Take a bow Faith Allen, Trent Jones, and Ty Lynas. All three athletes helped their respective teams to a strong showing at the county track and field meet that took place Friday night. Allen and Jones helped the Mounties earn a second-place finish on both the boys’ and girls’ side, while Lynas helped the Athenians earn their first county title since 2009 as the Athenians edged out the Mounties.
Lynas was the fourth and final member of the 4X400 team and in a meet where it came down to the last race, he delivered by passing Southmont’s Avery Saunders in the final leg to secure the county title. Lynas also won the 110-meter hurdle with a time of 16.06 seconds and the high jump with a height of 5-feet-10-inches.
“It’s definitely a rush of different emotions,” Lynas said after helping the Athenians to the county title. Coach (Gerold) needed me to also beat Dillan Lauy from South in the 200 meter and I was able to do it. Even though it was still a second-place finish, we needed that since we only won by one point.”
“Everything came down to that last race and they knew what was at stake in that last race,” Crawfordsville coach Sean Gerold added. “I’m just proud of all of them.”
For Southmont, Jones set two county records in both the 100 and 400 meter dash with times of 11.12 and 50.26 seconds, respectively. Along with those two event wins, Jones also took home first place in the long jump with a distance of 20-feet-6.75-inches in and the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.98 seconds.
“I’m just so thankful for my natural talent that I have,” Jones said. “I love this sport and I’ve just worked really hard to get to this point. The variety of conditioning that I do at practice allows me to be able to have success in so many different events. In the end it comes down to having good endurance and retaining my speed.”
Not to be outdone, Allen also took home first place in four different events on the girls side for the Mounties. The 800 (2:42.30), 1600 (5:58.23), and 3200 (12:33.29) meter runs along with the high jump (4-feet-6-inches) all belonged to Allen on the night. Just as Jones mentioned, a big reason for Allen’s success goes to the work she does off the track.
“On average I run about 25 miles a week,” Allen said. “It may seem like a lot of running but it pays off because talent alone won’t take you to first place finishes every single time. My cross-country background also helps me pace myself during these events and stay strong throughout the entire meet.”
Southmont coach Desson Hannum praised both Allen and Jones for their performances.
“Trent is an incredible athlete who just wants to go out there and compete,” he said. “We asked a lot out of him tonight and he told me he could have ran another event or two. I’m just proud of what he was able to accomplish. Faith did well getting up there and winning some races.”
