By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – With spring sports schedules being adjusted as Indiana slowly climbs out of the COVID-19 pandemic, some schools are putting on some new events.
The Carmel track and field teams are among them, as the Greyhounds hosted the first-ever Carmel Distance Showcase Friday night. The showcase brought elite-level talent schools from all across the state.
Greyhounds boys track coach Ken Browner said the event was modeled after the annual Franklin Central Flashes Showcase, which features its “Miracle Mile” 1600 run as the centerpiece event. But at Carmel, the runners go for a 3200 run, and they produced some outstanding performances.
“I think the kids and the coaches really enjoyed tonight, and it was fun,” said Browner.
The highlight was the boys’ 3200, with feature three heats. The fast heat turned into a blistering showdown between Angola’s Izaiah Steury, the reigning cross country state champion, and Carmel’s Kole Mathison. Both runners set a fast pace during the run, then came streaking down the track side by side during the final 100 meters.
In the end, Steury edged out Mathison by 0.05 seconds. But what had everyone buzzing after the race were the times: Steury finished in 8:55.07, Mathison clocked in at 8:55.12. Another runner, Whiteland’s Will Jefferson, placed third in 8:56.15. Three runners, all under nine minutes.
Steury called it a “perfect day” to run and made the most of the opportunity.
“We wanted to run fast,” said Steury. He said that runners don’t have many opportunities to run one single event, so they “had to get out here and do what we were supposed to do. It turned out pretty good.”
“It was really cool, really special to race against such great competition here locally in my home track,” said Mathison, who broke nine minutes for the first time in the 3200. “It was really just a blessing to have guys like that that could push me to run a time like that, a PR.”
Browner noted that in addition to the three sub-nine minute runners who raced on Friday, there was another elite-level runner, Lucas Guerra of Highland, capable of being in the mix as well.
“Depending on what happens at the state meet and who runs what, it could be a very hot race,” said Browner.
In addition to Carmel, runners from Guerin Catholic, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville and Westfield were at the showcase. The Millers’ Cole Kimmel finished in seventh place to lead his school, with the Shamrocks’ Kai Connor taking 11th. Austin Callahan finished 13th for the Golden Eagles and the Royals’ Will Maquardt placed 17th.
The girls 3200 race was also fast. Park Tudor’s Sophia Kennedy won in 10:25.27, just ahead of runner-up Lily Cridge of Bishop Chatard, who clocked in at 10:26.50.
Carmel’s Annie Christie was the top county runner, placing third in a time of 10:33.26.
“I felt pretty good about the race,” said Christie. “I think my last 800 could have been a little bit stronger, but other than that I was pretty happy with it.”
The Greyhounds’ had two runners in the top 10, with Cara Naas placing seventh. Gnister Grant finished 25th for Noblesville and Sophie Porter took 34th for Westfield. Allison Wozniak took 54th for Guerin Catholic.
There was also a 4×800 relay race at the event. The Carmel girls team of Ellie Marsella, Mahalet Zeruesenay, Lily Rose and Abbey Grogan won that race in 9:47.37.
BOYS 3200 RUN
Race winner: Izaiah Steury (Angola) 8:55.07.
Hamilton County runners: 2. Kole Mathison (Carmel) 8:55.12, 7. Cole Kimmel (Noblesville) 9:17.60, 11. Kai Connor (Westfield) 9:20.91, 12. Charlie Schuman (C) 9:23.92, 13. Austin Callahan (Guerin Catholic) 9:24.11, 17. Will Marquardt (Hamilton Southeastern) 9:25.73, 18. Hudson Alden (C) 9:26.45, 19. Jacob Fisher (C) 9:26.85, 25. Jacob Beene (W) 9:37.97, 27. Nolan Satterfield (HSE) 9:39.83, 29. Bing Hudson (C) 9:40.70, 31. Kyler Koning (W) 9:44.17, 32. Gavin Morrow (GC) 9:48.19, 35. Asher Propst (N) 9:48.59, 36. Josh Barnett (W) 9:49.54, 39. Dominic Stein (GC) 9:51.13, 40. Tyler Smith (W) 9:51.35, 45. Charlie Leedke (C) 9:57.71, 47. Connor Mallon (C) 9:59.30, 48. Nate Seketa (C) 9:59.42, 50. KJ Sweeney (C) 10:00.03, 51. Justin Santiago (W) 10:00.72, 52. Ethan Hines (GC) 10:01.50, 53. Garrett Mowry (W) 10:02.80, 58. Evan Campbell (N) 10:08.94, 60. Luke Shinneman (N) 10:12.56, 62. Carter Lindfelt (C) 10:13.13, 65. Owen Urtel (C) 10:15.48, 66. Alex Cole (N) 10:17.78, 67. Max Woehler (W) 10:19.40, 71. Holden King (GC) 10:25.76, 72. Liam Oman (C) 10:30.42, 73. Ameya Belamkar (C) 10:35.40.
GIRLS 3200 RUN
Race winner: Sophia Kennedy (Park Tudor) 10:25.27.
Hamilton County runners: 3. Annie Christie (Carmel) 10:33.26, 6. Ellen Baker (C) 10:45.03, 15. Jasmine Klopstad (C) 11:10.73, 16. Alivia Romaniuk (C) 11:10.90, 21. Abby Parker (C) 11:19.07, 24. Jamie Klavon (C) 11:26.25, 25. Gnister Grant (Noblesville) 11:26.80, 29. Paige Hazelrigg (N) 11:30.58, 30. Nadia Perez (N) 11:30.74, 32. Liz Smith (Westfield) 11:33.36, 34. Sophie Porter (W) 11:34.23, 35. Summer Rempe (N) 11:37.66, 39. Mary Kate Sloan (W) 11:40.97, 45. Samantha Taylor (W) 11:49.59, 46. Kennedy Applegate (N) 11:54.82, 49. Margaret Barnett (W) 11:58.59, 50. Robyn Schemel (W) 11:59.03, 53. Brooke Lahee (N) 12:05.70, 54. Allison Wozniak (Guerin Catholic) 12:08.49, 58. Emersyn Weaver (C) 12:22.84, 62. Rosie Barrett (GC) 12:38.99.