Schafer sets 400 record – Soehngen, Castillo shine for Fishers – Satterfield wins another close 1600 – Millers qualify six to state
By RICHIE HALL
LAFAYETTE – The only thing that could stop Carmel at Thursday’s Lafayette Jefferson boys track and field regional was the weather.
Lightning delayed the start of the meet for about an hour, but once it got going, so did the Greyhounds. Carmel won the regional championship with an impressive score of 115 points, nearly 50 points ahead of runner-up Brownsburg’s 66. It’s the first regional title for the ‘Hounds since 2017 and the 20th in program history.
Just as important, Carmel had 11 qualifiers for the IHSAA state meet, which is set for Friday, June 4 at Ben Davis. The Greyhounds won four events and had seven other qualifiers, with the possibility of a couple callbacks over the next day or two. The top three in each event advance to state.
“The kids ran really well,” said Carmel coach Ken Browner. “We had some really good times, couple of school record times.”
The first new school record came in the 4×100 relay. The Greyhounds team of Anthony Iskander, Thomas Maurer, Colton Parker and Owen Schafer finished that race in a winning time of 41.79 seconds.
A few minutes later, Schafer was back on the track for the 400 dash. The senior battled it out with Fishers junior Keefer Soehngen, and Schafer won in a new school and regional record time of 48.01 seconds. Soehngen’s second-place time of 48.12 seconds was under the old record of 48.14 seconds; that mark had stood for 21 years.
“I think I ran well,” said Schafer. “I had a plan going into it after I watched film last week. I actually didn’t win sectionals, credit to Keefer from Fishers. I watched the film over and I realized I needed to push harder in a certain section of a race. I did that and ended up with a good result.”
There is mutual respect between Schafer and Soehngen, both of whom will be big factors at the state meet in the open 400 and their respective relays as well.
“Owen Schafer from Carmel, he pushed me,” said Soehngen. “I think that it’s going to be a good race at state.”
The Greyhounds’ Kole Mathison cruised to victory in the 3200, winning by over 10 seconds. His teammate, senior Jacob Fisher placed second. Carmel finished the meet with a victory in the 4×400 relay, with Schafer, Andrew Willman, Maurer and Zachary Cox getting the win by nearly four seconds.
Carmel’s seniors shined at the meet. Cox qualified for state with second-place finishes in the 110 and 300 hurdles. Colton Parker, placed third in the 300 hurdles. Hudson Alden took a close second in the 1600 and was part of the second-place 4×800 relay team, with seniors Will Anderson and Hudson Alden, and the sophomore Mathison. Senior Seth Hutchison took second in the pole vault.
“Our seniors all year long have been our top dogs. They have led us from day one. They came out here today, set the tone right away. I can’t be more proud of this senior group. I’ve just never seen this many guys truly lead a group like this,” said Browner.
Hamilton Southeastern finished fifth as a team with 48 points. Nolan Satterfield won the 1600 run, yet another close victory for him. Satterfield won in 4:20.20, getting ahead of Alden by 0.36 seconds.
“I’m a fan of letting the race play out, other people letting it play out in the first two laps and then going with two laps to go,” said Satterfield. “And that last lap is where I feel my strongest, and that last 400 meters, I feel like I’ve had a lot of success in this post-season.”
The Royals had four qualifiers for state. Stephen Sydnor and Lamine Sall placed second and third in the long jump, giving Southeastern two qualifiers in that event. Bennett Dubois finished sixth in the 800 run with a time of 1:55.44, but will advance to state after finishing under the state standard time of 1:55.70. Anyone who equals or betters the standard automatically heads to state, whether they finish in the top three or not.
Fishers took sixth as a team with 45.5 points and had five qualifiers for state. The Tigers had two victories: Jaylen Castillo won that exceptionally fast 800 run in a time of 1:53.68. He and Sohengen were also part of the first-place 4×800 run, joining Will Clark and Jonathon Roth to finish in 7:46.33.
Soehngen and Castillo also joined Tyler Tarter and Grady Stanley to place second in the 4×400, also qualifying for state.
“I ran a good leg,” said Soehngen. “I think our team ran well. We can go faster.”
Soehngen also advanced in the 400 dash, while Caleb Gates placed second in the discus to qualify for state.
Noblesville had six qualifiers for the state meet. Mac Smith advanced in two events, taking third in the 100 and 200 dashes, then joining Brayden Colon, Christ Degni and Tanner Gibson to place third in the 4×100 relay. The Millers also had three distance runners place third in their respective events: Joel Mumaw in the 1600, Andrew Anderson in the 800 and Travis Hickner in the 3200.
Westfield’s 4×800 relay team placed third to advance to state. The team of Kai Connor, Jacob Beene, Colin Lakomek and Josh Springborn finished in 7:50.35, under the state standard.
“It feels great,” said Beene. “This is what we’ve worked for all season. Ever since December once we started training again, putting all the work in during those cold, snowy workouts. It’s great.”
Guerin Catholic scored four team points, with Tyler Backlund taking seventh in the 300 hurdles and the 4×800 relay team of Gavin Morrow, Thomas King, Dominic Stein and Nicholas Schramm placing seventh as well. University scored three team points; Steven Scott placed sixth in the long jump.
Team scores: Carmel 115, Brownsburg 66, Harrison 50.5, Plainfield 49, Hamilton Southeastern 48, Fishers 45.5, Zionsville 44, Noblesville 43, Avon 27, West Lafayette 23, Westfield 20, Mooresville 19, McCutcheon 16, Lafayette Jefferson 15, Danville 13, Twin Lakes 7, Cascade 5, Southmont 5, Guerin Catholic 4, Tri-West 3, University 3.
4×800 relay: 1. Fishers (Will Clark, Jonathon Roth, Keefer Soehgen, Jaylen Castillo) 7:46.33, 2. Carmel (Will Anderson, Hudson Alden, Kole Mathison, Bing Hudson) 7:47.01, 3. Westfield (Kai Connor, Jacob Beene, Colin Lakomek, Josh Springborn) 7:50.25, 7. Guerin Catholic (Gavin Morrow, Thomas King, Dominic Stein, Nicholas Schramm) 8:10.08, 8. Southeastern (Nolan Satterfield, Ian Ross, Andrew Knight, Cade Ogan) 8:12.18, 13. Noblesville (Ian Montarsi, Alex Hipkiss, Caden Click, Evan Campbell) 8:26.79.
110 hurdles: 2. Zachary Cox (C) 14.11, 9. James Philpott 16.30. Prelims – 10. Will Gerig (HSE) 15.72, 11. Tyler Backlund (GC) 15.79.
100 dash: 3. Mac Smith (N) 11.14, 4. Colton Parker (C) 11.17, 9. Thomas Maurer (C) 11.55. Prelims – 11. Jayden Bernavil (W) 11.53, 12. Malachai Corbett (F) 11.57.
1600 run: 1. Satterfield (HSE) 4:20.20, 2. Alden (C) 4:20.56, 3. Joel Mumaw (N) 4:20.83, 4. Charlie Schuman (C) 4:21.55, 5. Garrett Hicks (HSE) 4:22.02, 7. Asher Propst (N) 4:24.63, 11. Tate Meaux (F) 4:28.71.
4×100 relay: 1. Carmel (Anthony Iskander, Maurer, Parker, Owen Schafer) 41.79, 3. Noblesville (Smith, Brayden Colon, Christ Degni, Tanner Gibson) 42.75, 6. Southeastern (Jaylon Cooper, Xavier Dokes, Kobe Dade, Ethan Falconer) 43.33, 9. Hamilton Heights (Trey Ehman, Luke Knepper, Daniel Collier, Nate Jozsa) 43.69, 10. Westfield (Carson Voorhis, David Frey, Dylan Walker, Bernavil) 43.86.
400 dash: 1. Schafer (C), 48.01, new regional record, 2. Soehngen (F) 48.12, under old regional record, 5. Andrew Willman (C) 50.20, 11. Isaiah Smith (University) 51.65, 12. Sam Greenaway (N) 52.37.
300 hurdles: 2. Cox (C) 37.65, 3. Parker (C) 38.62, 4. Christiaan Huisden (W) 39.64, 7. Backlund (GC) 40.77, 12. Tyler Tarter (F) 41.80, 13. Gerig (HSE) 41.81.
800 run: 1. Castillo (F) 1:53.68, 3. Andrew Anderson (N) 1:54.32, 6. Bennett Dubois (HSE) 1:55.44, 7. Connor (W) 1:56.44, 9. Alec Foster (F) 1:59.73, 11. Shammah Dosunmu (C) 2:01.16, 12. Hudson (C) 2:01.66.
200 dash: 3. Smith (N) 22.15, 6. Greg Gottlieb (C) 22.67, 7. D. Frey (W) 22.88. Prelims – 12. Walker (W) 23.08, 13. Luke Moody (GC) 23.17, 15. Philpott (C) 23.37.
3200 run: 1. Mathison (C) 9:05.98, 2. Jacob Fisher (C) 9:16.95, 3. Travis Hickner (N) 9:18.91, 4. Cole Kimmel (N) 9:20.84, 7. Will Marquardt (HSE) 9:28.07, 8. Clark (F) 9:40.39, 9. Austin Callahan (GC) 9:53.44.
4×400 relay: 1. Carmel (Schafer, Willman, Maurer, Cox) 3:21.79, 2. Fishers (Tarter, Soehngen, Castillo, Grady Stanley) 3:25.74, 9. Westfield (Lakomek, Tyler Smith, Springborn, Joseph Harris) 3:31.00, 12. Noblesville (Greenaway, Anderson, Ben Kern, Matthew Conard) 3:34.09.
High jump: T8. Paul Kelley (F) 6-0, 10. Manraj Grewal (HSE) 6-0, 14. Greenaway (N) 5-10.
Pole vault: 2. Seth Hutchison (C) 14-4, 4. Xan Cluff (HSE) 14-0, 6. Lester Gonzalez (W) 13-0, 7. Jonathan Frey (W) 13-0, 9. Bayden Lutz (HH) 12-6, T11. Peyton McQuinn (HH) 12-0.
Long jump: 2. Stephen Sydnor (HSE) 22-2.5, 3. Lamine Sall (HSE) 21-2.25, 6. Steven Scott (U) 20-10, 9. Smith (N) 20-4.75, 10. Matthew Penley (W) 20-1.5, 11. Jaedon King (C) 19-10.25.
Shot put: 5. Brandon Gonzalez (HSE) 49-6.
Discus: 2. Caleb Gates (F) 154-1, 6. Nolan Ring (C) 144-1, 7. Jackson Constantine (HSE) 139-6, 8. Mark Herman (C) 138-4, 16. Teddy Miller (HSE) 100-8.