Penn's Paquette finishes third in discus at boys state track meet

Penn discus thrower Mike Paquette came oh-so-close, LaVille’s Lincoln Hulsey reached a medal-winning personal best in the pole vault, and Jack Moore of Northridge ran a 3,200-meter race for the ages.

But still, Saturday was a quiet day for most area athletes at the IHSAA boys state track finals.

Paquette, as expected, came the closest of all to winning a state championship at the Indiana University track in Bloomington.  He finished third in the discus, throwing 168 feet, 11 inches and coming up a little more than three feet short of catching Antoine Cooper Jr. of Ben Davis.

► Girls meet: Adams' Angel Thomas finishes 4th in 100 at girls state track meet

► Regionals: Penn reigns in Goshen boys track regional; LaPorte claims its first-ever title at Valparaiso

Cooper reached 172-6.

Paquette was sitting in second place after the preliminary rounds, with an opening round best of 168-7. He needed to find about four feet more to take the lead in the finals.  However, his fourth and fifth efforts were fouls, and his final throw was only a four-inch improvement.

Only eight feet separated the first through fifth-place finishers.

Meanwhile, LaVille’s Hulsey provided one of the biggest surprises of the meet when he finished seventh in the pole vault, clearing 14 feet, 6 inches to improve his personal best by half-a-foot.

Just a week earlier, at the Goshen regional, the Lancer sophomore cleared only 13 feet and had to sweat it out to see if he would even qualify for state.

Moore, meanwhile, was sucked into one of the hottest races of the night, and his blistering new personal best of 9 minutes, 3.02 seconds was good for fifth in the 3200-meter run.

It was a seven-runner sprint on the final lap, with Carmel’s Kole Mathison getting the victory in 8:59.05. All seven leaders broke the 9:06 mark.

Moore improved his winning time from the Goshen regional by over 15 seconds.

Speaking of surprises, Mishawaka’s Dentrayives Woods soared to seventh place in the long jump, sailing 22-3, over a foot better than he jumped at the regional.

Penn’s Alec Hardrict ran the fastest 100 meters of his life when he clocked 10.81 in Saturday’s preliminary round.  He then came back to place sixth in the 100-meter finals, clocking 10.87.

La Porte’s Cole Raymond found himself stuck in a “slow” section of the 800-meter run, so he aggressively led the field through a 56-second opening lap. The Indiana University-bound senior  finished almost as strongly, clocking 1:54.36 for a personal best and a sixth-place overall finish.

Plainfield claimed its first-ever boys state track championship, scoring 61 points for the win.  Brownsburg finished second for a second straight year.

Columbus North’s 4 x 800 relay team set a state meet record, finishing first in 7:37.90.

While Tribune-area athletes did not bring home a lot of medals, several missed by the barest margins. The top nine finishers in each event earned IHSAA awards.

Penn’s 4 x 100 relay finished 11th, and the Kingsman 4 x 800 relay was 12th.  So was Anthony Roberts of Concord in the 1600-meter run, and Northridge’s Jaxon Miller in the 800, each taking 12th.

East Central’s Leo Maxwell won the mental attitude award, meaning East Central athletes were mental attitude award winners in both the boys and girls state meets.

IHSAA BOYS STATE 

TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS 

At Indiana University, Bloomington 

TEAM SCORES (TOP TEN):   Plainfield 61, Brownsburg 47, Columbus North 43, Fishers 39, Carmel 38, Center Grove 35 1/3, Warren Central 23, Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran 21. Floyd Central 18, Ben Davis 18. TRIBUNE AREA:  Penn 11 … Northridge 5 … La Porte 4 … LaVille 3, Mishawaka 3. 

IHSAA MEDAL WINNERS & TRIBUNE-AREA RESULTS 

4 x 800 relay: 1, Columbus North (Clayton Guthrie, Kellen Hottell, Matthew Newell, Mateo Mendez) 7:37.90 (STATE MEET RECORD). 2, Center Grove 7:42.91.  3, Fishers 7:43.30.  4, Hamilton Southeastern 7:44.06. 5, Fort Wayne Concordia 7:44.98.  6, Zionsville 7:46.41.  7, Floyd Central 7:52.53.  8, Carmel 7:53.27. 9, Noblesville 7:55.19 … 12, Penn (Carter Kaser, Hudson Kaser, Mariano Retzloff, Seth Jankowski) 7:54.54 … 16, Goshen (Cole Johnston, Luis Loera, Tommy Claxton, Drew Hogan) 7:59.67. 

110 high hurdles: 1, John Colquitt (Brownsburg) 13.90. 2, Knox Willis (Zionsville) 14.40.  3, Harrison Hrbek (Plainfield) 14.50.  4, Parker Doyle (Center Grove) 14.54.  5, Jacob Ottersbach (Charlestown) 14.56.  6, Alexander Hooten (Indianapolis Roncalli) 14.62.  7, Maliek Bush (Jeffersonville) 14.86.  8, Mason Busick (Scottsburg) 14.88.  9, Parker Sweet (Connersville) 14.98 … 14, Kanaan Jewett (Mishawaka) 15.04 (trial heats) … 18, Luke Kaufhold (SB Saint Joseph 15.12 (trial heats). 

100: Anthony Brodie (Evansville Memorial) 10.57.  2, Lance Pratt (Fort Wayne Concordia) 10.76.  3, Plez Lawrence (Kokomo) 10.76.  4, Connor Maple (Plainfield) 10.78.  5, Hayden Nelson (Mississinewa) 10.87.  6, Alec Hardrict (Penn) 10.87.  7, Jaelyn Reeves-Lile (Warren Central) 10.89. 8, William Newby (Sullivan) 10.91.  9, Kameron Gethers (Lake Central) 10.95 … 25, Jeremiah Clanton (Michigan City) 11.24 (trial heats) … 26, Jaton Thomas (Concord) 11.24 (trial heats). 

1600: 1, Kole Mathison (Carmel) 4:04.82.  2, Reese Kilbarger-Stumpff (Columbus North) 4:09.56.  3, Ezra Burrell (Indianapolis Brebeuf) 4:12.30.  4, Andrew Magnum (Castle) 4:12.55.  5, Martin Barco (Martinsville) 4:12.93.  6, Kyle Clark (Bloomington No) 4:13.41.  7, Cameron Todd (Indianapolis Brebeuf) 4:13.52.  8, Joel Mumaw (Noblesville) 4:15.34.  9, Alexander Hooten (Evansville Central) 4:15.87 … 12, Anthony Roberts (Concord) 4:20.05. 

4 x 100 relay: 1, Brownsburg (Zemonda Wilson, Dominic Calhoun, John Colquitt, Deandra Cooper) 41.60.  2, Plainfield 41.92.  3, Evansville Harrison 41.96.  4, Harrison-Lafayette 41.97.  5, Fishers 42.25.  6, Indianapolis North Central  42.27.  7, Carmel 42.27. 8, Lawrence Central 42.38.  9, Hamilton Southeastern 42.45 … 11, Penn (DJ White, Jake Balis, Skjold Aallmann, Alec Hardrict) 42.53 … 13, Elkhart (Zachary Anderson, Christopher Williams, Rodney Gates, Nathan Munson) 42.75 … Mishawaka (Xavier White, Dentrayives Woods, Aiden Hooton, Jacob Landry) DNF. 

400: 1, Nayyir Newash-Campbell (Plainfield) 47.45.  2, Nickens Lemba (southport) 47.66.  3, Keefer Soehngen (Fishers) 48.12.  4, Michael Page (Indianapolis Cathedral) 48.51.  5, Riley Buroff (Churubusco) 48.62.  6, Troy Golden (Indianapolis Pike) 48.78.  7, Jaylen Grimes (Indianapolis Tech) 48.85. 8, Andres Langston (Mt. Vernon-Fortville) 48.89.  9, Zach Greller (Center Grove) 49.19 … 24, Sam Taylor (SB Riley) 50.90 … 27, Collin Bergquist (La Porte) 51.64. 

300 intermediate hurdles: 1, John Colquitt (Brownsburg) 37.92.  2, Tyler Tarter (Fishers) 38.57.  3, Alexander Hooten (Indianapolis Roncalli) 39.11.  4, Dominic Lincoln (Manchester) 39.20.  5, George Burhenn (Mt. Vernon-Fortville) 39.27.  6, Zane Thompson (Bedford North Lawrence) 39.27.  7, Harrison Hrbek (Plainfield) 39.31.  8, D’Andre Black (Bloomington So) 39.46.  9, Max Grangier (Floyd Central) 39.47 … 17, Mason Floria (Northridge) 40.73 … 18, Chase Magnuson (La Porte) 40.75. 

800: 1, Kai Connor (Westfield) 1:51.84.  2, Xavier Wills (Warren Central) 1:52.69.  3, Matthew Newell (Columbus North) 1:53.26.  4, Nate Killeen (Indianapolis North Central) 1:53.43.  5, Haiden Diemer-McKinney (Brownsburg) 1:54.21. 6, Cole Raymond (La Porte) 1:54.36.  7, Nolan Satterfield (Hamilton SE) 1:54.39.  8, Tristan Trevino (Mt. Vernon-Fortville) 1:54.57. 9, Bennett Dubois (Hamilton SE) 1:54.84 … 12, Jaxon Miller (Northridge) 1:55.75 … 20, Carter Kaser (Penn) 1:58.16 … 27, Kolten Becker (South Central-LaPorte) 2:07.01. 

200: 1, Kemari Robinson (Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter) 21.49.  2, Lance Pratt (FW Concordia) 21.54.  3, Nayyir Newash-Campbell (Plainfield) 21.62.  4, Brandon Wheat (Center Grove) 21.82.  5, David Slick (Leo) 21.87.  6, William Newby (Sullivan) 21.93.  7, Plez Lawrence (Kokomo) 22.23.  8, Connor Maple (Plainfield) 2:00.26.  9, Kameron Gethers (Lake Central) 2:03.79 … 23, Rodney Gates (Elkhart) 22.69 (trial heats). 

3200: 1, Kole Mathison (Carmel) 8:59.05.  2, Abe Eckman (Jasper) 9:01.50.  3, Charlie Schuman (Carmel) 9:02.39.  4, William Conway (Floyd Central) 9:02.81.  5, Jack Moore (Northridge) 9:03.02.  6, Krishna Thirunavukkarasu (Indianapolis Brebeuf) 9:05.17.  7, Spenser Wolf (Forest Park) 9:05.37.  8, Asher Propst (Noblesville) 9:10.51.  9, Trevor Monroe (Castle) 9:11.71 … 14, Tommy Claxton (Goshen) 9:23.81 … 23, Janan Pillai (La Porte) 9:36.50 … 27, William Bauschke (Mishawaka) 9:43.48. 

4 x 400 relay: 1, Fishers (Makell Wiggins, Tyler Tarter, Grent Shelton, Keefer Soehngen) 3:18.85. 2, Plainfield 3:20.38.  3, Mt. Vernon-Fortville 3:20.67.  4, Center Grove 3:20.72.  5, Warren Central 3:20.82.  6, Delta 3:21.27.  7, Carroll-Fort Wayne 3:21.20.  8, Westfield 3:21.49.  9, Ben Davis 3:21.56 … 22, La Porte (Christopher Price, Cole Raymond, Collin Bergquist, Chaise Magnuson) 3:27.26 … 23, Penn (Kohen Turner, Carter Kaser, Connor Hamilton, Seth Jankowski) 3:27.35. 

High jump: 1, Bode Gilkerson (Plainfield) 6-9.  2, Kaden Stewart (Floyd Central) 6-8.  3, Brion Stephens (Warren Central) 6-7.  4, Chad Cox (Franklin County) 6-7.  5, Aydrian Caldwell (Carmel) 6-6. 6, Eli Crouch (Indianapolis Roncalli) 6-6.  7, Dawson Perkins (Tippecanoe Valley) 6-6.  8, Tremayne Brown (Anderson) 6-6.  9, A’Marion Conyers (Northwestern) 6-4 … 15, Javion Ballin (Westville) 6-2 … 25, Trey Thomas (Mishawaka) 6-0. 

Long jump:  1, Piere Hill (Portage) 23-4 ¾.  2, Ja’raylan Johnson (New Albany) 23-1 ¾.  3, Abram Stitt (Delta) 22-11.  4, Cubie Jones (Marion) 22-10 ½.  5, Alex Meyer (Angola) 22-5 ¾.  6, Michael Griffith (Hamilton SE) 22-5.  7, Dentrayives Woods (Mishawaka) 22-3.  8, John Colquitt (Brownsburg) 22-2 ¼. 9, Terrell Caldwell (Calumet) 22-2 … 20, Robert Nabieu (SB Riley) 21-2. 

Shot put: 1, Tucker Smith (Columbus No) 66-6 ¾.  2, Colin Wilson (Hamilton Hts) 64-4 ½.  3, David Lara-Gonzalez (Ben Davis) 61-7 ¼.  4, Luke Himes (Heritage Christian) 61-1 ½. 5, Leo Maxwell (East Central) 59-2 ¾.  6, Bryce Patterson (Brownsburg) 58-3 ½.  7, Marcus Wynalda (Bloomington No) 57-8 ¼.  8, Dylan Mayhew (Greenwood) 57-5.   9, Wade Melanson (Tippecanoe Valley) 57-4 1/2 … 19, Ty’Shaun Williams (Elkhart) 52-6 ½ … 26, Brevin Miller (NorthWood) 46-3 ¾. 

Discus: 1, Antoine Cooper Jr. (Ben Davis) 172-6.  2, Tucker Smith (Columbus North) 170-4.  3, Mike Paquette (Penn) 168-7.  4, Shon Tupuola (Brownsburg) 164-11.  5, Colin Wilson (Hamilton Heights) 164-1.  6, Gavin Connelly (Tecumseh) 163-0.  7, Thomas Johnson (Lowell) 162-3.  8, Hunter Crew (Lebanon) 161-1.  9, Nolan Ring (Carmel) 158-9 … 16, Ty’shaun Williams (Elkhart) 152-7 … 19, Brevin Miller (NorthWood) 142-5.  

Pole vault: 1, Cody Johnston (Hobart) 16-8. 2, Connor Burries (Center Grove) 16-0.  3, George Bourdier (Culver Academies) 15-9.  4, Parker Speth (Castle) 15-6.  5, Scott Parish (Whiteland) 14-9.  6, Andrew Roman (Crown Pt) 14-6.  7, Lincoln Hulsey (LaVille) 14-6.  8, Josh Forbes (Fishers) 14-6.  9, Tie between Wyatt Curl (West Lafayette), Carter Pheifer (Center Grove) and Peyton McQuinn (Hamilton Hts) 14-0.  

MENTAL ATTITUDE AWARD:  Leo Maxwell (East Central). 

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA boys state track meet in Bloomington, Ind.