Seymour boys track team wins BNL sectiojnal for third straight year

BEDFORD - Coach Randy Fife said the reason his Seymour boys track team won the Bedford North Lawrence  Sectional Friday night for the third straight year is because of its depth.

The Owls won three events, placed second in five, and scored in all 16 to put 133 points on the scoreboard. Salem was second with 99, Paoli third with 97, Brownstown tied BNL for fourth with 89.5 points, and Crothersville scored 1 point.

Seymour scored some big points at the end to put some distance between it and the other schools. Jordan Fife and Steven Tanner went 1-2 in the 3,200, the Owls finished second in the 1,600 relay, and Andrew Brock placed second and John Stark eighth in the final event to be completed, the shot put, for 35 points in those events.

The Owls scored two places in nine individual events.

"We improved our seeds," coach Fife said. "We figured we were going to score 109 points if things went according to seeds. Several kids stepped up and had some PRs (personal records). We didn't figure to do well in the sprints, but our kids stepped up. Mainly our freshmen stepped up and did well.

"In the relays, except for the four-by-100 mishap, the relays did a nice job. Our vaulters PRd, we had a high jumper PR., and both long jumpers did well.

"That's what helps us when we come over here. We get our depth, we get two people scoring in each event and that helps us out a lot. We talked before the meet. We felt like we had a chance to win, and we would have been disappointed if we hadn't won."

The Owls have won three in a row and four of the last five years. "Every senior wants to go out on top," Fife said.

Nolan Fife said he reached his goals of 4:30 in the mile and 10.10.73 in the 3,200. "It wasn't my PR in the mile. I was looking to run a 4:30 and  went out and did it so I'm pretty happy with that. I went out hard from the beginning."

Tanner led the first four laps of the 3,200 before Fife moved to the front in the fifth lap. "He went out hard, but I went out and ran my race, and it turned out I had a strong last couple laps and  I got the win."

"I had my dad over at the 200 calling out my splits, and I could hear people at the finish line, so I knew about where I was. Tanner was up there, but I knew where I was supposed to be and I ran one of my best races of the year."

The Owls also won the 3,200 relay.

Brownstown won three events as Mark Crossman won the 800, Kwin Cutter the 400, and they ran on the winning 1,600 relay team.
Coach Barry Cutter said, "Those were outstanding performances. That was Kwin's fastest time ever, I backed Crossman down a little bit because we had the 1,600 relay at the end. He'll be ready to go next week. He won't be running the 3,200 relay, and he won't be running the mile. Kwin and Mark had standout nights.
"All the other guys performed well. (Christian) Peters had a good jump in the long jump. (Blaze) Hurley vaulted well, but had some running to do.

 "All three relay teams are advancing and I don't know if I've ever done that before, so that's a big thing. We scored 89.5 points and I don't know if we could have done a lot better. We're competing in the regional in nine events. We had a total team effort."

Before the 800, Crossman said he thought it would take a 2:03 or faster to win that race, and as it turned out it did as he ran his fastest time of the season at 1:59.85.

He said the competition forced him to run a little faster than he originally planned.  "They were on my tail a little more than I thought they would. I saw their shadows on the back stretch and I decided to kick it in a little bit, and on the last 200 I sprinted."

He said he was pleased to break two minutes again, and knows he will have to cut more time next week as two Bloomington runners are at 1:56.

Crossman was in second place when he received the baton in the 1,600 relay, and he ran a 50.5 split to give the Braves the win. "I knew I was going to catch (the Seymour runner). I decided to leave it all on the track in that one race. I'm very pleased with my performance."

Cutter ran his best 400 of the season at 51.2 to place first. "I took the lead in the middle of turn three and four. I felt like had a god start, but the Paoli kid was really moving fast. He was way out ahead and he died here in turn four."

Cutter missed three weeks of competition in the middle of the season because of a broken bone in his ankle, but he said he feels like  he has come back strong. "My ankle is 100 percent. I hope I can make it to  state."
The top four finishers will compete in the regional at Bloomington North next Thursday.
 
Results

Bedford Sectional
Teams: Seymour 133, Salem 99, Paoli 97, Brownstown 89.5, Bedford 89.5, Mitchell 76, West Washington 18, Eastern 9, Crothersville 1, Springs Valley 1.
(Firsts plus Jackson County places in top 8):

3,200 relay: Seymour 8:31.0, 2-Brownstown 8:38.2
100: Dillard (Pal) 11.64, 3-Hurley (B) 11.94, 4-Fleming (Sey) 11.98 6-O'Mara (Sey) 12.08.
110 hurdles: Cessna (Mitch) 16.22, 5-Tucker (Sey) 16.77, 8-Branaman (Bt) 18.16.
200: Carrico (BNL) 23.89, 7-Fleming (Sey) 24.99.
1600: Fife (Sey) 4:30, 3-McAdams (Sey) 4:47, 5-Waggoner (Bt) 4:53, 6-Crossman (Bt)  4:53. 
 400 relay: BNL 45.56, 4-Brownstown 46.46, 6-Seymour 48.7.
400: Cutter (Bt) 51.2, 2-B. Brock (Sey) 52.06, 3-Tormoehlen (Sey) 52.47.

300 hurdles: White (Pal) 42.08, 6-Branaman (Bt) 44.79,  7-Benefiel (Sey) 46.19.
800: Crossman (Bt) 1:59.85, 5-Pottschmidt (Sey) 2:06, 6-Schulz (Sey) 2:09.
3200: Fife (Sey) 10:10.7,  2-Tanner (Sey) 10:28,  3-Waggoner (Bt) 10:49.
 1,600 relay: Brownstown  3:33.21, 2-Seymour 3:34.

 Long Jump: Leatherbury (Sal) 20-4.5, 3-Peters (Bt) 19-4.5, 4-Tormoehlen (Sey) 19-4.25, 5-Aker (Sey) 18-11.5, 8-Hensley (Cvil) 18-3.25.
High Jump:  Leatherbury (Sal) 6-2, 6-Abbott (Sey) 5-8, 8-Atchison (Sey) 5-8.
Discus: Sanders (Mitch) 156-4, 2-Royalty (Sey) 153-8, 6-Baker (Bt)  133, 7-Caudill  (Bt) 127-9.
Shot Put: Sanders (Mitch) 49-9, 2-A. Brock (Sey) 46-8., 6-Baker (Bt) 44-2, 8-Stark (Sey) 40-10.5.
Pole Vault: Snider (Sal) 3, 2-Hurley (Bt) 12, 3-Martin (Sey) 11-6, 4-Abbott (Sey) 10-6., 7 tie Scott (Bt) 9-6.