Scots soar to boys track sectional repeat

By Richard Torres

May 16, 2008 12:23 am

— FORTVILLE — In track and field, there are individual wins, and there are team wins. Thursday night, as the Highland boys track and field team hoisted the Mount Vernon Sectional championship trophy, the celebration marked a decisive victory.
Winning the program’s second straight and sixth overall, the Scots scored 152 team points, advancing to the regional level in 18 events.
Behind the team’s renown depth, Highland claimed five first-place finishes while adding its third school record on the year, capturing the 400-meter relay in 44.07 seconds. Before the sectional meet, the Scots set new school standards with D.J. Taylor credited at the 3,200-meter run and the other in the high jump.
“This year’s been very good. Everybody is reaching their potential,” said Taylor, who won the 3,200 with a time of 10:14.86. “This feels real good.”
The feeling hasn’t altered much this year for the Scots, who concluded the regular season undefeated in dual-meet action at 6-0-1 overall.
Since tying Perry Meridian in the season opener, Highland has walked away victorious at all six invitational meets entered, and also won the Muncie Relays and Blackford Invitational for the first time in school history.
“I’m happy for these guys,” Highland coach Cary House said. “It’s nice to see these guys have some success, and put a fire under them because I’ve already heard these guys talking about next year. Success breeds success.”
Taking the gold with host Mount Vernon (114.5) and Pendleton Heights deadlocking for runner-up, the Scots’ margin grew as the night progressed.
Yorktown (63) finished fourth and advanced six regional qualifiers with the top-four place winners in each event moving on in the IHSAA State Series.
The Tigers’ lone winner came at the shot put behind a sectional-record distance of 52-feet, 7.5 inches. The previous mark was 52-00.5, set by Highland’s Bo Price in 2005.
Mount Vernon’s Tucker Field established the evening’s only other sectional record, winning the pole vault with a height of 14-06.0 for a repeat title run.
The Marauders won six events overall and added four third-place ribbons with two fourth-place finishes.
However, the defending Madison County champion Scots paced the field behind six runner-up winners, six third-place finishers and placing eighth or higher in all but two of the 16 events.
“It seems like everybody knows what they’re doing and what they want this year,” Taylor said. “Last year, it seemed like everybody was experimenting. This year, they have the skill down pat.”
As one of the night’s two double-event winners, Highland’s Jay Mohr gave the Scots a lift from the pits, winning the long jump (20-05) for a second straight year before aiding the 400-meter relay team’s (Maurice Hall, Trey Messer, Jamie Mallory) historic run.
“A lot of guys pulled through for us tonight. We got more first-places than I thought we would have,” House said.
Lawrence Cotton added a high jump victory with a height of 6-00.0 while Nathan Walters sprinted ahead to take the 110-meter hurdle title behind a run of 15.36.
Anderson’s Justin Fuller matched Mohr, winning both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes with times of 11.10 and 22.81, respectively.
Last year, Fuller placed third in the 100 and runner-up in the 200. The 200-meter win signified a season sweep for Fuller, who won county, conference, the Pendleton Heights Invitational and sectional.
“He wanted to win both and go out on top,” Anderson coach Bill Coggins said. “He wanted to show these guys that he knows how to run the 200 (meter). You could see in his face tonight, he was all business.”
The Arabians, who trailed Mount Vernon with 13 events scored, rallied to pull ahead for second after Nathan Hendershot nearly set a new standard in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.27 — just two seconds away from the record.
Evan Groninger earned the Arabians’ only other first-place ribbon, besting the field in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 40.22. Last year, Groninger was fifth in the event.
Walters was second in the event, improving from third-place in 2007.
Pendleton Heights pushed through in 14 events. Anderson advanced in five. Shenandoah moved on in five. Lapel and Frankton combined for five.
However, this night belonged to the Scots, whose closest margin of victory this season measured at 18 points versus Huntington North.
“Last year was a surprise to everybody, and we really pulled one out over Anderson. This year, I was pretty optimistic,” House said. “Tonight, I thought the only thing that could beat us were ourselves. We got it together. It’s nice to see.”

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