By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – The Hamilton Southeastern boys track and field team made it a sectional sweep on Thursday.
Sheridan’s Damon Winston won the high jump, clearing 6 feet, 6 inches. (Richie Hall)
The No. 1-ranked Royals dominated the sectional at Westfield’s Riverview Health Stadium, ringing up 168 points to claim their first sectional title since 2018 and fifth in program history. The Southeastern boys won their trophy one day after the HSE girls triumphed at the sectional at the Royals’ stadium.
“We did almost exactly what I thought we were going to do,” said Southeastern boys coach Garrett Lawton. “We had a couple guys with some performances that they weren’t quite where they wanted. But overall, very, very pleased with how everybody did.”
The Royals won six events on their way to the title. That included Mason Alexander’s sweep of the 100 (10.94 seconds) and 200 (22.36 seconds) dashes. Alexander also was part of Southeastern’s winning 4×100 relay team, which finished in 42.38 seconds. Silas Newton, Chandler Weston and Liam Boyd also ran on that squad.
Christian Ortiz paced the 400 dash (48.91 seconds), and served as the anchor of the 4×400 relay, which clocked in at 3 minutes, 17.52 seconds. Hunter Hoeft, Jaxson Wantz and Michael Griffith also were part of that relay. Over in the field, Josiah Bird won the discus with a top throw of 177 feet, 3 inches.
Lawton believes there could be more solid performances to come.
“I don’t think we’ve gotten everything out of them that they can give,” said Lawton.
Fishers placed second with 112.5 points, also winning six events. Tyler Tarter continued his domination of the hurdles, sweeping the 110 (14.03 seconds) and 300 (36.74 seconds) by solid margins.
Carmel’s Theo Thurmond prepares to launch the discus.
He finished fourth, but should receive a callback to the regional. (Richie Hall)
The Tigers opened the meet with a victory in the 4×800 relay, which finished in 7:51.82. Declan Mohr, Bryson Slagle, Parker Melling and Makell Wiggins were the runners on that team. Matthew Kim claimed the 800 run with a time of 1:52.84.
Fishers also got two filed event wins. Joel Gates was the shot put winner with a top throw of 55 feet, 3.75 inches, while JonAnthony Hall soared to a long jump win with a best leap of 23 feet, 3 inches.
Carmel scored 87 points to finish third. The Greyhounds got a 1-2 finish in the 3200 run from Tony Provenzano, the winner in 8:59.99, and Kyle Grove, the runner-up in 9:08.39. Provenzano also ran on the 4×800 relay team with Max Meisner, Cooper Szotek and Kiefer Jay; they finished fifth but their time of 7:53.51 was under the state standard, giving the Carmel team an automatic place at the Lafayette Jefferson regional next week.
Noblesville took fourth as a team with 86 points. Jack Strong was the winner of the 1600 run, running that event in 4:20.10.
Westfield scored 67.5 points to take fifth and, like the other county schools, had several other performances that finished in the top three, thus qualifying the regional at Lafayette Jeff. There’s also the possibility of callbacks to the regional as well, although the Shamrocks’ 4×800 relay team of Maxim Poirier, Caleb Haney, Jack Loiselle and Will Snedeker placed fourth in a state standard time of 7:53.22, so they get a spot at the regional automatically.
Hamilton Heights’ Peyton McQuinn won the pole vault with a best jump of 15 feet, 6 inches. Sheridan’s Damon Winston was the high jump winner, clearing 6 feet, 6 inches.