BLOOMINGTON — Brown County’s 4×800-meter relay quartet thought if each runner ran the way they were capable, the Eagles could come away with a high finish in the opening race of Saturday’s Boys Track and Field State Finals.
Brown County did just that. Senior Isaiah Keefauver, juniors Marino Dolph and Jackson McPheeters and senior Wyatt Wyman ran 7 minutes, 49.43 seconds to shatter the school record and finish sixth,
“We wanted to do something big here at state, and we each ran our hardest and did our job,” Wyman said. “Top nine was our goal. It was a blessing (to get sixth). I’m speechless.”
Keefauver opened with a 1:58.29 split. Dolph ran a 2:01.27, followed by McPheeters with a 1:56.06 and Wyman a 1:53.81.
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“That was a great race,” McPheeters said. “We set goals for ourselves, and we timed ourselves out beforehand, and that was about what we thought we could do. We ran really awesome, and I’m really proud of the team.”
Columbus North and Columbus East weren’t as fortunate. None of the six Bull Dogs competitors nor Olympian senior Zarrien Johnson-Bey were able to earn a spot on the medal stand with a top-nine finish.
Johnson-Bey tied for 28th in the high hump with a leap of 6 feet, 2 inches.
“I didn’t necessarily do as good as I wanted to, but I still had a pretty good season, and I’m happy I made it this far,” Johnson-Bey said. “It’s an amazing atmosphere, seeing a lot of people from all over Indiana. Being able to compete over here with the best of the best is pretty awesome, but there’s still work to be done.”
North senior Logan Abbott made the biggest jump of any local competitor. Seeded 26th in the discus, he improved by nearly 11 feet in the discus, throwing 155-3 to finish 15th.
Senior Damon Hunter Jr. finished 15th in the prelims of the 100 (11.14) and 18th in the prelims of the 200 (22.43). He was seeded 22nd in the 100 and 24th in the 200.
North senior Drew Thompson finished 23rd in the 800 (1:59.74). Wyman took 16th (1:57.04), and McPheeters was 26th (2:01.39).
“It was a fun race, and it was the first time I’d been to state, so I enjoyed the track and the atmosphere and everything,” Thompson said. “My time wasn’t what I had hoped, but it was still a good race, and it was good to run against guys like Wyatt and Jackson. Seeing all the best guys from the state, it was really cool to see all the talent.”
North junior Sam Horak finished 24th in the 1,600 (4:32.89). Freshman Preston Terrell did not clear the opening height of 6-2 in the high jump.
The Bull Dogs’ best chance for a medal entering the meet was senior Brigham Kleinhenz, who was tied for the No. 8 seed in the pole vault. But Kleinhenz missed his three allotted attempts at his opening height of 14-0.
“My first one, that was an above 15-foot clearance, but I was in front of it and came down on the bar,” Kleinhenz said. “I thought I’d be fine on my next one and just move the standards up, but I just couldn’t make it happen.”
Kleinhenz had been coming in at 13-0 and made 14-4 to win last week’s Franklin Regional, but after a good week of practice, North pole vault coach Dale Stelting thought he could go higher than his previous best of 14-9. With Kleinhenz sometimes getting tired at the higher heights, Stelting thought it might benefit him to come in later in the competition.
As it turned out, it would have taken 14-6 to medal anyway. Frankfort’s Colton Crum went a state-record 17-6 ¼ to win.
“I was like, if I clear (14-0), I clear it, but if not, then I guess it’s God’s will that I don’t clear it, and I have to be happy with and learn from why I wasn’t supposed to clear it,” Kleinhenz said. “I’ll learn from it and move on with my life and hopefully be a be person from it.”
