Athenians and Mounties begin track season with split
Crawfordsville and Southmont track and field teams opened up their 2022 seasons on Wednesday with dual meet. The Athenians and Mounties split the meet with Mountie boys coming away with an 85-47 win while the Athenian girls were victorious 70-53.
“It was nice to get out and get the kids some experience tonight,” Southmont coach Desson Hannum said. “Some of our athletes had never ran in a meet before so they got to see how everything goes and we almost treat it like a practice meet. We just wanted to make sure tonight to have everyone where they needed be and when their name is called, to compete the very best that they can.”
Highlighting the night for Southmont were the performances os Mason Cass, Avery Saunders, Trent Jones, and Nolan Boyer. Cass took home first place in both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs, Saunders was named the winner of the high jump, and Jones who is looking to make it back to the state finals this season placed first in the long jump and the 200 and 400 meter dash. Boyer’s performance however stood out to Hannum the most after the meet as he won the 100 meter dash and placed second behind Jones in the 200 meter dash.
“I really thought Nolan had good races and did very well today,” Hannum said. “We also had multiple scores in a lot of our events and that was good to see. On the girls side we competed hard and overall it was good first meet.”
Crawfordsville coach Sean Gerold echoed Hannum’s comments about getting the season underway and was pleased with many of the performances of his runners.
“Just to be out here felt amazing and the kids did well for our first meet,” he said. “Our girls did really well and had some nice individual performances. Shea (Williamson) winning the 100 with Parker Hartman right behind her was good to see. We’re going to lean on Shea a lot, she also placed second in the long jump. Cassie Bacon winning the discus, Campbell White getting second in her first varsity event in both the shotput and discus, Olivia Biddle getting second in both distance events and then Guinivere Schmitzer-Torbert winning the 300 hurdles in her first hurldle event in high school. All of those girls had a very good first meet.”
The Athenian boys were a little short-handed on the boys side, but were still able to get good performances from the likes of Kyle Fruits, Jordan Shrout and Tyson Fuller. Fruits placed first in both the shotput and discus while Shrout was victorious in both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles.
“We’re going to look from big things from both of those guys,” Gerold said. “Kyle is a four-year thrower and is very experienced over there. Despite not being the best conditions he threw the best he has so far since we’ve started practicing. Jordan be a big person we rely on in those hurdles and in the 4x400 relay. Then Tyson can pretty much do anything you ask of him. All three of guys are going to be relied on big time for us.”
Southmont will be back in action at home on Tuesday as they take on North Putnam while the Athenians will host Central Catholic on Wednesday.
