IHSAA boys track sectional: Finally, Mishawaka's Hoopingarner finds his time to shine
MISHAWAKA — It was long wait, but it was worth it.
For Ryan Hoopingarner, that is. The Mishawaka High School senior finally got to strut his stuff at the Penn boys track sectional Thursday night, unleashing a blistering kick to win the 1600 and 3200-meter runs.
As a sophomore, Hoopingarner missed his opportunity to compete when the IHSAA canceled track season due to the COVID pandemic. As a junior, he missed out when – as luck would have it – he was diagnosed with COVID himself, just a few days before the sectional tournament.
So, Thursday night at Freed Field, Hoopingarner made the most of his final sectional opportunity, outsprinting Penn’s Mariano Retzloff down the stretch to take the 1600 in 4:25.66.
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The 3200 was more of the same, except in that race, he paced patiently behind teammate William Bauschke for seven laps before surging away over the last 300 meters, finishing first in 9:54.53.
“I’ve developed a kick this year, and I feel it’s an efficient way to close out a race,” said Hoopingarner, who will be running at Trine University next fall.
Hoopingarner also ran a leg on Mishawaka’s second-place 4 x 800 relay, keeping busy throughout the night.
“I ran the sectional 3200 as a freshman but didn’t do a whole lot. I remember I did get a freshman PR when I (clocked) 10:45,” said Hoopingarner.
“After the last couple years, I was hoping there wouldn’t be some superstition following me,” he quipped. “I didn’t want something else to happen where I couldn’t run.”
Hoopingarner gets another opportunity at next week’s Goshen regional, as the top three finishers in each event advance, as well as any athlete who meets a tough IHSAA performance standard. There is also a slightly confusing process which may allow other athletes to be selected for a regional berth.
Most of those regional qualifiers will be from Penn, as the Kingsmen racked up 198 points to claim their sixth consecutive boys sectional championship. Mishawaka was second with 126.
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Penn won nine of sixteen events, with Alec Hardrict claiming three blue ribbons by sweeping the 100 and 200-meter dash events and anchoring the first-place 4 x 100 relay.
Seth Jankowski also won three times with an impressive 800-meter run (1:57.96) as well as legs on the 4 x 800 and 4 x 400 relays.
“This team has been fun to be around all year,” said Penn coach Chad Wetzel. “We knew Mishawaka would be tough and there would be no easy path, so the kids had to come out and perform. We had a lot of good performances.”
Hardrict steamrolled through the 100-meter dash in 10.92 seconds, with teammate Kevin Murphy following a few steps behind (11.28).
The 200 was far more of a challenge, with Glenn’s Julian McMahan (22.90) and LaVille’s Owen Smith (also 22.90) following Hardrict (22.79) in a photo-finish sprint.
“I had to make a decision on the backstretch about what place I wanted to get and how hard I wanted to push myself to finish the race,” said Hardrict of his razor-thin victory. “I decided to push myself as hard as I could and I ended up getting first.”
Also for the Kingsmen, Mike Paquette won the discus with a fine 171-0 effort and Austin Wells won the 300-meter hurdles in 41.53.
Being the small school that it is, LaVille is unlikely to compete for a sectional team title any time soon, but the Lancers have a rich history of bringing top-notch individuals to the tournament and giving the bigger teams fits.
LaVille’s Garrett Wagoner won the shot put, reaching 49-3 ½ to turn back Penn’s Paquette (48-5 ½). And in a tense duel, Penn’s Joseph Rutten and Gabriel Speicher battled LaVille’s Lincoln Hulsey and Matthew Schaefer for the top four spots in the pole vault.
The lead swung back and forth before Rutten and Hulsey each cleared 13 feet, 6 inches, with Rutten getting the victory on a missed attempts tie-breaker. Speicher (13-0) edged Schaefer (12-6) for third.
“I like to have the competition,” said Rutten. “The adrenaline was flowing.”
“Yeah, that was tense,” said Hulsey. “I’m just glad to be moving on because last year I had a pulled hamstring and couldn’t go.”
Riley’s Robert Nabieu and Sam Taylor had a sizzling 1-2 finish in the 400, and Nabieu also captured the long jump with a great 23-7 effort. In the high jump, Mishawaka’s Skyler Van Skyhawk cleared 6-4 for the win.
Saint Joseph’s team – wearing T-shirts to commemorate fallen teammate Saleem Qasem – made a distinct statement in both hurdle races.
In the 110-meter high hurdles, Saint Joseph’s Luke Kaufhold bolted from the blocks and led start to finish for first place in 15.30 seconds.
Then, in the 300 intermediate hurdles – Qasem’s event – officials left what would have been Qasem’s lane open, and teammates placed his uniform and shoes at the starting line. They then held a flag in his honor while the entire Indian team kneeled beside the track as the race was run.
PENN SECTIONAL RESULTS
IHSAA BOYS TRACK SECTIONAL
At Mishawaka
TEAM SCORES: Penn 198, Mishawaka 126, Riley 69, Saint Joseph 66, LaVille 45, Adams 43 ½, John Glenn 24 ½, Trinity 23, Washington 15, Marian 12, Clay 2.
4 x 800 relay: 1, Penn (Carter Kaser, Seth Jankowski, Dylan DeDario, Hudson Kaser) 8:10.73. 2, Mishawaka (William Bauschke, Ryan Hoopingarner, Toby Quintana, Zachary Stearns) 8:21.67. 3, Riley (Isaiah Rivas, Sam Taylor, Autin Wittrock, Luke Hanson-Phipps) 8:21.76. 4, Adams 8:25.31. 5, Saint Joseph 8:37.26. 6, Marian 9:33.30. 7, Trinity 9:34.33. 8, John Glenn 9:40.53.
110 high hurdles: 1, Luke Kaufhold (SBSJ) 15.30. 2, Kanaan Jewett (Mishawaka) 15.38. 3, Austin Wells (Penn) 15.42. 4, Vernhan Johnson (Washington) 16.85. 5, Dylan Wise (Mishawaka) 16.85. 6, Owen Boverhuis (Penn) 16.89. 7, William Baldwin (Glenn) 16.95. 8, Liam Kempf (SBSJ) 16.97.
100: 1, Alec Hardrict (Penn) 10.92. 2, Kevin Murphy (Penn) 11.28. 3, Robert Nabieu (Riley) 11.31. 4, Jaquan Patton (Washington) 11.35. 5, Ollie Kaufhold (SBSJ) 11.51. 6, Owen Smith (LaVille) 11.90. 7, Xavier White (Mishawaka) 12.73. 8, Dentrayives Woods (Mishawaka) 12.83.
1600: 1, Ryan Hoopingarner (Mishawaka) 4:25.66. 2, Mariano Retzloff (Penn) 4:27.99. 3, Hudson Kaser (Penn) 4:35.61. 4, Dakota Jozwiak (Mishawaka) 4:38.66. 5, Gabriel Polaniecki (SBSJ) 4:45.22. 6, Colten Brandt (SBSJ) 4:47.55. 7, Blake Malstaff (Glenn) 4:48.11. 8, Isaac Howk (Adams) 4:53.88.
4 x 100 relay: 1, Penn (Derrick White, Jake Balis, Skjold Aallmann, Alec Hardrict) 42.70. 2, Mishawaka (Xavier White, Dentrayives Woods, Aiden Hooton, Jacob Landry) 43.21. 3, Saint Joseph (Gavin Sparke, Luke Kaufhold, Hayden Miller, Alex Ortiz) 43.85. 4, John Glenn 44.68. 5, Trinity 44.77. 6, Washington 45.31. 7, Riley 45.36. 8, Marian 48.04.
400: 1, Robert Nabieu (Riley) 51.26. 2, Sam Taylor (Riley) 51.36. 3, Henry Lee (Trinity) 52.47. 4, Kohen Turner (Penn) 52.64. 5, Aldan Zolman (Mishawaka) 53.01. 6, Connor Hamilton (Penn) 53.27. 7, Lucas Miller (SBSJ) 54.68. 8, Colton Green (Glenn) 56.33.
300 hurdles: 1, Austin Wells (Penn) 41.53. 2, Trey Thomas (Mishawaka) 42.11. 3, Luke Kaufhold (SBSJ) 42.20. 4, Derek Vondrak (Riley) 42.21. 5, Kanaan Jewett (Mishawaka) 42.41. 6, Brayden Mammolenti (Penn) 42.42. 7, William Baldwin (Glenn) 43.36. 8, Trayvon Fleming (Riley) 43.60.
800: 1, Seth Jankowski (Penn) 1:57.96. 2, Carter Kaser (Penn) 1:58.11. 3, Dylan Hockx (Adams) 1:59.25. 4, Grayson Wilson (Adams) 2:03.15. 5, Stephen Rice (Marian) 2:04.86. 6, Isaiah Rivas (Riley) 2:07.44. 7, Josh Frabutt (SBSJ) 2:07.77. 8, Luke Hanson-Phipps (Riley) 2:08.26.
200: 1, Alec Hardrict (Penn) 22.79. 2, Julian McMahan (Glenn) 22.90. 3, Owen Smith (LaVille) 22.90. 4, Ollie Kaufhold (SBSJ) 23.01. 5, Tommie Hunt (Adams) 23.20. 6, Derrick White (Penn) 23.48. 7, Tay’Shaun Williams (Clay) 23.60. 8, Gavin Sparke (SBSJ) 23.92.
3200: 1, Ryan Hoopingarner (Mishawaka) 9:54.53. 2, William Bauschke (Mishawaka) 9:58.82. 3, Nicholas Probst (Penn) 10:18.37. 4, Michael Camilleri (Adams) 10:23.68. 5, Ricky Ramirez-Quijada (Marian) 10:31.61. 6, Carmelo Russo (SBSJ) 10:36.81. 7, Mariano Retzloff (Penn) 10:50.03. 8, Brendan Pruitt (SBSJ) 10:57.54.
4 x 400 relay: 1, Penn (Kohen Turner, Carter Kaser, Connor Hamilton, Seth Jankowski) 3:28.05. 2, Riley (Robert Nabieu, Derek Vondrak, Maleek Richardson, Sam Taylor) 3:29.61. 3, Trinity (Eddie Sgroi, Jack Trumble, Peter Loughran, Henry Lee) 3:31.85. 4, Saint Joseph 3:32.54. 5, Mishawaka 3:32.64. 6, Adams 3:33.15. 7, John Glenn 3:41.06. 8, LaVille 3:48.16.
High jump: 1, Skyler Van Skyhawk (Mishawaka) 6-4. 2, Blake Barker (Penn) 6-3. 3, Trey Thomas (Mishawaka) 6-3. 4, Skjold Aallmann (Penn) 5-10. 5, Zyhere Chibambo (Riley) 5-10. 6, Ian Joyce (SBSJ) 5-10. 7 Tie between Tommie Hunt (Adams) and Ty’Ronn Larkin (Glenn) 5-8.
Long jump: 1, Robert Nabieu (Riley) 23-7. 2, Dentrayives Woods (Mishawaka) 23-0. 3, Elijah Coker (Penn) 22-1 ¼. 4, Eddie Sgroi (Trinity) 21-3 ¾. 5, Xavier White (Mishawaka) 20-7 ¼. 6, Tommie Hunt (Adams) 20-6 ½. 7, Bill Imanene (SBSJ) 20-6 ¼. 8, Jaquan Patton (Washington) 19-11.
Shot put: 1, Garrett Wagoner (LaVille) 49-3 ½. 2, Mike Paquette (Penn) 48-5 ½. 3, Turna Vishavjeet (Penn) 47-0 ½. 4, Novell Miller (Mishawaka) 47-0. 5, Erik Bedock (LaVille) 45-6. 6, Evan Adams (dams) 42-6. 7, Beau Brown (Mishawaka) 41-10 ½. 8, Ethan Witz (Riley) 39-8 ½.
Discus: 1, Mike Paquette (Penn) 171-0. 2, Vishavjeet Turna (Penn) 144-2. 3, Adam Bedock (LaVille) 142-8. 4, Beau Brown (Mishawaka) 137-1. 5, Justin Smith (Riley) 136-9. 6, River Thornsberry (Adams) 134-7. 7, Michael Good (LaVille) 132-7. 8, Braydon Hudson (Washington) 123-8.
Pole vault: 1, Joseph Rutten (Penn) 13-6. 2, Lincoln Hulsey (LaVille) 13-6. 3, Gabriel Spiecher (Penn) 13-0. 4, Matthew Schaefer (LaVille) 12-6. 5, Ethan Schelstraete (Adams) 12-0. 6, Brady Farrell (SBSJ) 11-0. 7, Daniel Troyer (Mishawaka) 10-6. 8, Cle Kimbrough (SBSJ) 10-6.
NOTE: Top three finishers in each event advance to IHSAA regional at Goshen on Thursday, May 26. Also qualifying are any athletes who meet a tough IHSAA performance standard.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana boys high school track: Mishawaka's Ryan Hoopingarner shines
