Runner has high goals for season

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Seymour’s Ethan Ortman is hoping to have as much, or more, success in track this spring than what he had last year.

Last spring he helped the Owls win the Bedford North Lawrence sectional, and he qualified for the regional in the 100, 200 and 400 relay.

He is running those same events this spring and said his favorite event is the relay.

Ortman has a favorite lane, especially when running the 100 at Bulleit Stadium.

“I like to be in Lane 4 because that’s the lane that has ‘Seymour Owls’ written on it, so I get to run across Seymour Owls,” Ortman said. “11.2 seconds is my best time. My best time in the 200 is 23 seconds.”

Different dashes require different strategy.

“Running the 200 is a little bit different,” Ortman said. “There is a certain strategy running on the curve. You can’t run it the same as you run a straightaway. You’ve got to lean. I like to be on the inside lanes because running on the outside takes more work.

“The 200 is one of those races I need to be in better shape to run it. Everybody starts that race out really strong, and then they die along the way. That’s how I won (at Columbus East). I got first in that race because the people that were beating me in the first 100 fell back. It’s kind of a mind game.”

Ortman said he prefers the small meets.

“I like the dual meets better,” he said. “They’re more confined. You don’t have to worry about all the other teams. You’ve just got to worry about one or two teams.”

He said when he competes in the big meets, like the Seymour Invitational, Hoosier Hills Conference and Sectional he will have trials and finals in the 100 and 200, making for five races that day.

With the track under construction last year, Ortman looks forward to all of the home meets this season.

“I was really disappointed last year because we only had one home meet and we had to go on the bus for the rest of them,” Ortman said. “We get home a more reasonable and when your home all your friends and the students can come out and see the track meet.

Ortman has some high goals for this season.

“The 4×100 relay team really wants to make it to state,” Ortman said. ‘We’re all going to have to kick it.”

Ortman recalled that in the sixth grade he was told he had to run cross-country to run track.

He has been competing in both sports ever since and said he enjoyed his teammates in cross-country

“I enjoyed the people on the team, the fun we had, and it also improved me,” Ortman said. “Sports-wise it got me in shape a lot better than if I was just going to sit there and run track.”

Ortman, whose best time was 20:20, liked the weekend meets.

“I liked the Saturday races just because we had to be there at 6:30 in the morning to start the day off with a nice 3-mile,” Ortman said. “I was on the JV as a senior and I would try to go out and stay with the other JV guys because I wanted to beat them.

“I was our second or third runner, but I just wanted to keep moving up. I would usually go out pretty hard at the beginning so I could keep up with them, and hope that they would get tired and I could keep going.”

The senior will remember his time attending Seymour.

“I’ve just enjoyed all the people that you can meet here,” Ortman said. “It’s a very diverse school. All the teachers are really nice. Personally, I’m going to remember all the races, the meets, the people, the bus rides, and the fun times my teammates have brought me.”

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Name: Ethan Ortman

School: Seymour High School

Parents: Jon and Erin Ortman

Sibling: Conner

Sports: Track and field, four years; cross-country, four years

Athletic highlights: CC–2014 most improved; track– 2016 sectional champions, regional qualifier in 100, 200, 400 relay

Organizations: Band, Jackson County Community Theater

Plans after high school: Attend Indiana State University to study nursing

Favorite food: Sushi

Favorite TV show: “Robot Chicken”

Favorite movie: “Logan”

Favorite athlete: Usain Bolt

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