60m Dash
Jaidyn Johnson wins the Indiana Runner Sprint Showcase 60m Final with a 6.76. Other top runners in the race under 7 included Dominic Calhoun, Christian Woodson, and Christian Barth.
The 60m Dash looks to be absolutely loaded this year with 17 of the 24 entries breaking the 7 second barrier at some point this season. Entering with the top seed is Jaidyn Johnson with a time of 6.76 seconds at the Indiana Runner Sprint Showcase. Interestingly, 6.76 is also the current HSR record for large school boys. The Bloomington North standout currently ranks 14th in the country and has had an incredibly consistent season so far where he has won all ten of his prelims/finals races including four performances under 6.80 seconds according to our database. Johnson ranks 14th in the country and while he appears to be one of the favorites heading into the weekend he will certainly have stiff competition. Christian Woodson has a qualifying mark that is just one hundredth of a second off of Johnson's best time at 6.77 which is US #22. Samuel Sofolahan, Dominic Calhoun, Christian Barth, William Riley, and Davyion Clark all are within 0.10 seconds of Jaidyn's top seed as well. Marcus Townsend also made the cut for state as the last accepted entry, he was on the podium last year with a 6th place finish.
The girls 60m dash looks to be even more tightly contested with the top three entries all sharing the same season best time at 7.63 seconds. Ahniyah Bennett and Lyric Steele had a photo finish last weekend at the Blue and White Relays with Laya Lapri Ratney running her time two weeks earlier at the Indian Open. Last year Bennett would place 4th as a freshman with Laya taking 20th. The finals last year only saw one runner under 7.7 seconds and with De'Janay Layne, Jila Vaden, and Maya Taylor all running 7.67 or faster this season there is a good chance that we could see that number increase. Emily Norris and Izzy Neal also return from last year's podium where this duo would finish 6th and 8th respectively.
3200m Run
Jessica Hegedus led the way in the first high school girls 3200m at the Fall Creek Pavilion where she ran a 10:48.90 to win the HCC indoor title.
Looking at the entries one interesting thing that pops out right away is the absence of Will Conway. Conway holds the best 3200m time of the year where he ran to a 8:45.12 converted time at Notre Dame's oversized 320m track. He also raced to a silver medal performance at Nike Indoor Nationals a few weeks ago where he would run 8:51.40 for the 2 mile distance. Without him in the field the next best time belongs to Cameron Todd who ran a near identical time a few weeks ago in Boston where he would also earn a national top three performance in the 2 mile with this one coming from New Balance Nationals. Todd would finish with a 8:51.73 in a race that saw the national 2 mile record go down with Todd's future Notre Dame teammate winning with a 8:34.91. Sam Quagliaroli looks to have the next best time in the field being the only other athlete under 9:20 this season that will be racing with his 9:16 for the HCC Indoor Championships. Jackson Nolan also raced at New Balance where he would go 9:17 but does not look to be entered in the 3200m for this weekend. Shane Conroy, Jacob Mitchell, Neal White, and Christopher Ross have all been under 9:30 this season and should have a good shot at the podium with Max Malloy and Kyle Montgomery also returning from podium performances last year.
The girls 3200 could feature a more competitive competition for the win with last year's runner-up Addison Knoblauch and current Pendleton Junior Ava Jarrell highlighting the entries. Both would run at national level meets in the 2 mile a few weeks ago with Addison taking 9th at Nike with a 10:15.49 and Ava taking 8th at New Balance with 10:22.83. These performances have this duo both in the top 10 for fastest 3200m times in girls state history for all-conditions. With Pendleton not appearing to have qualified a relay team Ava will likely be going all-out for the win in this race which could create and interesting race depending on if Addison has to double back for either the 4x800 or DMR. Also entering the field with sub 11 minute performances includes Jessica Hegedus (10:48) and the freshman from Columbia City, Kenya Leitch (10:51). Mary Eubank appears to be the only other runner in the field to be returning from last year's podium.
60m Hurdles
Tyler Tarter takes the win in the HCC indoor 60m final running to a time of 7.91 to rank #1 in the state.
This race should feature a great matchup between central and northern Indiana standouts Tyler Tarter and John Peters. The two enter the weekend with only one hundredth of a second separating their times with Tyler having the slight lead coming from a meet where he was able to get an early preview of the fairgrounds track going 7.91 at HCC Indoors. Tyler was last year's champion going 8.05 in the event to win by nearly a tenth of a second. John would earn his top performance from the NWI Championships at Portage. Dallas Johnson, Luke Kaufhold, and Alex Eyasu all return from the podium last year where they went 3rd, 5th, and 8th respectively.
Laya Lapri Ratney will look to do the double in the individual events between the 60m and 60 hurdles. Her time from the Indian Open in early March leads the state by a relatively large margin of 0.13 seconds with her mark of 8.67. This HSR record of 8.58 appears to be a stretch heading into the finals but not completely out of reach for the Gary West Side Senior. Laila Smith and Reane'e Hogan look to have the only other sub 9 second performances with this pair going 8.80 and 8.99 respectively so far this season. Last year's champion Jaliyah Paige enters the weekend with a time of 9.36 with other returning podium finishers from last year including Aubrey Runyon, Dede Eberle, and Lucy Hauser.