The Bloomington South boys track team made some history this year — not an easy thing to do considering the talent head coach Larry Williams has had over the past 42 years.
But he has a special group of sprinters led by Gabe Taylor, Khaliq Akou and Simon Barnes, who all made it under the state standard in the 200 meter dash, and thus can all race that event in the postseason under the three-participant standard. Normally, schools can enter only two athletes per individual event.
That’s a first for the Panthers.
But Taylor is the school record holder in the 100 (10.75) and been as fast as 21.78 in the 200; Akou owns the mark in the 200 (21.62) and has been as fast as 10.96 in the 100; and Barnes has come on strong to join both of them in meeting the state standard (22.15) in the 200, and he’s also gone 10.96 in the 100. Combined, not surprisingly, they’ve lowered the school record in the 4×100 relay to 42.17.
The rules moving forward are the same for those three in the 200 as anyone else. They must finish in the top three or run under the state standard in the finals to automatically stay alive in the state series, but they can also be called up to fill in the last four spots at regional.
This also holds true for regional to state, where they must make the top three or hit the state standard.
There are four coming in seeded under 11 seconds in the 100 and six under 23 in the 200, the deepest and fastest the sectional has been in a long time in the sprints.
Elsewhere, Bloomington North is after a state title and that run starts with gobbling up several top seeds for sectional, with Caleb Winders (800), Caelan D’Onofrio (1,600), Shep Jackson (3,200), Alan Hays (110 and 300 hurdles), Adis Hamidovic (shot put, discus) and Evan Cheng (long jump). The Cougars are No. 1 in the 4×400 and 4×800 relays.
This will be Cheng’s first competition in weeks after an injury. Jacob Mitchell, a medal winner at state in the 3,200 last year, also managed to run a solid time in his first compete 2-mile race since being hit with severe illness early in the year. Liam Conlin, North’s No. 2 hurdler, is also questionable after his injury.
South’s Arthur Banks is the top pole vaulter, and Owen Valley’s Noah Hall is the top high jumper once again.
Boys sectional, what to know
The meet will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19, with field events. The 3,200 relay will run at 5:45 p.m., running trials at 6 p.m. (100, 200, 100 hurdles) and running finals at 6:45 p.m.
Participating schools are Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Edgewood, Eastern Greene, Lighthouse Christian, Owen Valley, Bloomfield, Brown County, Eminence, Linton, Martinsville, Shakamak and White River Valley.
The top three automatically advance, and those who meet the state standard in each event also advance to the Bloomington South Regional on May 26. The last four spots in each event will be filled with the four best remaining results (plus ties) from the sectionals at Bloomington, Columbus, Madison and Seymour.
BLOOMINGTON SOUTH BOYS TRACK SECTIONAL
Teams: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Edgewood, Eastern Greene, Lighthouse Christian, Owen Valley, Bloomfield, Brown County, Clay City, Cloverdale, Eminence, Linton, Martinsville, Shakamak, White River Valley.
Top seeds (state standard in parenthesis)
100 (10.97): 1. Gabe Taylor, BS 10.75; 2. William Hosey, Edg 10.95; 3. Josiah Powell, BN 10.96; Simon Barnes, BS 10.96; 5. Eric Shin, BN 11.07; 6. Zeus Calisanga, WRV 11.10.
200 (22.15): 1. Taylor, BS 21.78; 2. Khaliq Akou, BS 22.08; 3. Simon Barnes, BS 22.14; 4. Powell, BN 22.23; 5. Shin, BN 22.75; 6. Hosey, Edg 22.92.
400 (48.87): 1. James Bosco, BN 48.32; 2. Rayce Wolff, M 50.80; 3. Brody Arther, BN 51.22; 4. Aaron Hudson, EG 51.85; 5. Jayden Armstrong-Diggs, Clv 53.20; 6. Ezra Furr, BS 53.29.
800 (1:55.30): 1. Caleb Winders, BN 1:47.87; 2. Caelan D’Onofrio, BN 1:53.00; 3. Wolff, M 1:54.20; 4. James Rice, BS 1:59.87; 5. Kyler Pitkin, BS 2:02.39; 6. Caden Stewart, LCA 2:04.76..
1,600 (4:15.49): 1. D’Onofrio, BN 4:12.87; 2. Shep Jackson, BN 4:23.45; 3. Landon Lundy, WRV 4:29.81; 4. Matthew Zinkan, BS 4:33.36; 5. Luke Reinhart, BS 4:33.40; 6. Noah Gallagher, Edg 4:34.79.
3,200 (9:09.20): 1. Jackson, BN 9:23.33; 2. Monte Kester, Edg 9:38.26; 3. Jacob Mitchell, BN 9:49.77; 4. Eddie Webb, BC 9:58.24; 5. Isaiah Dilger, BS 10:00.56; 6. Lundy, WRV 10:08.36.
110 hurdles (14.62): 1. Alan Hays, BN 14.28; 2. Liam Conlin, BN 15.04; 3. Anthony Rush, M 16.16; 4. Hayoon Kim, BS 16.18; 5. August Wu, BS 16.84; 6. Daryl Dewey, CC 16.89.
300 hurdles (39.10): 1. Hays, BN 38.24; 2. Conlin, BN 39.71; 3. Kim, BS 43.59; 4. Wu, BS 43.70; 5. Rush, M 45.31; 6. Hayden Bolander, Edg 45.55.
4×100 relay (42.36): 1. Bloomington South 42.17; 2. Bloomington North 43.36; 3. Edgewood 44.58; 4. Owen Valley 45.30; 5. Martinsville 45.92; 6. White River Valley 46.50.
4×400 relay (3:21.72): 1. Bloomington North 3:22.83; 2. Bloomington South 3:32.38; 3. Edgewood 3:35.91; 4. Owen Valley 4:43,.31; 5. Brown County 3:43.68; 6. Martinsville 3:44.01.
4×800 relay (7:55.14): 1. Bloomington North 7:58.97; 2. Bloomington South 8:07.90; 3. Brown County 8:42.50; 4. Edgewood 8:44.04; 5. Eastern Greene 8:56.84; 6. Martinsville 9:06.45.
High jump (6-6): 1. Noah Hall, OV 6-10; 2. Trey Greenlee, WRV 6-6; 3. Landon Cazee, M 6-5; 4. Bo Busenburg, Blmf 6-0; 5. Colton Algood, BS 5-10; T6. Leo Miller, Shk 5-8; Bradley Wilson, M 5-8; Zane Powell, Edg 5-8.
Long jump (22-3): 1. Evan Cheng, BN 22-4; 2. Busenburg, Blmf 22-0; 3. Hall, OV 20-9½l 4. Liam Gregory, BS 20-8½; 5. Eddie Kreller, BS 20-6; 6. Artevion Henderson, Clv 20-5.
Pole vault (14-9): 1. Arthur Banks, BS 16-3; 2. Andrew Mathis, BS 12-6; 3. Harrison Tyler, Clv 12-0; T4. Carter Holladay, Shk 11-6; Josh Foster, Clv 11-6; T6. North Milner, BN 11-0; Ethan Janneck, M 11-0.
Shot put (56-3¼): 1. Adis Hamidovic, BN 57-8; 2. Quinn Walters, BN 54-2; 3. Noah Field, BS 53-9¾; 4. Maddox Beauchamp, Edg 49-2½; 5. Jaxon Young, BS 48-6; 6. Lincoln Getts, Edg 47-6½.
Discus (165-8): 1. Hamidovic, BN 189-8; 2. Walters, BN 163-3; 3. Young, BS 147-10; 4. Beauchamp, Edg 136-7; 5. Colby Gordon, Edg 135-8; 6. Tyler Franklin, L 129-8.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South boys have 3 for the show in sectional in the 200 dash