INDIANA STATE MEET

Brownsburg 4x100 Lowers Indiana All-Time 4x100 Best To 40.70

Story and Photos by David Woods for DyeStat

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – You know the joke about you had one job? Sometimes that is seriously the best way to do it.

Excluding a few April races, senior Caleb Heldman had one job for Brownsburg: run in the 4x100-meter relay. Same four sprinters, same order, same thing. Of course, it helps that Brownsburg has five sprinters who had met the state qualifying standard of 10.99 seconds.

A time of 40.70 in the 4x100 relay highlighted the quantity of quality by Brownsburg in capturing its first Indiana state championship in boys track and field. An estimated crowd of 3,600 Friday night packed the stands at Indiana University.

The Bulldogs scored 55 points to hold off Carmel, whose late surge netted 50 points. Defending state champion Plainfield was third with 48. Bloomington North – the only top 10 team outside the Indianapolis area – tied Fishers for fourth with 31.

The 119th edition of the meet featured three records, a 1:50.24 relay carry by freshman half-miler Caleb Winders, and victories by three national stars in the field: shot putter Luke Himes, pole vaulter Cody Johnston and high jumper Bode Gilkerson. Kole Mathison could not pull off a daunting triple, but he repeated in the 3,200 meters (in 8:53.18) in the final chapter of one of the greatest careers by a distance runner in this state.

Back to Brownsburg, whose championship was especially meaningful to coach Casey Popenfoose. And not because Brownsburg had finished second in 2021 and 2022.

Popenfoose’s father, Joel Popenfoose, a coach and pastor, died March 16. He was 64. Popenfoose grew up in Hinckley, Ill.

“Even though I played football and the reason I came to Brownsburg is for football, I love track because of my dad,”  said Popenfoose, a defensive coordinator in football. “He would have been here, and he would have really enjoyed this.”

It has been a long climb for Brownsburg, which was last in its conference in Popenfoose’s first season. He remembers taking a 4x100 relay team to the state meet, and soon going home. These Bulldogs qualified for state in 14 of 16 events and scored in 10. They should be contenders in DyeStat’s annual dual meet tournament, won by Carmel in 2021.

Brownsburg could not have won without two points here, two points there. Or 10 points in the 200 meters from junior Dominic Calhoun, who was the last qualifier out of prelims and first in the final in 21.30.

“All of those things matter,” Popenfoose said.

It all came down to the 4x400 relay, in which Plainfield was third, Carmel fifth and Brownsburg seventh.

Start with the records:

>> In the opening 4x800 relay, Winders carried Bloomington North to a US#2 of 7:37.24, breaking the state meet record of 7:37.90 by Columbus North last year. Zionsville was second in a US#4 of 7:37.84 and Carmel third in US#11 of 7:39.56. Mathison began his bid for a distance triple, seizing the lead for Carmel on the final lap before being overtaken down the stretch. His anchor was 1:50.95.

>> Deandre Cooper, Josh Handy, Heldman and Calhoun clocked 40.70 in the 4x100 relay, breaking the 41-year-old state meet record of 41.02 held by Gary Roosevelt. The Bulldogs ran 40.88 in the regional, breaking Roosevelt’s all-time Indiana record of 40.91. “I felt it was just getting the stick around. We knew what we could do,” Calhoun said. The 40.70 is US#14 and first outside California, Texas, Florida and Georgia.

>> Plainfield’s Nayyir Newash-Campbell repeated in the 400, shaving .01 off the state meet record with a time of 46.98. Second in 47.22 was Churubusco’s Riley Buroff, a 6-4 quarterback who signed with University of Indianapolis in football. Newash-Campbell received a congratulatory tweet from Merrillville’s David Neville, who ran a record 46.99 in 2002. Neville went on to win a bronze medal in the 400 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Yet it is not all about the records in this sport. Take it from the main combatants in the 1,600 meters.

Mathison: “All I wanted to do is just score as many points as possible.”

Martinsville junior Martin Barco:

“It’s not about the time. It’s about the place, in my opinion.”

Marco reprised his April 14 mile victory over Mathison. After New Albany twins Aaron and Aidan Lord led through a 59.5 first lap, the pace slowed. Aaron Lord continued to lead at 3:09.96 with a lap to go, before Mathison eventually went to the front.

Yet there was no distancing from Barco, who ran the closing 400 in 57.28 to win in 4:07.45. Brebeuf Jesuit junior Cameron Todd was second in 4:08.76. Mathison, the defending champion, was third in 4:09.44.

“You put me in any race, if I’m there in the last 100 meters, I can beat, I think, just about anyone,” said Barco, who plays soccer for his school in fall and a club team all spring.

Barco was in the slow section of the 800 but nearly won anyway. His time of 1:52.70 didn’t stand up, but only because North Central senior Nate Killeen spurted away late to clock 1:51.84. Winders was second, lowering his own Indiana freshman record to 1:52.68. (National freshman record is 1:49.87.)

In between 800s, Winders said, he went to a nearby church to rest and beat the heat.

“My plan was to stay in the front group and come as hard as I can,” he said.

In other events:

>> Himes, a Heritage Christian junior, threw 65-1.50 on his final attempt. His 67-10 is a US#1. He conceded it was difficult managing a steamy day and 12 throws covering shot and discus. “I had one of those spray bottles with the fan on it. That saved me,” Himes said. He said he has been impaired by a sore groin and would likely skip meets until throwing the 6-kilogram shot (13.2 pounds) in July’s under-20 USA Championships.

>> Johnston, a two-time national indoor champion from Hobart, repeated in the pole vault at 17-0. He missed at what would have been a state meet record of 17-6.50. “That’s what stinks. I feel like I had so much left in me,” he said. By the time he opened at 16-0, everyone else was out. Johnston’s brother Riley, grandfather Jim, uncle Robb and cousin Kyle also won state titles in the vault, but none did so twice.

>> Gilkerson, of Plainfield, repeated in the high jump at 7-0. He was a US#1 at 7-0 indoors.

>> Center Grove’s Parker Doyle, after tripping over the final barrier in trials of the 110 hurdles, came back and won the 300 hurdles in 37.78. He also ran a leg on the 4x400 relay team that won in 3:16.41.

>> Pre-race favorite Jasiah Rogers of Park Tudor, after a 10.30 in the regional, developed leg cramps before the final of the 100 meters and proceeded to finish last. His club training partner, Elijah Jackson of Lawrence Central, was first in 10.52. “I knew something was wrong. I feel really bad for him,” Jackson said.

>> Crown Point’s Seamus Malaski had nearly a 10-foot PB to win the discus with a distance of 187-8.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.