LAFAYETTE — A stellar end to a career and a Sophomore who has nothing but success lined up in front of him. Those were the two story lines that arose from the resumption of the Lafayette Jefferson Track and Field Regional as Southmont’s Trent Jones and Crawfordsville’s Ryan Miller saw their seasons come to an end.
After not getting to race on Thursday as originally planned, both Miller and Jones made trek back to Lafayette Jeff on Saturday.
Jones was looking to cap off his career by making it back to the State Finals, however still making his way back to 100% healthy from hamstring injury, the senior would fall just short with a fifth place finish in the 400 meter-dash with a time of 50.14.
“For him to get back to this point after where he was just a few weeks ago is a huge accomplishment of itself,” Southmont coach Desson Hannum said. “The goal for him was to run the state standard (49.35) and then you add the adversity of not getting to run on Thursday and then having to come back on his graduation night, he has nothing to be disappointed about. I know he’ll be disappointed, but he’s one heck of an athlete. You wish he was able to make it back there to state but it wasn’t in the cards.”
Jones ends his Southmont career with accolades that go on and on. In his first race back this season at the Sagamore Conference meet, he wasted no time in making an impact by winning both the 100 and 400 meter dash. Jones will now look ahead to his college track career with Indiana State. While this won’t be his last race of his career, Hannum took a moment to reflect on all that Jones has accomplished and what he’s meant to the Mountie track program.
“From the squirrelly little kid coming in as a freshman who was full of energy, to the mature young man he is today, he’s made tremendous strides since that point,” Hannum said. “He’s been a huge part of our program and do what he’s done in that amount of time, he has so many accolades he can look back on. He’s one of the best we’ve ever had come through here.”
Miller ends Sophomore campaign on high note
For Miller his career is just taking off. The Sophomore qualified for the Regional by being named the sectional champion in the 3200M run at West Lafayette. Coming into the Regional, Miller was seeded 11th, but that didn’t stop him from moving up four spots to finish 7th overall with a time of 9:57.20 as he was able to end his season on a high note.
“This season as whole had it’s challenges, but it ended in an awesome way,” Miller said after the Regional. “Where I really started to hit my stride was at conference when I was surrounded by great runners and then these last couple of meets I’ve had that great competition to keep me where I needed to be.”
Miller’s time at the Sagamore Conference meet set a new school record in the 3200 as he claimed the SAC title. Not many sophomores see the level of success early on as Miller has done. Crawfordsville coach Sean Gerold couldn’t be happier with the way Miller has performed when it mattered the most down the stretch.
“It’s been a great season for him,” Gerold said. “He’s been our most consistent leader and he supports our entire team in the process. He’s worked his tail off to get to this point. For him to get to experience this as Sophomore and be matched up with some of the best in the state will only bode well for him. His success doesn’t happen by accident, you can see all of the hard work he’s put in.”
The next step for Miller? He has the goal of making it down to Bloomington to run in the State Finals.
“I’m hoping I can drop my time 20-30 more seconds. That’s the goal for sure.”
