Bedford North Lawrence, Orleans, Mitchell give it their all in the boys track sectional

BEDFORD — Noah Carter is far too young to know about the famous introduction to the old ABC's Wide World of Sports show that discussed "the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" while showing video examples of those extremes.

No, he hasn't seen it, but the Bedford North Lawrence senior lived it Friday night at the Bedford North Lawrence boys track and field sectional, that was postponed on Thursday because of severe thunderstorms.

Carter's agony came when he fell during the final of the 110 meter high hurdles and was seemingly eliminated from the postseason, only to be granted a reprieve on a hurdle interference technicality.

Carter had to run the race again, by himself, and had to post a time fast enough to make the top three in order to keep his season alive. His thrill of victory arrived when he came through in the clutch by clocking a 15.49 to place second and earn his way to Thursday's Bloomington North Regional.

"I felt so frustrated and disappointed after I fell," said Carter, who was the No.1 seed. "I thought my season was over. I've never fallen before in an actual competition, so I kind of thought something was up. I was very happy to get another chance to run it.

"The other kid (Salem's Braden Cummings, who won in 15.43) clipping a lot of hurdles, and that last one (the fifth) hit my hurdle and knocked it out of place and it caught my foot."

Panthers pick up team crown

Jennings County rolled behind an impressive distance corps to claim the team championship in a highly-competitive sectional with 124 points to turn back Springs Valley (92), Seymour (85), BNL (80), Brownstown (76) and Salem (68). Orleans (43), Eastern Pekin (37), Paoli (8), Trinity Lutheran (7) and Mitchell (4) completed the field.

BNL junior Zane Thompson (champion of the 300 hurdles) qualified for regional individually and was also on the 4x100 relay with Christian Garciano-Curren, Cole Baker and Maddex McFarland that finished second (44.09) to earn a regional spot.

BNL's 4x800 relay of Carson Kelly, Cameron Haste, Karter West and Jonah Bailey finished third (8:43.09) to make regional.

"I thought coming in we could finished third and fourth and that's where we wound up," said BNL head coach Brett Deckard. "Springs Valley has great sprinters and a lot of depth, and Jennings County has great distance runners and good depth, too.

"We're not quite there with our depth yet, but we're getting there. We had a lot of kids really compete well tonight. We have Zane and Noah going on in the hurdles, and our 4 x 800 really came through.

"Karter West doesn't usually run that event, but I needed him tonight and he came through with a great time to help us pull through. And that 4 x 100, I may not have the four fastest guys, but we have four fast kids and they came up big tonight."

Carter's unique circumstance

The situation with Cummings and Carter in the 110 hurdles brought about a very unique circumstance that rarely occurs. Cummings got out the gate quickly, but clipped several hurdles as he and Carter were dueling for the lead.

He hit the fifth one enough to bounce it into Carter's hurdle. After reviewing video, meet officials ruled that it was an instance of "hurdle interference." It means that the runner who inadvertently clipped the hurdle (Cummings) would not be disqualified, but the runner whose hurdle was jostled (Carter) would get a second chance.

Carter had to wait until all other events were conducted, however, and then run it solo with hurdles in his lane and on each side. He also had all eyes upon him, but he handled it like a champ with a season PR of 15.49, just .1 off his all-time best.

"It was definitely weird," Carter said of running by himself. "I tried to block out the crowd as much as I could, and I just channeled my frustration from what happened earlier into making up for it with a second chance.

"I set a goal of 15-flat, focused in on what I had to do, and did my best to get there. I'm really happy to be going to regional in my best event. I know there will be a lot of very fast guys there. I'd like to set a new PR, and if it gets me out to State that would be great."

Deckard was immensely proud of his senior.

"I'm so happy for Noah," he said. "He's been our quiet leader all year, but he comes out here and just works his tail off to get better. If he has a conflict, like he did Mr. BNL this year, he will come back afterward and work out on his own.

"That's the kind of kid he is, and I knew he didn't fall on his own over that hurdle. He's never fallen in a race, and not for a long time even in practice. Salem's coach said he fell on his own, but there's no way. They made the right call."

Thompson dominates 300 hurdles

Thompson ran a 40.9 to win the 300 intermediate hurdles by at least five meters over Jennings County's Cole Marksberry (41.91) and Brownstown's Isiah Engle (42.07).

Thompson, though, wasn't thrilled with his race after setting a new intermediate hurdles school record of 39.9 last week at the Hoosier Hills C Meet.

"I'm not happy with it," he said. "It felt kind of loose, like I wasn't real disciplined with my form and my steps. I just felt kind of off tonight, but I got the win and get to go on."

Thompson qualified for state last year by finishing second at regional in 40.77. He's gunning to lower that this year.

"I want to give the Bloomington North and South kids a race, want to give them some good competition," Thompson said. "I think they'll be running in the 39.6 range, so I need to be there with them. I do think even if I don't win I'll qualify for State on time, but I want to give them a great race."

Alston, Jones, Graves lift Orleans

Orleans sophomore Xavier Alston became a repeat champion of the 400-meter dash with a new PR of 50.8 that also tied the school record. He edged Springs Valley's Conner Grimes (51.10), who won the 100 (11.04) and long jump (21-3¾) and was second in the 200 (23.24).

Alston ran a brilliant tactical race as he bided his time toward the back of the pack early before picking up the pace heading into the final turn. He came flying off the turn, and then kicked even harder down the front-stretch to overtake Grimes and Jennings County's Lane Elsner (51.58). BNL's Billy Cline (53.33) was sixth.

"During the first 200 I just kind of keep the same pace," Alston explained. "I like to pace off someone and tonight it was Conner, who is very fast but goes out harder than I do. A lot of people go out really hard, but I'm holding back and then I have a whole lot of kick left when they're tiring.

"That's what happened tonight. I'm really happy about the 50.8 and tying the school record. I hope I can lower it at regional and make it out to State. I think I've got a pretty good chance."

Alston finished second in the high jump to Springs Valley's Kannon Chase. Both competitors cleared 6-3, and the tiebreaker came down to Chase having one fewer miss than Alston at 5-10.

"I can't believe it came down to a scratch at 5-10," Alston said. "I don't really know what happened there, but it's okay. Kannon is a great athlete, and maybe I can get him back at regional."

Orleans freshman Bryce Jones also qualified for regional with a runner-up run in the 1,600. Jones ran a 4:31.46, which was a personal record, only to have fellow freshman Kraedyn Young of Jennings County clock a big PR of 4:28.98 to win it.

"I was real happy with my race," said Jones, who was also fourth in the 800. "It's a new personal-best, so I have to be okay with that. I knew the Jennings County kid was fast, but he put up an eight-second PR. I wanted to get a gap between me and him before the end, but he pulled up even with me and had a little more left.

"But I'm excited about regional. I want to lower my PR again, and I'm just hoping all the fast guys up there will pull me along to a good race."

Sophomore Nate Graves punched his ticket to regional in the shot put with a second-place toss of 44-2, behind only the 50-2¾ of Kocsis.

Robertson rises for Bluejackets

Mitchell's team was depleted because some key competitors, such as senior distance ace Lucas Slaten, had the difficult decision to make whether or not to attend sectional or the Mitchell graduation ceremony Friday night.

Freshman Nate Robertson was essentially left to carry the Mitchell mantle in the discus and the kid came through with a fifth-place finish with a heave of 131-9, just behind the  fourth-place toss of 133-9 by BNL's Carter Kimmel. Brownstown's Dustyn Koscis won with a 157-11, with Springs Valley's Larron Childers (147-0) second.

"I'm really pleased because it was a PR for me by about 14 or 15 feet," Robertson said. "My goal for the season was to get over 120, and my first throw today was 129, and then I got 131-9.

"My best coming in was 117, but we changed my form last week and I've been working really hard to get it down before sectional. Having a seven-foot wingspan doesn't hurt, but mostly it was working on the form.

"I've done the discus for awhile now counting middle school, and my goal is to get the school record (158-0 by Evan Sanders) before I'm done."

The Bloomington North Regional will start at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Contact Times-ail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett at jeffb@tmnews.com, or on Twitter @jeffbtmnews.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Bedford North Lawrence, Orleans, Mitchell compete in boys track sectional