Delta boys track and field wins back-to-back sectional titles, 1st with girls team since 2003

MUNCIE, Ind. — Delta track and field has done it again.

Following the girls team's sectional victory on Tuesday, the Eagles boys squad on Thursday at Muncie Central High School won its second straight IHSAA sectional title. This week marks the first time since 2003 that both Delta's boys and girls teams have won in the same year.

Excluding the cancelled 2020 season, the boys team has won three of the last four sectional championships, and the girls team finally broke through after three consecutive second-place finishes.

The program as a whole has steadily improved under the leadership of Shane and Mackenzie Dye Conley, husband and wife who began leading the boys and girls teams seven and six years ago, respectively. Conley said just 14 kids participated in his first year, and now the team is up to 48.

"It's cool. We're both competitive, but we both have our hands on both programs. We share (coaching responsibilities)," Conley said. "She's got our distance and I've got our throwers, and our sprint coach coaches both. It's truly a program more than just a boys team and the girls team, and for that gratification finally to come for our girls program has been awesome because they put in the work. We told the boys yesterday at practice that, 'Hey, the girls went out and took care of business. Now it's our turn.'"

The boys team was certainly motivated, scoring 145 points to best second-place Yorktown by 19.5, six points more than last year's winning gap. The Eagles won seven events and advanced athletes in all but three competitions despite only utilizing three seniors.

Senior John Chimbanda was the key contributor of that senior group, placing third in the 110m hurdles before coming back to win by 0.68 seconds in arguably the evening's most exciting event, the 300m hurdles, against Wapahani senior Drayden Gates, the 2021 300m hurdles sectional champion.

Conley said Chimbanda entered high school as a 5-foot-8-inch, 120-pound kid, and worked tirelessly to develop both his body and competitive spirit. He broke 41 seconds in the 300m hurdles for the first time two weeks ago, and Chimbanda's coaches and teammates were thrilled to see him run sub-40 seconds when it mattered most.

"He's been probably my favorite athlete over these last four years to just watch progress," Conley said. "He walked in fall of junior year and we're like, 'Oh my goodness, who is this kid?' ... he just put in the work in the weight room, on the track, all that stuff to to just get better."

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"Pure bliss. It was very incredible to watch. I didn't think he had it in him until that last 50 meters," Chimbanda's teammate Quinn Backus said. "It was wild."

Chimbanda didn't qualify for regionals in either hurdle event last year, so he entered this spring eager to train early and hard. He attended every preseason workout, eventually impressing the coaching staff enough that he was offered to be the first team captain in Delta track and field history.

"I felt really honored, and I think that kind of set the tone to step up and be a leader for the team," Chimbanda said. "it's a foot race. It's not just mechanics. When it comes down to it, it's a sport that you compete at, so I was glad I could (win the 300m hurdles) ... I was just pushing through."

The Eagles' top scorers, however, were Backus and fellow junior Abram Stitt.

Despite his long, curly hair, Backus is a blur on the track. After only winning the 200m at sectionals last year, Backus took first in the 100m and 200m dashes this time, as well as anchoring the champion 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.

Only the 4x100m of the four was particularly close. Backus said the biggest difference this year was improving his start off the blocks, rather than just building his raw speed. Conley wasn't surprised to see Backus' success after watching him quickly transition from football to track season, with Backus deciding he wanted to be great after experiencing better competition at regionals in 2021.

Backus also credited the fun factor for giving him some extra juice.

"(The key is) a lot of the hype (from) Luke Wray with wearing our sunglasses during our 4x100 and 4x400," Backus said. "That just helped me carry my morale throughout the race."

Stitt, like Backus, contributed to both winning relay teams, and also won the high jump and long jump for the second straight year. Stitt was the only area boys track and field athlete to advance to the state meet in two events — both jumps — last year, and he once again made it look effortless with his calm demeanor.

He said that's because he expects to win, knowing what he's capable of and holding himself to a high standard. This year Stitt hasn't broken his personal-record long jump, which he set as a sophomore, but said he's more consistently getting 22-foot marks.

Stitt doesn't think he's peaked and expects to make it to state in both his jumping events again. Conley said that although the state's elite high jumpers are still a strong group, several seniors graduated from 2021's state long jump field, so Stitt should have a shot to place well.

"He's worked on his flexibility, he's worked on his strength, and then, obviously, he's naturally gifted. So he's he's really bought in to the things we've asked him to do as far as recovery and taking care of his body now," Conley said. "He just floats. We kind of joke that he's got hollow bones because he just gets in the air and it seems like he stays in the air. It's fun to watch."

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Several other non-Delta champions from last season were victorious, including Gates (100m hurdles), Yorktown senior Luke Harber (3,200m, 4x800m relay) and junior Kolton Nanko (pole vault), and Wapahani sophomore Nick Cook (1,600m).

Yorktown sophomore Mason Moulton had two of the most convincing wins of the competition, winning the discus with a throw of 154-feet-8-inches, over 22 feet farther than the runner-up, and the shot put by over 2 feet with a throw of 49-feet-8.5-inches.

But Delta once again won the day, and should be the favorites to win again in 2023.

"It's fun to win, so when we've been fortunate enough to win then kids get interested. We have excellent coaches (at Delta) that push athletes to play multiple sports ... from our athletic department to our administration to our facilities, there's just support everywhere," Conley said. "We lose John Chimbanda, but other than that, we have a lot of kids coming back. So kids like Quinn are going to push other kids in our program to get better as well."

Here are the final team scores and all the regional qualifiers from the Delta sectional:

Team scores:

1. Delta (145)

2. Yorktown (125.5)

3. Wapahani (105)

4. Muncie Central (79)

5. Monroe Central (60)

6. Jay County (31)

7. Muncie Burris (25)

8. Cowan (22)

9. Union City (19)

10. Winchester (5.5)

11. Randolph Southern (2)

12. Wes-Del (1)

100m —  First place, Quinn Backus, Delta, 10.96; Second place, Kyle Pike, Cowan, 11.07; Third place, Quintin Williams, Yorktown, 11.15

200m — First place, Quinn Backus, Delta, 22.34; Second place, Ashton Chambers, Muncie Central, 22.93; Third place, Quintin Williams, Yorktown, 23.02

400m — First place, Blayne Daniels, Union City, 50.65; Second place, Kyle Pike, Cowan, 51.00; Third place, Luke Wray, Delta, 51.08

800m — First place, Carter Miller, Monroe Central, 2:02.03; Second place, Tyler Dillon, Delta, 2:02.85; Third place, Sam Brumley, Yorktown, 2:06.67

1,600m — First place, Nick Cook, Wapahani, 4:33.15; Second place, Tyler Dillon, Delta, 4:37.07; Third place, Tucker Burris, Monroe Central, 4:41.40

3,200m — First place, Luke Harber, Yorktown, 9:58.70; Second place, Nick Cook, Wapahani, 10:25.36; Third place, Tucker Burris, Monroe Central, 10:30.78

110m hurdles — First place, Drayden Gates, Wapahani, 15.05; Second place, Leo Boyd, Muncie Central, 15.35; Third place, John Chimbanda, Delta, 15.37

300m hurdles — First place, John Chimbanda, Delta, 39.92; Second place, Drayden Gates, Wapahani, 40.48; Third place, Kolton Nanko, Yorktown, 41.49

4x100m relay — First place, Delta, 43.90; Second place, Muncie Central, 44.11; Third place, Yorktown, 44.20

4x400m relay — First place, Delta, 3:27.04; Second place, Wapahani, 3:35.79; Third place, Yorktown, 3:36.48

4x800m relay — First place, Yorktown, 8:29.93; Second place, Wapahani, 8:38.48; Third place, Monroe Central, 8:41.64

Shot put — First place, Mason Moulton, 49-08.5; T-second place, Cole Munchel, Monroe Central, 47-08; T-second place, Dylan Manor, Delta, 47-08

Discus — First place, Mason Moulton, Yorktown, 154-08; Second place, Emmanuel Taylor, Muncie Central, 132-00; Third place, Joey Hazen, Yorktown, 127-07

High jump — First place, Abram Stitt, Delta, 6-03; Second place, Jon Shrock, Wapahani, 6-02; Third place, Alden Mahaffey, Wapahani, 6-01

Long jump — First place, Abram Stitt, Delta, 22-04.5; Second place, Isaac Shreve, Wapahani, 20-11' Third place, Demetrione Clair, Muncie Central, 20-01.5

Pole vault — First place, Kolton Nanko, Yorktown, 12-00; T-second place, Brayden Stanley, Delta, 11-06; T-second place, Isaac Baker, Yorktown, 11-06

Other area sectionals

Mt. Vernon sectional

New Castle (40) placed fifth, Daleville (12) placed ninth, Blue River (six) placed 11th and Shenandoah (five) placed 12th behind first-place and host Mt. Vernon (180) in Thursday's sectional meet.

The lone area regional qualifier was New Castle's Andrew Fewell (third, 800m).

Marion sectional

Blackford (19) placed ninth behind first-place Oak Hill (111) at the Marion sectional meet on Thursday. The Bruins' lone regional qualifier is Evan Watt (second, 800m).

Gus Martin is a sports reporter at The Star Press. Follow him on Twitter @GusMartin_SP, and contact him at gmartin@gannett.com or 765-729-4742.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Delta boys track and field wins back-to-back IHSAA sectional titles