PLAINFIELD – Southmont’s Trent Jones, coming off an injury that could have ended his track season, continues that season by qualifying for the next week’s regional.
The Mounties senior ran a 50.15 in the finals of the 400 meter dash to finish second and earn a spot in next Thursday’s regional meet at Lafayette Jeff.
“It was a good meet overall for us,” Mounties coach Desson Hannum said. “This is one of the best sectionals in the state, and we got points from Trent in two events and some points from some other guys. I’m just so happy for Trent. After his hamstring injury a few weeks ago, he missed a couple meets, and had a lot of rehab to do. I’m proud of him and happy for him that he can get back to the state finals again this year in the event he went to last year.”
Jones, who qualified for the 400 last year by bettering the state qualifying time, earns a spot next week with the second-place finish, behind a new meet record set by Brownsburg’s Nayyi Newesh-Campbell.
“I didn’t know what to expect after the injury,” Jones said. “At first, I had no clue about what was going to happen, but we have great trainers at Southmont, and great equipment to work on. I was blessed with a fast recovery. My goal was first to get back to the conference meet, and then see what happened.”
Jones won both the 100 and 400 meter dash at the Sagamore Conference meet last Friday, and that gave both him and Hannum the confidence to move forward.
“Winning those two events at conference gave all of us a boost,” Hannum said. “I knew Trent could get through the sectionals if his conditioning would hold out.”
It did, and Jones has a week to better that conditioning in front of the regionals.
“I feel great – I surprised myself,” Jones noted. “Getting into better shape is first for this next week. It will be a lot of sprints and speed and endurance at short intervals. I was in tip-top shape last year when I went to the state finals, so I know what I have to get back to that level. The experience of last year will be a really big help.”
Jones also picked up two points for the Mounties with a sixth-place finish in the 100.
Other South points in the meet were picked up by Kyler McCandless with a seventh in the 400, Mason Cass with an eighth-place finish in the 1600 and James Phillips with an eighth in the 300 hurdles. Marlin Williams had an eighth in the pole vault and the 4x400 relay team finished seventh.
“The guys performed well and we are proud of Trent,” Hannum said. “I’m really glad we have another week to work with him and get him ready for the regional and hopefully for the state finals again.”
CVILLE’S Ryan miller named
sectional champion in 3200
Crawfordsville boys track has a sectional champion as sophomore Ryan Miller was the winner of the 3200M run at the West Lafayette sectional on Thursday with a time of 10:01.
After breaking the school record in the 3200 at the Sagamore Conference meet last Friday, Miller now can add a sectional title to his impressive resume.
Miller with the sectional title advances to next week’s regional at Lafayette Jeff where he will join Jones as the two Montgomery County athletes to be represented.
“Ryan is a good example of the work ethic that it takes to compete at such a high level,” Crawfordsville assistant coach Megan Craig said. “He exemplifies what you want in a student athlete. Him getting to the Regional only helps him prepare for next season. He’ll see what the competition is like and how the race is done. I think his run last week when he won conference set him up with the confidence that he needed to go out and perform well. He didn’t run timid or scared, he ran the way needed to and was in the lead and kept it within the first two laps.”
At next week’s Regional the top three finishers in each event will qualify for the IHSAA State Final at Indiana University on June 4.
