A few local athletes are in position to qualify for next week’s Boys Track State Finals, based on their performances in last week’s sectional.
Columbus East senior T.C. O’Neal is the top seed in the long jump and is tied for the top seed in the high jump going into tonight’s Warren Central Regional.
Columbus North has six No. 2 seeds. Brigham Kleinhenz is tied for second in the pole vault, while Mitchell Burton in the long jump, Coleman Tennyson in the shot put, Triston Perry in the 110-meter hurdles, Charlie Allen in the 3,200 and the Bull Dogs 4×100 relay team all are seeded second.
The top three in each event and anyone else meeting the state qualifying standard earn automatic berths in the June 2 state finals. If those combined numbers from the state’s eight regionals is less than 27 in an event, the next-best performances in that event until the number reaches 27 receive callbacks.
North’s Jaylen Flemmons in the 400 and the Bull Dogs’ 4×800 relay team are seeded fourth. Hunter Wolford in the shot, Perry in the 110 hurdles and Burton in the 100 all are fifth.
Also for the Bull Dogs, Cortez Bandy is seeded seventh in the long jump; while Logan Abbott in the discus, Sam Horak in the 1,600 and Elijah Brooks in the 3,200 are eighth. Bandy is 10th in the 200, Damon Hunter Jr. is 11th in the 100 and North is 12th in the 4×400 relay.
East’s Paul Bean is seeded fourth in the 1,600, and the Olympians are fifth in the 4×100 relay. Jared Clark in the discus and O’Neal in the 400 are seventh, Corde Yarbrough is tied for eighth in the high jump and Kolby Mitchell is ninth in the 100. Jared Clark and Zach Clark are 11th and 12th in the discus, East is 13th in the 4×800 relay and 14th in the 4×400 relay and Isaac VanCurren is 16th in the 800.
Hauser’s Pete Trotter is seeded 12th in the discus and 14th in the shot. South Decatur’s Brandon Malott is 13th in the 300 hurdles, and Nick Benge is tied for 22nd in the high jump.
Hauser senior has tryout
Evan Shaw might have a dilemma if the Hauser baseball team makes it to the semistate.
The senior third baseman has a tryout that weekend in Battle Creek, Michigan, with the North American Hockey League’s Shreveport (Louisiana) Mud Bugs. He said he likely would go to the tryout on June 9, return for the baseball game on June 10 and go back for the tryout on June 11.
Shaw already has made a Fishers-based North American Prospect Hockey League team consisting of players from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. He would join that squad if he doesn’t make the Mud Bugs team.
Shaw plans to take online college classes wherever he ends up. He also played soccer at Hauser and hockey with the Columbus Icemen.
“I’ve never really been able to give 110 percent to just hockey because of other sports I’ve always been involved in,” Shaw said. “They kind of all overlap with each other.”
North seniors commit
Three Columbus North senior athletes will participate in a college signing ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Friday in the school’s athletic conference room.
Matt Vorndran will play golf at IUPUI. Aubrey Smith is headed to Bellarmine to play tennis, and Hunter Wolfred will throw the shot for the Hanover track and field team.
East is grant recipient
USA Football has chosen the Columbus East football team as a grant recipient.
The grant will go toward the purchase of four tackle tubes, which are valued at $325 apiece.
North in Unified regional
The Columbus North Unified track team will compete in the Bedford North Lawrence Regional at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The top five teams from the 12-team field will advance to the June 3 state meet at Indiana University.
