Evan Carr
Evan Carr missed making state by one spot in the 3,200 meters last year, then needed a call-back to make it to last week’s boys track regional at Greenfield-Central.
But when he got there, the Columbus North senior made the most of his second opportunity. Carr finished third in the regional to qualify for his first Boys Track State Finals.
“I was confident getting a call-back because last year, I got fourth (at sectional) to both of those same Center Grove guys,” Carr said. “I got called back, and I got fourth at regional. I was confident in the call-back (to regional this year) just because nobody (top-level) really new joins.”
While the sectional-to-regional call-backs consist of the top four times from finishers outside of the top three in the four feeder sectionals, the call-backs to state are a lot more stringent. Outside of the top three from each of the eight regionals, only three more earn call-backs to state to make a state-meet field of 27.
Carr ended up third in the regional in 9 minutes, 37.72 seconds.
“I knew there was pretty much no chance of getting a call-back from here this year because we were pretty far out of it last year when I got fourth,” Carr said. “So coming into this, we were definitely talking all week that Will has a strong finish, and he’s had the edge on me this season. So the coaches were talking, we’re going to have a plan for you to make it out, and it has to be top three. We couldn’t make a plan like, ‘Let’s push the pace and hope four get out. Let’s just get into the top three and guarantee it.”
North junior Will Russell finished second in 9:27.90, trailing only Center Grove’s Parker Mimbela, who ran 9:22.29. Carr beat Center Grove’s Kyle Montgomery, who finished fourth in 9:52.48, after Montgomery had beaten him the week before at the North Sectional.
“We kind of expected, since not a lot of (top-level) people joined this round, we expected to be Sectional Part II,” Carr said. “Those two Center Grove guys ran really well as a team and coordinated really strong at sectional, which kind of got Will and I. Will still got the win (at sectional), but it was a tough race, and they shook things up as a group. This time, they kind of split up, which is something we were expecting to happen going into the sectional. Their fitness is a little bit different, but they were able to meet in the middle at sectional. This time, they split up, and Will was sitting on that front guy, and I was sitting on the next guy back, and I was looking up at Will and thinking Will and I aren’t together, but we’re both in good positions. We’re not completely by ourselves.”
Carr is seeded 26th going into Saturday’s Boys Track and Field State Finals at Indiana University’s Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex in what likely will be his final competitive race of his running career.
This fall, Carr is headed to Purdue to study engineering. He is thinking about training for the Boilermakers’ club triathlon or cycling teams.
“That’s something I’m kind of looking forward to,” Carr said. “I was considering running in college, but I didn’t have the resume for Purdue, and since I decided on engineering, I didn’t want to sacrifice any academics to go somewhere else where I could run.”
