By RICHIE HALL
BLOOMINGTON – By literally a few millimeters, Hamilton Southeastern’s Noah Malone became a state champion on Friday.
The junior won the 200 dash by a margin of two-thousandths of a second – .002 – at the IHSAA boys track and field state championships at Indiana University. The 200 dash was easily the race of the night and among the highlights of Hamilton County athletes.
Malone helped the Royals to a fourth-place finish as a team, their best result since winning state in 2013. Meanwhile, Fishers also landed in the top 10 and claimed a state title in the 4×800 relay. Carmel, Westfield and Noblesville all had medalist performances as well.
Coming into the 200, Malone had already put together a nice list of accomplishments at state. He was the runner-up in the 100 dash and part of HSE’s fourth-place 4×100 relay, joining freshman Stephen Sydnor, sophomore Gage Pratt and junior Caleb Durden in that race.
Malone’s biggest competitor was his friend and fellow junior, Jahn Riley of Pike. Riley was working on his third medal of the night, already placing seventh in the 100 dash and winning the 400 dash. The two were side-by-side throughout the entire 200 dash, including right at the end.
It took a few seconds to figure out the winner, but it would be Malone. Both times flashed on the scoreboard as 21.31 seconds, which were rounded up from the precise times. Malone finished the race in 21.307 seconds, Riley finished in 21.309.
“I actually thought Jahn won,” said Malone. “I thought he won. But when the screen came up as a tie, it was just insane. Right now I’m just speechless, but it was a good day overall. It was a good day. And props to Jahn. He brought me to that time.”
Pratt also earned a medal in the 200 dash, finishing in ninth place. Senior Jacob Wiggers finished ninth in the 3200 run, giving the Royals a fifth medal. That was also enough for Southeastern to clinch a three-way tie for fourth place; the Royals joined Brownsburg and Cathedral in scoring 26 points.
“We’re real proud of the way our guys competed,” said Royals coach Brian Akialis. “Obviously very excited when we’ve got a guy like Noah first in the 200, second place in the 1 and then our 4×1 running their best time all year right when it matters most, finishing fourth today.”
The Tigers finished the meet with 23 points, placing them eighth as a team. Fishers began the running events with a win, as senior Ethan Meyer, senior Hunter Christy, junior Drew Smith and sophomore Jaylen Castillo finished first in the 4×800 relay. It marks the second year in a row that the Tigers have won a state event.
Meyer then took sixth in the 1600 run. Competing at state was a sneak preview for him, as he has committed to run cross country and track at IU next fall.
“It’s definitely changed my life,” said Meyer as he reflected on his high school career. “The experience I’ve had is something I’d never trade for anything else.”
Fishers also had solid days from its throwers. Junior Hayden Tobias took fifth in the shot put, while junior Wyatt Puff finished eighth in both the shot put and the discus.
Carmel finished in 16th place as a team with 16 points. Junior Logan Sandlin had the best finish of the Greyhounds by taking fourth in the pole vault. He also competed in the 300 hurdles, finishing 11th. Not bad for his first appearance at state
“It’s definitely different than a normal track meet,” said Sandlin. “There are a lot more people and it’s a lot more pressure. There are just a lot of different factors that aren’t the same as a normal track meet.”
Senior Jakob Pearson finished fifth in the 110 hurdles, while the 4×400 relay team of sophomore Owen Schafer, senior Drew Thornton, sophomore Colton Parker and junior Eli Konow took seventh. Parker was also eighth in the 300 hurdles.
Noblesville finished the meet with two ninth-place medals. Sophomore Andrew Anderson got his medal first after a top nine finish in the 800 run.
“It was a really fast start and a really tough race,” said Anderson. “I saw a couple people get tripped up right in front of me. I had a good showing, it was really fun and I got a lot of great guys here to support me.
The Millers’ 4×400 relay team of juniors Shomari Rogers-Walton, Shawn Kinslow and DeVontez Cox, and senior Mitchell Conard took ninth in that event.
Westfield earned an eighth-place finish in the 4×800 relay. That team consisted of junior Mahamat Djour, senior Max Gutwein, senior Noah Douthit and junior David Manella.
Guerin Catholic had two competitors at state. Senior Quinn Gallagher placed 11th in the 3200 run, while senior Billy Freudenthal was 14th in the 300 hurdles.
North Central edged out Pike by one point to win the team state championship. The Panthers scored 42 points to the Red Devils’ 41. Warren Central placed third with 27 points, giving the Metropolitan Conference a sweep of the top three teams.
The Hoosier Crossroads Conference also did well, with four teams in the top 10. Southeastern and Brownsburg were part of the tie for fourth place, Fishers finished eighth and HCC newcomer Franklin Central took ninth, with Mental Attitude Award winner Malachi Quarles scoring all 20 of the Flashes’ points on wins in the 110 and 300 hurdles.
Team scores (Top 10 and all county): 1. North Central 42, 2. Pike 41, 3. Warren Central 27, T4. Brownsburg 26; Hamilton Southeastern 26; Cathedral 26, 7. Portage 25, 8. Fishers 23, 9. Franklin Central 20, 10. Bloomington South 19, 16. Carmel 16, T62. Westfield 2; Noblesville 2.
4×800 relay: 1. Fishers (Ethan Meyer, Hunter Christy, Drew Smith, Jaylen Castillo) 7:47.16, 8. Westfield (Mahamat Djour, Max Gutwein, Noah Douthit, David Mannella) 7:58.93, 15. Carmel (Drew Thornton, Eli Konow, Robert Kinney, Thomas Gastineau) 8:03.41.
100 dash – Finals: 1. Jordan Hodge (WC) 10.60, 2. Noah Malone (HSE) 10.73.
110 hurdles – Finals: 1. Malachi Quarles (FC) 13.91, 5. Jakob Pearson (Car) 14.64. Preliminaries: 18. Cooper Boehm (W) 15.08.
200 dash – Finals: 1. Malone (HSE) 21.31, 9. Gage Pratt (HSE) 22.36. Preliminaries: 17. H.L. Lewis (F) 22.42.
1600 run: 1. Cole Hocker (Cat) 4:07.00, 6. Meyer (F) 4:14.58, 15. Eric Carothers (HSE) 4:21.81.
4×100 relay: 1. Warren Central 41.40, 4. Southeastern (Stephen Sydnor, Pratt, Caleb Durden, Malone) 41.92, 15. Westfield (Alex Kukura, Mario Chalmers, Mason Piening, Francis Agbo) 42.93.
400 dash: 1. Jahn Riley (Pike) 47.53, 13. Keefer Soehngen (F) 49.68, 27. Chris Stein (HSE) 52.33.
300 hurdles: 1. Quarles (FC) 38.10, 8. Colton Parker (Car) 39.16, 11. Logan Sandlin (Car) 39.58, 14. Billy Freudenthal (Guerin Catholic) 40.02, 16. Calvin Grenda (W) 40.06.
800 run: 1. Hocker (Cat) 1:51.48, 9. Andrew Anderson (N) 1:55.32, 27. Castillo (F) 2:04.40.
3200 run: 1. Jesse Hamlin (Fort Wayne Snider) 9:04.69, 9. Jacob Wiggers (HSE) 9:18.75, 11. Quinn Gallagher (GC) 9:21.97, 17. Pat Campbell (C) 9:35.51.
4×400 relay: 1. Fort Wayne South Side 3:17.19, 7. Carmel (Owen Schafer, Drew Thornton, Colton Parker, Eli Konow) 3:20.48, 9. Noblesville (Shomari Rogers-Walton, Shawn Kinslow, DeVontez Cox, Mitchell Conard) 3:20.94, 11. Fishers (Lewis, Meyer, Castillo, Soehngen) 3:21.29.
Discus: 1. Ethan Alyea (NC) 183-11, 8. Wyatt Puff (F) 157-10, 12. Hayden Tobias (F) 154-8, 23. Nolan Ring (Car) 128-2.
Shot put: 1. Jason Swarens (Terre Haute South) 60-2.5, 5. Tobias (F) 55-6, 8. Puff (F) 53-2, 23. Caleb Shaffer (C) 47-11.25.
Long jump: 1. Pierce Thomas (B) 23-11.5, 16. Rogers-Walton (N) 21-7.75.
High jump: 1. Logan Benson (Western Boone) 6-9.
Pole vault: 1. Nathan Stone (Lawrence North) 16-6, 4. Sandlin (Car) 14-9, T20. Xan Cluff (HSE) 13-6.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Noah Malone (left) won a photo finish in the 200 dash at the IHSAA boys track and field state finals Friday at Indiana University. Malone edged out Pike’s Jahn Riley (center) by two one-thousandths of a second to win the race. (Kent Graham)