Austin Hough: Plenty of local storylines going into state track meet
Jun. 1—If you look at the seeds of our area track athletes going into this weekend's state meet, only one is in position to earn all-state honors.
That doesn't mean there isn't plenty of great storylines to follow.
Our area will be represented in 14 of the 16 boys events Friday and nine of the 16 at the girls meet Saturday. We also have the Elkhart unified track team competing in their state finals Saturday morning, with everything taking place at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Let's start on the boys' side first. One of the coolest stories all spring has been the performance of Jimtown junior Bishop Williams, specifically in the 400-meter dash. He hasn't lost in that race so far, including chasing down a kid with a time seeded a whole second faster than him to win at the regional meet — which is something that doesn't happen often in the sprint races.
Will Williams earn a top-eight finish Friday? Who knows. What I do know is that he's been sensational so far, and getting to run against the state's best will only make him stronger for next year.
As far as success in multiple events, Northridge senior Jaxon Miller has taken charge in that department. Whether it was fair or not, Miller was kind of in the shadow of Jack Moore last season, both in cross country and track. With Moore now running collegiately at Louisville, though, Miller has blossomed into even more of a star in both sports.
He'll be running in three events Friday: the 800-meter run, and as anchor legs of the 4X400- and- 4X800-meter relay teams. He's been incredible to watch all spring in these events, and I can't wait to see how he does Friday. On top of that, he's a great kid and leader for the Raiders.
Oh, and he's really smart, too — he'll be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall. Yes, *that* MIT. Which has an acceptance rate of 3.96%. Pretty elite stuff from Miller.
Speaking of others who have maybe been under the shadow of others — Tommy Claxton has had a stellar career at Goshen. After being behind seniors Drew Hogan and Cole Johnston last year, Claxton has assumed the leadership role with the RedHawks this year in his final season. He gets to show off his skills one last time at the high school level Friday in the 1,600-meter run. He will then be attending Indiana State in the fall as part of the cross country and track teams.
Elkhart is in seven events, with sophomore Max Malloy being in three of them. Malloy had a strong cross country season in the fall and has continued that on the track this spring. Can he outperform his seed times in the 1,600, 3,200 or the 4X800-meter relay to earn some hardware?
The overall balance of Elkhart has been impressive all season. It helps when you have more than 100 kids on the roster, but you also need to have the talent to be good like they've been all year. They've scored points all across the board, as evident by being in three field events, three distance races and one sprint race at state.
Along the same lines of Malloy, Westview freshman Noah Bontrager had a fantastic cross country season, and he has parlayed that into a state appearance in the 3,200-meter run. He is the lone freshman that will be representing The Goshen News coverage area in the boys meet this weekend, putting a cherry on the top of a record-setting debut year in high school athletics.
How about some of the surprises from the area? Wawasee junior Lucas Linder is state-bound in the 200-meter dash, while West Noble junior Drew Yates will be competing in the 110-meter hurdles. I'm not sure how many people predicted either of them to make it to the state meet before the season, but they'll get a chance now to compete against the state's best.
It wasn't as much of a surprise, but Concord sophomore Jaron Thomas built off a strong freshman season to make it to state this year in the 100-meter dash. It's been cool to see him also step out of the shadow of his older brother, Jaton, who advanced to the state meet in this event a season ago as a senior.
On the girls' side, our highest seed entering the weekend is Wawasee junior Emma Yoder, who is second in the discus throw. She tossed 156-01 feet at the regional last week, putting her in great position to earn another medal at the state finals this year. Last season, Yoder took third at state as a sophomore with a throw of 134-03 feet.
Some of the biggest transformations this year have come from Concord. All three of its state qualifiers are going for the first time, including two seniors — Ryleigh Robinson in pole vault and Macie Swinehart in shot put. Robinson specifically has seemingly come out of nowhere in her event, reaching a height of 11 feet to win the regional last week. In the first meet of the season, she reached 8-06 feet. That's almost unheard of, as far as improvement in an event — especially in one like pole vault.
Those two are joined by freshman Allison DeFreese in the 200-meter dash, who went from being seeded seventh in the event to finishing third at regionals.
Speaking of freshmen — how about West Noble's Kayle Jordan? She advanced to state in both throwing events, which is not easy to do. It feels like she's just scratching the surface for her potential as well, and getting a taste of the state's biggest track meet can only help her in the long run.
Saturday will see the end of two exceptional running careers in Tame Baylis and Haylee Hile. The Northridge standouts have competed at state in both cross country and track, with plans to continue to do so collegiately next year at Grace College and Purdue-Fort Wayne, respectively. Baylis and Hile will be joined by two freshmen — Dakotah Moore and Hadley Troyer — on the 4X800-meter relay team for the Raiders.
Westview senior Lucy Rensberger gets to finish her career in the discus throw. NorthWood will run in the 4X1 and 4X4 relays, with the former being the second-straight year its advanced to state in the event. Elkhart is also in two events, too: junior Ava Decker in discus, and sophomore Ja'leiiya Williams in the 100-meter dash.
It's been a lot of fun to watch all of our track and field athletes compete this spring. I can't wait to see how they do in the final meets of the season.
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2023 TRACK AND FIELD STATE MEET — Goshen News coverage area kids participating
Full state finals info can be found online at ihsaa.org.
BOYS FINALS: Friday, 3 p.m. start
Concord: 100-meter dash (sophomore Jaron Thomas), 4X400-meter relay (seniors Darian Decker, Dae Sean Emerson, Juan Ross and Armen Koltookian)
Elkhart: 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter run (sophomore Max Malloy), 4X100-meter relay (sophomore Zach Anderson, junior Nathan Munson and seniors Rodney Gates and Aalias Leonard), 4X800-meter relay (freshman Jackson Ezzell, sophomores Aaron Richter and Malloy and senior Denis Kale), long jump (Leonard), shot put (senior Rae'Kwon Lemons) and discus (sophomore Trenton Bias)
Goshen: 1,600-meter run (senior Tommy Claxton)
Jimtown: 400-meter dash (junior Bishop Williams)
Northridge: 800-meter run (senior Jaxon Miller), 300-meter hurdles (junior Mathias Hazen), 4X400-meter relay (freshman Jaden Fisher, juniors Max Estep and Hazen and senior Miller), 4X800-meter relay (juniors David Gingerich and Trevin Schlabach and seniors Will Knox and Miller)
Wawasee: 200-meter dash (junior Lucas Linder)
West Noble: 110-meter hurdles (junior Drew Yates)
Westview: 3,200-meter run (freshman Noah Bontrager)
GIRLS FINALS: Saturday, 3 p.m. start
Concord: 200-meter dash (freshman Allison DeFreese), pole vault (senior Ryleigh Robinson), shot put (senior Macie Swinehart)
Elkhart: 100-meter dash (sophomore Ja'leiiya Williams), discus (junior Ava Decker)
Northridge: 1,600-meter run (freshman Dakotah Moore), 4X800-meter relay (Moore, freshman Hadley Troyer, senior Haylee Hile and senior Tame Baylis)
NorthWood: 4X100-meter relay (sophomores Ana Roeder and Elayna Yoder, junior Hannah Chupp and senior Megan Mikel), 4X400-meter relay (freshman Hanna Clyde, juniors Sydney Prenkert and Joslyn Miller and senior Lisa Jackson)
Wawasee: discus (junior Emma Yoder)
West Noble: shot put and discus (freshman Kayle Jordan)
Westview: discus (senior Lucy Rensberger)
Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.
