Sixty-two ended up being the magic number for the Seymour track and field squads on a lightning-delayed night Thursday at Bulleit Stadium.
The boys and girls each tallied that number of points to win the home triangular, taking down a pair of Hoosier Hills Conference rivals.
Jennings County took second in the boys meet, edging Bedford North Lawrence 55-50. On the girls’ side, BNL scored 57 points for second place to Jennings County’s 47.
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“This is always a good, competitive meet. Three schools right on Highway 50,” Seymour boys coach Randy Fife said. “It’s a good benchmark for where we’re at. It was a very close meet. We won, but it wasn’t by a lot … a few points here or there and anybody could have won. But we’re always glad and happy to come out on top.”
The Seymour boys opened the meet with a win by the 3,200-meter relay team of Cameron Deppen, Dawson York, Keegan Bowman and Daniel Hauersperger in 9:09. Hauersperger came back three events later and won the 1,600-meter run in 4:48, and he later cruised to a win in the 3,200-meter run in 9:56.
Brayden Engleking claimed two blue ribbons on the night, winning shot put (42 feet) and discus (133-5). The Owls’ other win was by Jake Vance in the pole vault, clearing a personal-record 11 feet.
“I definitely think we made progress tonight. The kids did another great job,” Fife said of the team’s second meet of the season.
“Our throwers, I think, are what really stepped up for us tonight,” he said. “We had a lot of (personal records) in the throws. We had a double blue tonight with Brayden Engleking, and we actually scored three positions in the shot out of the four, and we got two out of the four in discus, so excellent increase of distances by the throwers.”
Depth also helped the Seymour girls claim their first win of the season.
The Owls took all four spots in the 1,600, turning in times between 5:44 and 6:03 and Megan Winter placing first. They also swept the 3,200, with Emma Brock winning in 12:18.
Also, Oriana Morales won the 800-meter run (2:31); Mikaela Grout (7-6) and Sarah Benefiel (7-0) went 1-2 in the pole vault; and the 400-meter relay team of Marie Lenart, Lauren Fleetwood, Morgan Kleber and Katy Nolting sprinted to a win (54.46).
“We moved some things around tonight, and we changed some things, and then tried to get some girls fresh legs for some of the distance races to do well there,” Seymour girls coach Bob Sexton said.
While none of the throwers won, they took second through fourth places in the shot put and third and fourth in the discus.
“Our throwers came through for us more than what we thought. Sometimes, you just don’t know, and they really stepped up tonight. That gained us a lot of points there,” Sexton said.
“Pole vault gave us several points there that I was surprised at,” he added. “I knew we could get one but ended up with more.”
Sexton was proud of his team for pulling through with the win despite having a late start with lightning in the area.
“Once we got this thing going, it turned out to be a great night for us,” he said. “It’s always nice to win at home with a large crowd. That’s a lot of fun.”