Crum, Patterson Raise The Bar At Indiana State Meet

By Parker West of DyeStat

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Colton Crum of Frankfort was just a freshman when he finished second to Deakin Volz, who broke the Indiana state meet record with 17-6 in 2015. With one of the country’s best vaulters no longer in the picture, it looked like Crum was set up to win the state title the next three years.

BOYS RESULTS

However, Crum finished third as a sophomore and second as a junior. Between his first state meet and his last, Crum dealt with numerous health problems.

“I’ve had immune system problems. I’ve had broken tibias. I’ve had broken ankles,” Crum said as he reflected on his high school career. “I was in a boot last year and after school I would take the boot off and jump.”

Crum knew if he was injury free this year, he could reach new heights. He claimed his long-awaited state title on Saturday and broke Volz’s record by one-quarter of an inch, vaulting 17-6.25.

Crum’s biggest goal was to clear 18 feet, and while that didn’t come to fruition, he’s happy with the mark he left on Indiana pole vaulting. He will be returning to the same track at Indiana University in less than two weeks for the USATF Junior Outdoor Championships in an attempt to qualify for Team USA.

In an area adjacent to the pole vault, Nate Patterson of Plymouth was making big things happen in the high jump. 

Patterson one-upped Crum with not only a new state meet record, but a new Indiana all-time best of 7 feet, 4 inches. Patterson then took three promising attempts at 7-6.25, but was unable to clear it.

“I knew if I kept it consistent this year, I’d get the heights I wanted out of myself,” Patterson said.

Patterson's clearance is US#1 this season and tied for No. 18 all-time.

He has cleared seven feet or better eight meets in a row. He, too, will be back to Bloomington to attempt to qualify for Team USA in two weeks.

One year ago, it would’ve been preposterous to assume that anybody other than Gabe Fendel would win the state 1,600 meters title. Fendel won last year’s race in 4:04.70 and by a margin of nearly 10 seconds.

However, after dealing with illness for most of the season, Fendel didn’t have the senior season that he expected. The Hamilton Southeastern senior finished fourth on Saturday in 4:14.07.

Instead, Indiana University signee and Foot Locker Cross Country qualifier Matthew Schadler, of Evansville Reitz Memorial, ran to the win in 4:07.83, holding off Cathedral’s Cole Hocker, who was second in 4:08.04.

The 3,200 meters was tactical. A pack of 10 runners crossed the finish line bunched together with one lap to go, but it was Skylar Stidam (Christian Academy of Indiana) and Alec Fleming (Lowell) who separated from the field and battled to the line. Both closed their final lap in less than 60 seconds, but Stidam came away with the win in 9:13.34, the slowest winning time in this event since 2002.

Avon’s Isaac Guerendo was trying to do something no Indiana athlete had done in 105 years at the state meet: Win the 100, 200 and long jump. 

He was close. With only one jump left in the long jump competition, Guerendo had the lead with a best leap of 23-3.50. On the final attempt of the competition, however, Nick Ryan went two inches farther than Guerendo to take the win. Guerendo won the won the 100 meters in 10.51 and placed second in the 200 (after the long jump) in 21.57. Guerendo was also on Avon’s winning 4x100 meter relay team.

Guerendo’s two state championships and two runner-up finishes carried Avon to the team title with 66 points, 19 points ahead of second place North Central.

Bates Wins 1,600 Meters; Tyler Edges Isenbarger

GIRLS RESULTS

Sophomore Phoebe Bates of Carmel blasted a 66-second final quarter to break away from defending champion Emma Wilson of Greencastle and win the 1,600 meters final in 4:51.79. 

Wilson had swept the 1,600 and 3,200 in 2017 and was looking to pull off the double again. 

Wilson settled for fourth in the 1,600 meters this time but did win the 3,200 with a dominant 10:27.83. 

Over the past four years, Lynna Irby from Pike had been announced as the state champion 12 times as she thoroughly owned the sprint events.

So for the first time in a while, there were opportunities for someone else to be crowned in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes. 

On Friday, three new champions stood atop the podium.  

Semira Killebrew of Brebeuf Jesuit won the 100 meters and placed fourth in the 200.

Sophomores took five of the nine spots on the podium for the 200 meters, led by Tionna Brown of Kokomo at the top with a time of 23.86, the fastest time in the state this season and sixth-fastest run by any Indiana prep athlete. Brown was second to Killebrew in the 100 meters.

Mikeisha Covington of Warren Central was the only girl to finish on the podium in all three of the sprint finals. Covington won the 400 meters and was fifth in the 100 and third in the 200. 

The biggest upset of the day came in the 800 final. Home-schooled sensation Elizabeth Stanhope, who had been leading the state all season, was the favorite after running 2:10.16 at her sectional meet.

However, sophomore Maddie Russin of Crown Point ran away with the state title, leaning at the finish for 2:12.35, just .05 ahead of Stanhope. Freshman Abigail Lynch of Brownsburg was third in 2:13.01 after splitting 2:09 and being out-leaned for the 4x800 relay state championship earlier in the day.

Brebeuf Jesuit's Nakita Turner-Lee entered the meet as the fifth-fastest 100-meter hurdler in Indiana history after posting a 13.86 PR at her regional meet. But it was Lake Central’s Destiny Washington who won the finals with a state meet record 13.93.

One of the most anticipated events of the day was the high jump. US#1 Katie Isenbarger of Zionsville was set to face off against US#3 Shelby Tyler of Noblesville. Tyler had cleared six feet this season, while Isenbarger cleared 6-1.

Isenbarger entered the competition hungry for a state title after finishing third in 2015, third in 2016 and second in 2017.

However, it was Tyler who got the victory. Both jumpers made 5-11 but did not go higher. And Tyler took one fewer attempts to clear 5-11. 

Hamilton Southeastern won the team championship with 62 points. Brebeuf Jesuit was next with 44 points.