It had been five years since Hamilton Southeastern had won a boys track and field sectional.
By the closest of margins, the Royals finally broke that drought Thursday. Southeastern scored 147 points to win the Carmel sectional, edging out the defending champion Greyhounds by two points. Carmel scored 145, while Fishers was a strong third with 103 points.
Westfield placed fourth with 80 points. All four schools had several qualifiers for next week’s regional at Lafayette Jefferson, with many callbacks expected to be announced today. But on Thursday night for the Royals, it was all about the trophy.
Southeastern senior Madison Norris said the feeling was “really exhilarating, because I’ve never won a sectional championship ever in my four years of high school.” Not only is Norris part of the team championship, he also picked up an individual win the 110 hurdles and was part of HSE’s record-setting 4×100 relay.
Norris joined Jack Boyd, Noah Malone and Chase Maxey to win the 4×1 in 41.93 seconds. The Royals held off Fishers, which placed second, but ran under the old record. Jason Lassic, Henry Lewis II, Trenton Mabry and Benjamin Norton clocked in at 42.10 seconds.
The relay record was one of two records to fall at the sectional. Malone powered his way to a new record of 21.83 seconds in the 200 dash. Malone had already won the 100 dash, edging out Lewis by one-one hundredth of a seconds, 10.80 to 10.81.
As for other Royal first-place finishers: Gabe Fendel got back to his winning ways by taking first in the 1600 run, Nathan Smith won the 300 hurdles and Johnny May was first in the discus.
“This is the best performance I’ve ever seen everybody run,” said Norris. “Everybody performed really well and I can’t wait to see how they run in regionals and state.”
“This is peak season, and I think our guys are starting to peak at the right time,” said Southeastern coach John Albrecht. “Our coaches had a great conversation at the beginning of the track season about the talent that we have on this season, and we thought if we can progress that talent, and we’re willing to work hard enough, these guys show the heart, which they have, then we have a great chance to do some great things in the state tournament.”
Carmel showed strength in the distance events, with Trey Harris and Eli Konow going 1-2 in the 1600 run, and Ben Miller and Keelan Grant going 1-2 in the 3200 run. Spencer Gudgel was first in the 400 dash.
Fishers closed the meet with a big win in the 4×400 relay; the team of Nicholas Carrithers, Lewis, Disean Graham and Norton finished nearly four seconds ahead of second place. That relay took place just minutes after the shot put finished, and the Tigers’ Luke Martin was the winner there.
Westfield picked up two victories. The Shamrocks began the meet with Nicholas Leahy, David Mannella, Jacob Mears and Charles Miller taking first in the 4×800 relay. Peyton Haack finished first in the pole vault.
Team scores: Hamilton Southeastern 147, Carmel 145, Fishers 103, Westfield 80, Lebanon 48, Noblesville 34, Western Boone 24, Guerin Catholic 22, Hamilton Heights 18, Sheridan 3.
4×800 relay: 1. Westfield (Nicholas Leahy, David Mannella, Jacob Mears, Charles Miller) 8:01.61, 2. Carmel (Thomas Gastineau, Eli Konow, Colin Murphy, Jimmy Snyder) 8:01.91, 3. Fishers (Dylan Arive, Samuel Kuhn, Ethan Meyer, Jack Kinsel) 8:10.63, 4. Noblesville (Zach Freeman, Andrew Anderson, Jack Commeville, Bryce Gatewood) 8:10.75, 5. Guerin Catholic (Andrew Hall, Matthew Fletcher, Quinn Gallagher, J.P. Spoonmore) 8:29.23, 6. Southeastern (Alexis Gien, Brady Southern, Declan Golden, Jack Struss) 8:32.01, 7. Heights (Isiah Campbell, Mitchell Walbolt, Drew Tomaszewski, Luke Vanderwall) 88:52.79, 8. Lebanon 9:25.64.
100 dash: 1. Noah Malone (HSE) 10.80, 2. Henry Lewis II (F) 10.81, 3. Benjamin Norton (F) 11.06, 4. Adam Saleh (C) 11.18, 5. Donnovan Duffy (C) 11.22, 6. Gage Pratt (HSE) 11.47, 7. Ronald Jackson (GC) 11.48, 8. Adler (L) 11.54.
110 hurdles: 1. Madison Norris (HSE) 14.24, 2. Jakob Pearson (C) 14.71, 3. Nathan Smith (HS) 14.83, 4. Cooper Boehm (W) 14.91, 5. Brandon Teater (C) 15.01, 6. Belcher (L) 15.29, 7. Christian Broshears (HH) 15.61, 8. McLendon (WB) 15.70.
200 dash: 1. Malone (HSE) 21.83, new sectional record, 2. Isiah Baxter (C) 22.23, 3. Pratt (HSE) 22.90, 4. Alex Kukura (W) 23.08, 5. Adler (L) 23.11, 6. Sam Rogers (C) 23.42, 7. Owen McGraw (W) 23.72, 8. Bradley Albright (HH) 23.77.
1600 run: 1. Gabe Fendel (HSE) 4:24.32, 2. E. Meyer (F) 4:26.61, 3. Muse-Myers (L) 4:27.55, 4. Noah Douthit (W) 4:27.95, 5. Eric Carothers (HSE) 4:28.21, 6. Murphy (C) 4:28.51, 7. William Clark (F) 4:29.06, 8. Justin Amburgy (N) 4:29.09.
4×100 relay: 1. Southeastern (Jack Boyd, Norris, Malone, Chase Maxey) 41.93, new sectional record, 2. Fishers (Jason Lassic, Lewis, Trenton Mabry, Norton) 42.10, under old sectional record, 3. Carmel (Baxter, Rogers, Saleh, Duffy) 42.67, 4. Lebanon 44.00, 5. Westfield (Boehm, McGraw, Dorian Henson, Kukura) 44.32, 6. Heights (Albright, Broshears, Tad DeFoe, Nate Jozsa) 44.48, 7. Noblesville (Shawn Kinslow, Shomari Rogers-Walton, Mac Smith, Trenton Reeves) 44.74, 8. Guerin Catholic (Jordan Chang, Dylan Crossen, Cameron Murray, Max Horrigan) 45.01.
400 dash: 1. Spencer Gudgel (C) 49.37, 2. Miller (W) 50.77, 3. Chaz Birchfield (HSE) 51.26, 4. Devontez Cox (N) 51.46, 5. Hunter Kaiser (F) 51.81, 6. Bryce Gatewood (N) 51.97, 7. Jack Ledford (HSE) 52.33, 8. Gilliam (WB) 52.72.
300 hurdles: 1. Smith (HSE) 38.77, 2. Pearson (C) 38.95, 3. Billy Freudenthal (GC) 41.17, 4. Colton Parker (C) 41.17, 5. Calvin Grenda (W) 41.32, 6. Chang (GC) 41.33, 7. McLendon (WB) 41.67, 8. Nick Bostock (HSE) 42.27.
800 run: 1. Trey Harris (C) 1:56.64, 2. Konow (C) 1:57.92, 3. Leahy (W) 1:59.63, 4. Fendel (HSE) 2:00.15, 5. Andrew Smith (F) 2:00.32, 6. Ryan Pfanstiel (HSE) 2:00.46, 7. Muse-Myers (L) 2:00.52, 8. Arive (F) 2:02.97.
3200 run: 1. Ben Miller (C) 9:26.89, 2. Keelan Grant (C) 9:27.75, 3. Kuhn (F) 9:28.23, 4. Gallagher (GC) 9:40.11, 5. Alexander Meyer (F) 9:40.90, 6. Brady Jarosinski (HSE) 9:41.22, 7. Grant Wilson (HSE) 9:47.18, 8. Blake Hipkiss (N) 10:08.34.
4×400 relay: 1. Fishers (Nicholas Carrithers, Lewis, Disean Graham, Norton) 3:20.38, 2. Carmel (Baxter, Konow, Gudgel, Harris) 3:24.17, 3. Westfield (Mahamet Djour, Leahy, Max Gutwein, Miller) 3:26.01, 4. Southeastern (Birchfield, Bostock, Nick Bowman, Jackson Sweeney) 3:27.49, 5. Noblesville (Mitch Conard, Cox, Kinslow, Gatewood) 3:29.41, 6. Lebanon 3:38.09, 7. Western Boone 3:38.81, 8. Guerin Catholic (Chang, Billy Freudenthal, Hall, John Young) 3:39.42.
High jump: 1. Benson (WB) 6-7, 2. Drew Herman (N) 6-4, 3. Chris Grubbs (HSE) 6-4, 4. Herald (L) 6-2, 5. Roahrig (L) 6-2, 6. Nick Burnell (S) 6-1, 7. Peyton Forbes (F) 6-1, 8. Stuart Anker (C) 5-10.
Pole vault: 1. Peyton Haack (W) 14-8, 2. Huckstep (WB) 14-4, 3. Alex Audia (C) 14-4, 4. Leth Sundling (HSE) 14-0, 5. Logan Sandlin (C) 13-4, 6. Brandon McQuinn (HH) 13-0, 7. Jackson Dunn (F) 11-6, 8. Clark Collins (HSE) 11-0.
Long jump: 1. Roahrig (L) 22-5.25, 2. Anthony Campbell (F) 21-10.75, 3. Maxey (HSE) 21-10.25, 4. Boyd (HSE) 21-8, 5. Atticus Clouse (C) 21-1, 6. Rogers-Walton (N) 21-1, 7. Poole (L) 20-11.25, 8. Jaden Wills (N) 20-8.5.
Shot put: 1. Luke Martin (F) 53-0.5, 2. Vance Roudebush (C) 51-7.5, 3. Colin Caldwell (W) 50-8.75, 4. Hayden Tobias (F) 46-9.5, 5. Tyler Wiltermood (HH) 46-7, 6. Dylan Bannon (HH) 46-6.5, 7. Andrew Pazdernik (W) 46-5.75, 8. Dalton Davis (N) 46-4.
Discus: 1. Johnny May (HSE) 150-11, 2. Tobias (F) 144-5, 3. Graham Hatfield (C) 139-6, 4. Ben Rude (HSE) 133-6, 5. Jacob Netral (W) 132-10, 6. Caldwell (W) 131-5, 7. Marshall (L) 129-2, 8. Wyatt Puff (F) 128-0.
The Hamilton Southeastern boys track and field team won a close sectional at Carmel on Thursday. The Royals scored 147 points to win the team championship, edging out the Greyhounds by two points. (Photo provided)
Hamilton Southeastern’s Madison Norris won the 110 hurdles at the Carmel boys track and field sectional on Thursday. Norris was also part of the Royals’ record-setting 4×100 relay team. (Kent Graham)