Boys track & field: Three county runners make way for state

(LEFT) Hamilton Heights’ Stephen Case (left) placed fifth in the 800 run, but his time of 1:55.42 earned him a callback to the state meet. (RIGHT) Carmel’s Kole Mathison (left), Guerin Catholic’s Jack Weber (center) and Noblesville’s Caden Click (right) all qualified for state in the 1600 run. Mathison won the race, followed by Weber in third and Click in fourth; he earned a callback to state. (Kent Graham)

THE REPORTER

Considering how incredible the times were all across Indiana’s eight boys track and field regionals on Thursday, callbacks to the state meet were going to be hard to get.

But three Hamilton County runners were able to earn a spot at next week’s state finals, which take place June 2 at Indiana University. Callbacks are awarded in events when there are runners needed to fill a field of 27 in each event.

Noblesville’s Caden Click received a callback in the 1600 run, where he placed fourth at the Lafayette Jefferson regional in a 4:19.90. Carmel’s Drew Willman got the call in the 300 hurdles after a fourth-place time of 39.95 seconds. Hamilton Heights’ Steven Case also got a callback in the 800 run. His time of 1:55.42 placed him fifth in the regional – in fact, all three 800 callbacks came from Lafayette Jeff.

Seven of the 16 events had no callbacks, as all three of the open spots in each event were filled with state standard times. Some events had more than three – the 100 dash had 10 state-standard qualifiers in addition to the 24 that qualified by placing in the top three at their respective regional.

Boys Track Regional
Boys Track Regional
Boys Track Regional
Boys Track Regional
Boys Track Regional
Hamilton Southeastern’s Michael Griffith won the long jump Thursday at the Lafayette Jefferson boys track and field regional.

Reporter photos by Kent Graham