, Devon Hall (CC) 115-4˝, Ross Crooks (Nv) 115-0, Adam Lehman (RP) 114-6.
SP — Edwards (THN) 50-5, Bridwell (THS) 47-6˝, Keller (Nv) 45-4, Mitch Haviland (Nv) 45-1˝, Terry Hill (Sh) 44-7, Ian Johnson (NC) 44-1, Toth (THN) 41-10, Sparks (L) 40-6˝.