It came down to the final races as one streak continued and a new one started for Montgomery County high school track and field.
Crawfordsville senior Ty Lynas anchored the 4X400 meter relay team with a strong final lap to win the event in 3:38.1 for the Athenians (68 points) and give them their first county title in 12 years. Southmont (66) was second and North Montgomery (33) third as the Chargers streak of six-straight titles came to and end.
“Over the course of the entire meet, our kids performed well all the way through,” Crawfordsville coach Sean Gerold said. “And then to finish up with the 4X400 to being down there in the third leg to come back and win it at the end. It came down to that last race and that’s fun. They knew going in what was at stake there. Just proud of all them.”
On the girls’ side, the Chargers (67 points) used veterans Sidney Campbell, Madi Welch, Maggie Michael, and Grace McClaskey to win the 4X400 meter relay and help secure their sixth-straight title. Southmont (58) was second and Crawfordsville (42) third.
“Our girls came out tonight and competed,” North Montgomery coach Josh Thompson said. “They understood what needed to be done. You could tell that we had experience with our girls and it came down to the last race we needed to do well in and we had two juniors and two seniors out there with a lot experience and we had all the confidence in the world in those girls.”
While Crawfordsville and North Montgomery took home the team titles, Southmont individuals Faith Allen and Trent Jones stole the show with four individual wins apiece.
Jones set a county meet record with a winning time of 11.12 seconds in the 100 meter dash and broke the record in the 400 meter run with a time of 50.26 seconds. The junior also won the 200 in 22.98 seconds and the long jump with an effort of 20-feet-6.75-inches.
“He’s an incredible athlete, and he’s a great kid,” Southmont coach Desson Hannum said of Jones. “He loves to go out there and compete. It’s what he does and what he loves to do is run track and we asked a lot of him tonight.”
For Allen, the sophomore won the high jump with a leap of 4-feet-6-inches. She also won the 800 meter run in 2:42.3, the mile in 5:58.23 and the two-mile run in 12:33.29.
On the boys side for Crawfordsville — Lynas made the biggest impact in terms of wins. In addition to the 4X400, the senior won the high jump with a mark of 5-feet-10-inches and the 110 high hurdles in 16:06.
Kyle Fruits won the discus throw with a mark of 120 feet, while Nate Schroeter won the shot put with an effort of 42-feet-11-inches. Hunter Hutchison won the 800 meter run with a time of 2:11.03 and the mile in 5:12.34.
Crawfordsville’s foursome of Ziair Morgan, Alex Kellerman, Tyeson Fuller, and Mikale Willis won the 4X100 meter relay in 45.43 seconds, while Kaigen Fields, Kellerman, and Fuller joined Lynas on the 4X400 team.
Aside from the sweep in the relays, Gerold knew the meet would come down to second and third place finishes, especially with Jones’ dominance.
“Early on we said this meet is going to come down to the 2nd, 3rd, 4ths,” Gerold said. “That was part of the coaching all week. We had an idea of what they (Southmont) were going to do with him (Trent Jones). He is a special athlete, and he’s going to be hard to beat. So you know going in and that’s what we spent time this week coaching those kids. Like hey, ‘we know he’s good, we need to get those 2nd and 3rds and those 4th.’”
Crawfordsville scored in all but two events and scored twice in six events.
Southmont’s Mason Cass won the two mile with a time of 10:39.06. The Mounties also won the 4X800 meter relay with a time of 9:13.56.
“I thought we competed well tonight and performed where we needed to be, and it just came down to a couple of things here and there,” Hannum said about the boys runner-up finish. “We had kids jump in and score. There were some events where we thought we’d score one guy in and we were able to get a couple of guys to score.”
North Montgomery’s two wins on the boys’ side came in the 300 meter hurdles and the pole vault. Ben Cody won the hurdles with a time of 45.62 seconds, while James McClerkin won the pole vault with a mark of 11-feet-6-inches.
“In terms of the boys team wise we didn’t finish as well as we wanted obviously, but we had a lot of good performances out of our top kids today and I’m proud of those guys,” Thompson said.
On the girls side, a pair of seniors in Campbell and McClaskey led North Montgomery.
Campbell swept the hurdles. She won the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 17.63 seconds and the 300 meter hurdles in 52.9 seconds. McClaskey won the 100 meter dash in 13.59 seconds and the 200 meter dash in 28.22 seconds.
North Montgomery’s Anderson, Bonwell, Lucas, and Michael won the 4X800 with a time of 11:29.27. Katie Rice won the discus throw with a mark of 90-feet-1-inches, and Welch won the long jump with a leap of 15-feet-3.25-inches.
Southmont’s Addison Charles won the shot put with a throw of 30-feet-5.25-inches, while Brianna Heninger won the pole vault with an effort of 7-feet. DeLorean Mason won the 400 meter run in 1:03.5.
Crawfordsville’s 4X100 meter relay team of Hartman, Strawser, Powell, and Williamson won with a time of 54.91 seconds.
