Columbus North’s Liam Milne competes in the 110-meter hurdles during the Columbus North Invitational on April 8, 2023.
The Republic file photo
The track and field season officially kicks off next week, following Saturday’s unofficial state indoor meet, the Hoosier State Relays.
Here is a look at the area boys track teams heading into the 2024 season:
Columbus North
The Bull Dogs once again will be led by their distance runners.
Junior Neal White finished fourth in the regional in the 3,200 meters, one spot from qualifying for state, and was an All-State runner in cross-country last fall. Senior Akot Tong finished fifth in the regional in the 800 and ran on the state-qualifying 4×800 relay team.
“Our distance is really packed together, sort of like they were right behind Neal (in cross-country),” North coach Rick Sluder said. “Neal looks very good. Then Akot and Logan Vanzant, Jace Works, Draven Martinez, Jonny Klaus, Denton Sluder and Adam Reckers have all been running strong times for us. We’ll be pretty deep again in distance.”
Junior Liam Milne finished fourth in the regional in the 110 hurdles, and junior Owen Russell was a regional qualifier in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles. Senior Derek Arau-Ortiz and junior Ben Stevens ran on the regional-qualifying 4×400 relay team.
Sophomore Drew Schiefer has shown promise in the shot put and discus, and Wyatt Clark is the team’s top pole vaulter. The Bull Dogs will be inexperienced in the sprints and jumps.
“We don’t do a big set of indoor meets, but they had a really good season,” Rick Sluder said. “We have some good depth. All the way through sprints, hurdles, they’ve looked really good on the track.”
Columbus East
The Olympians will be a young team after losing their big point-scorers to graduation.
Columbus East’s Jax Siegman, left, and Austin Menefee compete in the 400 meters at the Columbus North Invitational on April 8, 2023.
The Republic file photo
Juniors Jax Siegman and Kadyn Johnson-Bey and sophomores Robert Young and Brody Miller lead a group of sprinters. Sophomore Jackson Brookes is the top distance runner.
Young, Siegman and Cam Herron also can high jump and long jump. Junior Austin Menefee returns in the pole vault. Junior Jared Brooks and senior Oliver Bush are the top throwers.
Dallas Dykstra, who can do a variety of events, leads a group of freshmen.
“They’re looking OK,” East coach Jerone Wood said. “I think we’ll be competitive more than last year. We have a few more guys that came out for track this year, some football players.”
Hauser
The Jets will again look to contend for the Mid-Hoosier Conference title.
Senior Colin Kistler was the MHC champion in the 1,600, 800 and 3,200 last season. He is joined in the distance events by sophomore Nolan Dailey in distance.
Hauser’s Lakota Robbins competes in the long jump at the Greenfield-Central Regional on May 25, 2023.
The Republic file photo
Senior Lakota Robbins was MHC champion and a regional qualifier in the long jump. Other top returners are senior Sam Taylor in the high jump and junior Luke Bruner in the shot and discus.
“We lost a few to graduation last year, and we’ve lost a few others, but we have a young group coming up that I think can contribute right away,” Hauser coach Ben Finke said. “We’re learning a lot this year, and we’re going to give it our best.”
Jennings County
The Panthers will have one of their largest teams ever with 56 kids out for the team.
“These last couple weeks, we’ve gotten all of our kids out there,” Jennings coach Justin Smith said. “We’ve put in a lot of hard work. We opted out of the indoor season because of the people coming out of winter sports. We’ve had good weeks of practice.”
Junior Kraedyn Young is a two-time regional qualifier in 1,600 and also made it in the 800 last season. He was part of a regional-qualifying 4×800 relay team, along with senior Lane Ernstes, sophomore Dawson Leak and junior Brock Maschino.
Senior Branden Braun qualified for regional in the long jump, 100, 4×100 and 4×400; senior Will Barnes made it in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles and senior Blaine Ison qualified in the 100 and 200. Also qualifying for regional were senior JoJo Hifo in the 200 and senior Liam Sherwood in 4×100 and 4×400 relays.
Other top returners include senior Loki Hifo in the sprints and relays, sophomore Zach Wahlman in distance, junior Jackson Earl and senior Dylan Harrison in the high jump and long jump, junior Maddix Elston in the long jump, junior Derek Long, seniors Ayden Everage and Kamron Carney and junior Kaiser Daeger in the throws and sophomore Nolan Sochacki in the pole vault.
Top newcomers are junior Logan Lawson, sophomore Nathan Harrison in the hurdles, sophomore Sam Hernandez in 4×400 and long jump and freshman Eli Lucas, who was a middle school state meet qualifier in the 400.
“We have some depth this year that we can move pieces around,” Smith said.
Brown County
The Eagles lost multi-time state cross-country and track qualifier Chase Austin to graduation, but have return senior Wyatt Sutter, who was a state qualifier in the discus.
“We have a mixture of some youth and returning seniors, but I would look at this as a rebuilding year,” Brown County coach Kirk Wrightsman said. “We have some work to do to fill some holes there. I would say that our depth right now is still our distance area.”
Those distance runners include senior Corbin Brahaum, who missed last season with an injury, along with senior Charlie Webb, juniors Case Smith and Kai Koester and sophomore Eli Wrightsman. Smith also will high jump, and Koester also is a pole vaulter.
Junior Landon Scott and senior Eli Webb are the top sprinters and are joined by sophomore Ethan Williams in the sprints and hurdles. Junior Jesse Hubbard will compete in the high jump, and sophomore newcomer Cole Wright will do the long jump and middle distance events.
“I feel like the first few weeks of practice has gone really well,” Kirk Wrightsman said. “I feel like that we’re going to progress throughout the year. We’re going to develop and will look to improve every meet, and hopefully by the end of the year, some good things are happening.”
South Decatur
The Cougars will look to reclaim the MHC title that they won in 2021 and 2022 before finishing runner-up last year.
Senior McKinley Shook was a regional qualifier in the 300 hurdles, and senior Owen Arreola was a regional qualifier in the long jump. Other top returners are seniors Damon Gearhart and Deacon Cruser and sophomore Paul Schoettmer in the throws, senior Campbell Johannigman in the hurdles and sprints, senior Conner Newby in the 400, seniors Donovan Hale and Logan Wilkinson in the distance events, sophomore Josh Winkler in the sprints.
Heading the list of newcomers are junior Landon Martin in the sprints; freshman Dominick Benefiel in the sprints, hurdles and high jump; freshmen Will Martin and Michael Nobbe in the hurdles, freshman Nick Hunter in the distance events, freshman Jayden Jackson-Day and Dalton Smith in the sprints and freshman Christopher Martin in the throws.
“The freshman class is showing up strong for the boys this year,” South Decatur coach Dan Wenning said. “We have good leadership on the team to step up for the underclassmen and new incoming freshmen.”
Edinburgh
The Lancers have a new coach in Jordan Bowman. He will have a small team with only six athletes.
Junior Jackson Hartwell, who was the sectional champion in the long jump as a freshman, is back after sitting out last season. He is joined by seniors Ethan Campbell and Anduan Chavez, juniors Rylan Londeree and Eli Bryant and freshman Braden Cox.
“We are just looking at getting better every practice and meet,” Bowman said. “We focus a lot on personal bests. We know for the most part we are not going to be able to compete with the big schools. Every now and then, we have a kid that can break through and have some success. I feel like there may be a couple this year that have a chance.”
Trinity Lutheran
The Cougars have seven athletes, led by junior Jake Holland, who was a regional qualifier in the hurdles.
Also returning are sophomore Adam Sutton in the distance events, sophomore Landon Gasaway in the 400 and senior Conner Nichols is coming back from brain surgery.
Freshman Oliver Eggersman will run the distance events, freshman Stephen Trager will do middle distance and freshman Sam Dyer in the sprints.
“I feel like we have three strong freshmen coming in that are going to be able to score for us this year,” Trinity coach Keith Dyer said.
The 2024 boys track and field schedules for Bartholomew County schools:
Columbus East
March 30 at Bloomington South, 10:30 a.m.
April 2 at Seymour, 5 p.m.
April 6 at Columbus North Invitational, 11 a.m.
April 9 at Shelbyville, 5:30 p.m.
April 11 vs. Jennings County, 5 p.m.
April 16 vs. Bloomington North, 5:30 p.m.
April 18 vs. Columbus North, 5 p.m.
April 23 at Seymour Invitational, 6 p.m.
April 26 at East Central Invitational, 5 p.m.
April 30 vs. Brown County, 5 p.m.
May 9 in Hoosier Hills Conference at Jeffersonville, 6 p.m.
Columbus North
April 2 vs. Bloomington South, 6 p.m.
April 4 at Jeffersonville, 5 p.m.
April 6 in North Invitational, 11 a.m.
April 9 at Brown County, 5:30 p.m.
April 12 at Franklin Central Showcase, 6 p.m.
April 18 at Columbus East, 5 p.m.
April 20 at Pike Invitational, 10 a.m.
April 20 at Brown County Talon Relays, 10:45 a.m.
April 24 vs. East Central, 5:30 p.m.
April 26 in Conference Indiana at Bloomington North, 5:30 p.m.
May 3 at Ben Davis Invitational, 6 p.m.
May 7 at Franklin, 5:45 p.m.
Hauser
April 1 at Crothersville (with Trinity Lutheran), 5:30 p.m.
April 4 vs. South Decatur and Morristown, 5:30 p.m.
April 9 at Indianapolis Lutheran, 5 p.m.
April 15 at Waldron (with Triton Central), 5 p.m.
April 19 at Edinburgh Lancer Relays, 5 p.m.
April 23 at Batesville (with North Decatur and Jac-Cen-Del), 5 p.m.
April 26 vs. Indy Genesis, 5:30 p.m.
May 2 at Southwestern (Shelby) (with Indian Creek), 5 p.m.
May 7 in Mid-Hoosier Conference at Waldron, 5 p.m.
