Fantastic foursome: Chesterton’s 1,600 relay team of AJ Thompson, Ryan Wells, Joe Bailey and Geoff Lambert placed second with a new-school record of 3:18.32 Saturday at the boys track and field state meet in Bloomington. (Photo by Casey Lambert)

By AP and JIMMY KISSEE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Chesterton’s 1,600 relay team of Joe Bailey, Ryan Wells, AJ Thompson and Geoff Lambert brought back a second place finish, crossing the finish line with a new school-record of 3:18.32 Saturday at the boys state track and field meet.

Spencer West added a fifth place finish in the shot put (57-6) for the Trojans, who totaled 13 points, which was good enough for 13th place overall. Max Goldak added a 23rd place finish in the 3,200.

Fort Wayne Northrop locked a record-breaking championship in the vault and no one could touch it.

The Bruins stayed close early in the running events, took the lead with a victory by Travvis White in the high jump and clinched the Indiana high school boys track and field championship Saturday night with an impressive first, second and eighth in the pole vault.

Coupled with the Northrop’s championship in the state girls meet Friday night, it was the first time since Gary Roosevelt in 1983 that one school swept both team titles in the same year.

The 20 points Northrop earned in the pole vault alone — thanks to champion James Martzall, runner-up Brandon Schneider and eighth-place Seager Wilson — pushed its lead to 26 points over Indianapolis North Central with just five events remaining.

It was more than enough.

The Bruins continued to pad the lead and finished with a state-record 86 points to North Central’s distant 50. Defending champion Lawrence North was third with 32 1/2 points, followed by Elkhart Memorial with 32, Fort Wayne Snider with 30 and Lawrence Central with 28 1/2.

Northrop, the runner-up last year, won its first boys title since 1997. The Bruins also had firsts by Kesonn Lee in the 100 meters and Charles Bailey in the 110-hurdles, a second by Bailey in the 300-hurdles and thirds by Brennon Plotner in both the 800 and 1,600.

The 86 points broke the former record of 84 set two years ago by Lawrence North.

The team championship was the first for Northrop coach Bob Shank, a former state champion himself in the pole vault at Fort Wayne North.

Northrop started its run to the championship in the 110-hurdles, where Bailey edged Wawasee’s Anthony Argentino by .02 second. Bailey was the runner-up in that event a year ago.

The Bruins moved up to third place in the standings on the next event, the 100, when Lee’s winning time of 10.70 seconds led a trio of runners finishing ahead of defending champion Pierre Bush of North Central. Bush also finished seventh in the long jump but pulled his left hamstring in the 200-meter trials.

Teammate Howie Kyser’s fourth in the shot put and seventh in the discus helped keep the Panthers close until Northrop took control of the meet in the pole vault.

After that, Lee added to the Bruins’ point parade with a fifth in the 200, and Plotner finished behind John Hiestand of Bloomington North and John Cavanaugh of South Bend St. Joseph’s in the 800. North Central won the 1,600-relay, but Bailey, Lee, White and Tyrus Walker gave Northrop a sixth in that event. Bailey finished second and teammate Walter Hopkins sixth in the final event, the 300-hurdles, to complete the scoring.

White beat runner-up Tre Kemp of Lawrence North in the high jump. Both cleared 6-8, but White had fewer misses.

The meet’s only individual double-winner was Christian Wagner of Columbus North, who won both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs for the second straight year and received the IHSAA award for mental attitude. Donald Washington of Franklin Central also successfully defended his championship in the long jump. The only record came in the first event, the 3,200-meter relay, where Carmel’s winning time of 7 minutes, 41.70 seconds broke the former record of 7:42.64 set by Bloomington South in 1999.

Posted 6/7/2004