Columbus East’s Jacob Guse throws the shot during a meet against Columbus North April 21 at Columbus East High School. Guse is seeded first in the shot put for tonight’s Hoosier Hills Conference meet.
The Republic file photo
When Columbus East hosts the Hoosier Hills Conference boys track and field meet tonight, there’s a strong possiblity that most of the Olympians points will come from the field events.
Based on heights and distances from this season, the Olympians are seeded either first or second in all five field events. They hope that will propel them to a high finish.
The Olympians’ Jacob Guse is seeded first in the shot put and second in the discus. Anthony Lloyd is second in both the high jump and long jump, and Gavin Edgecomb is tied for second in the pole vault.
“We’re hoping to get some points out of there,” East coach Jerone Wood said.
Other than that, big points might be hard to come by for East. The Olympians’ only other top-four seeds are their 4×100-meter relay, which is seeded third, and Rocco Duffy, who is fourth in the 200.
East’s top sprinter, Ethan Duncan, is out with a hamstring injury. Another sprinter, Devon Tekulve, is coming back from a calf injury.
“(Duncan is) a big piece that we’re missing,” Wood said. “But the goal is to go out and compete and get some (personal records) and get as high as we can in the standings. All we can ask is for our guys to do our best and compete.”
Meanwhile, Jennings County also will be shooting for a top-three finish. The Panthers haven’t competed against Floyd Central or Jeffersonville or a full team from New Albany this season.
“We’ve done OK with competing with everyone else, and we’re kind of excited to see what happens,” Jennings coach Justin Smith said. “We’re looking forward to competing with a lot of good teams where points will be broken different than dual and triangular meets. Our goal is to get two people in each event to place, and the standings will fall where they fall.”
The Panthers’ best chance for a win might be in the 4×800-meter relay, where they are seeded second, less than a second behind Floyd Central. Kraedyn Young is seeded third in the 1,600, Eli Wahlman is third in the 3,200, Jennings is third in the 4×400 relay.
Peyton Hayden is seeded fourth in both the shot and discus. Evan Sochacki is fourth in the pole vault, and Lane Elsner is fourth in the 400.
“We have a pretty good 4×800 group, and it will be interesting to see them run against Floyd Central,” Smith said. “We have a few distance kids and a few mid-distance kids that have performed well this year. It will be interesting to see how we compete in the conference meet.”
Floyd Central and New Albany are the favorites to win the team title. After that, it’s pretty much up for grabs.
The meet is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
“We’re definitely excited to host the meet,” Wood said. “It’s the first time we’ve done it in awhile, so we’re excited about that.”
