As third-place finishes and personal bests go, they don’t come much better than this.

Chesterton's top-seeded 3,200 relay team turned the unlikely trick in Thursday's Valparaiso Regional, surviving a dropped baton on its first leg to still take third and qualify for the state finals.

"We literally talked about it at practice yesterday," Trojans coach TR Harlan said. "If something happens, go pick up the baton and run like hell to get third. It happened last year (in the sectional in the 1,600 relay) and we let it sit there. We practiced it, not with that relay, but with the 1,600, which Joe (Troop)'s on, so he knew what to do."

Troop, who ran the opening leg of the relay for Chesterton, told Harlan he had the baton knocked out of his hand as another runner came along his right side to pass him. The stick bounced off Troop and off the track. He retrieved it and was in last when he reached the start line, but the Trojans weren't completely out of qualifying contention.

"Joe ran a great 150 (meters) coming in," Harlan said.

Freshman Billy Biehl followed with 1:56 to rally Chesterton all the way from eighth to third. Austin Palombizio actually put the Trojans in front briefly on the third leg before passing to Tyler Rusboldt, who brought it home in third in 7:57.94, less than a second behind Crown Point and Andrean.

"Tyler ran his butt off," Harlan said. "We thought maybe he'd have a chance (to qualify) in the 1,600, but he had to run so hard (in the relay), he had nothing left. Billy got us back in it and Austin gave us the lead before he ran out of gas. Joe runs a 2:07, his worst time of the season, because of the drop. If he just runs an average time, we're talking low 7:50s."

Chesterton's 1,600 relay performed without incident, finishing second to Portage (3:22.65) the 1,600 relay in 3:23.44. Troop was joined by Biehl, Archie Sullivan and Nick Barango.

"Chesterton's always been known for a good four-by-four," Harlan said. "We've had a nice stretch lately and we wanted to keep that up. We had three brand new guys who'd never run in the regional before. Biehl's a freshman, and Sullivan and Barango were our seventh and eighth guys last year."

In between relays, Troop finished a close second to Portage's Alvin Best in the open 400, getting held off in the stretch, 49.46-49.53.

"Joe was pretty gassed," Harlan said. "He ran a great race all the way to the end. We weren't so worried about times. We'd like to get in the fast heat and that may not happen now. We'll see. Alvin's one of the best around. Those guys were a tenth of a second apart again. I said it before, I'd love to see them next to each other on the podium (at state)."

Other top six finishers for Chesterton were Richie Ruff in the 110 high hurdles and shot putter Sean Matheny (sixth). The pole vault was not held due to high winds and will be contested today beginning at 5:30. The Trojans have the top seed in Justin Zosso, which gives them the potential to jump several spots in the team standings. Going into the event, they are in seventh with 37 points, one behind LaPorte, four behind Bowman and nine behind Merrillville, none of whom have pole vaulters. Crown Point, tied with Merrillville at 46, is seeded to score some points. Portage is in second at 52, trailing Lake Central (57), who figures to hold on for the title.

"Third or second, assuming all goes really well," Harlan said.

The state meet is June 2 in Bloomington.

(Incomplete pending pole vault results)

1. Lake Central 57, 2. Portage 52, 3. (tie) Merrillville 46, Crown Point 46, 5. Bowman Academy 41, 6. LaPorte 38, 7. Chesterton 37, 8. Valparaiso 35, 9. West Side 31, 10. (tie) Lowell 30, E.C. Central 30, 12. Munster 17, 13. (tie) Highland 12, Andrean 12, Hammond 12, Hobart 12, 17. Lew Wallace 11, 18. Morgan Twp. 10, 19. (tie) Hebron 8, Kouts 8, 21. Wheeler 6, 22. (tie) New Prairie 5, Michigan City 5, 24. (tie) Washington Twp. 4, River Forest 4, Kankakee Valley 4, 27. (tie) North Judson 3, Calumet 3, 29. (tie) Griffith 2, Bishop Noll 2, 31. (tie) Boone Grove 1, Gavit 1.

(Top three in each event and all additional athletes who meet a state standard-marked with an asterisk-automatically qualify for state meet June 2 in Bloomington.)

DISCUS -- 1. Gelen Robinson (LC) 179-7, 2. Dean Kokot (LC) 153-0, 3. Josh Haynes (Me) 150-11, 4. Joshua Gondeck (MC) 146-2, 5. Joshua Bustamante (Lo) 140-10, 6. Josh Kirk (NJ) 139-9.

100 -- 1. Cornelius Strickland (BA) 10.43 (TRACK/MEET RECORD), 2. Dylon Collins (Me) 10.62, 3. Jacques Hall (EC) 10.63, 4. Jeron Blake (Po) 10.73*, 5. Scott Schreiber (LP) 10.87*, 6. Malik Myles (Ha) 11.03*.

110 HH -- 1. Deante Mahome (WS) 14.34, 2. Austin Jamerson (Me) 14.49, 3. Marsillis Gibson (BA) 14.74, 4. Greg McCloud (Ham) 14.82, 5. Richie Ruff (Ch) 14.92, 6. Bruce Thomas (Mer) 14.95.

1600 -- 1. Mitch Hubner (LP) 4:26.69, 2. Ahmad Aljobeh (V) 4:29.14, 3. Tommy Bolanowski (Mu) 4:29.94, 4. Jasen Egolf (He) 4:32.74, 5. Kevin Kenney (Ch) 4:36.61, 6. Kevin Miller (Cal) 4:37.75.

3,200 RELAY -- 1. Crown Point (Jack Seamon, Tom Cierniak, Daniel Walters, Travis Kucic) 7:57.01, 2. Andrean (Jeff Gough, Nick Juniga, Blaine Wolf, Chris Stazinski) 7:57.11, 3. Chesterton (Joe Troop, Billy Biehl, Austin Palombizio, Tyler Rusboldt) 7:57.94, 4. Lowell 8:04.2, 5. LaPorte 8:05.27, 6. West Side 8:09.27.

SHOT PUT -- 1. Joey Little (P) 57-5 1/2, 2. Robinson (LC) 56-7 1/2, 3. Anthony Palm (Me) 54-2 3/4, 3. Tyler Kral (CP) 54-2 1/4, 5. Julian Beeks (A) 54-0, 6. Sean Matheny (C) 52-4 1/4.

LONG JUMP -- 1. Lonnie Johnson (WS) 23-0, 2. Nick Jones (Hi) 22-4 1/2, 3. Scott Schreiber (LP) 22-4, 4. Austin Jamerson (Me) 22-0 1/4*, 5. Jamie Cervantes (RF) 21-10 3/4*, 6. Tristan Peterson (CP) 20-11.

HIGH JUMP -- 1. Kenneth Lloyd (EC) 6-7, 2. Stephen Keller (K) 6-5 1/2, 3. Austin Jamerson (Me) 6-5 1/2, 4. Matthew Stewart (Ho) 6-5 1/2*, 5. Thamarr McGee (WT) 6-4, 6. Jordan Romanov (V) 6-2.

1,600 RELAY -- 1. Portage (Alvin Best, Blake, David Clegg, Alex Sanchez) 3:22.65, 2. Chesterton (Archie Sullivan, Nick Barango, Billy Biehl, Troop) 3:23.44, 3. Lake Central (Issac Duggan, Isiah Duggan, Nick Newell, Randy Trembacki) 3:24.37, 4. Lowell 3:25.66, 5. West Side 3:26.23, 6. Munster 3:26.29.

200 -- 1. Strickland (BA) 21.27, 2. Hall (EC) 21.8, 3. Isiah Duggan (LC) 21.84, 4. Blake (P) 21.87*, 5. Payton McCoy (LP) 22.09*, 6. Myles (Ha) 22.45.

400 -- 1. Best (P) 49.46, 2. Troop (C) 49.53, 3. Darius Mahome (LW) 50.58, 4. Jalen Knight (BA) 50.78, 5. David Clegg (P) 51.64, 6. Jentil Hull (LW) 51.95.

800 -- 1. Hubner (LP) 1:55.71, 2. Tony Rigoni (Mu) 1:56.18, 3. Kyle Nurse (Wh) 1:56.88, 4. Ian Silver (NP) 2:01.78, 5. Zach Bencur (LC) 2:02.22, 6. Jasen Egolf (He) 2:02.75.

3,200 -- 1. Alec Kostelnik (MT) 9:40.42, 2. Cierniak (CP) 9:42.4, 3. Kyle Eller (Lo) 9:44.05, 4. Aljobeh (V) 10:05.96, 5. Jacob Baranowski (Hi) 10:07.31, 6. Alex Cordova (Ho) 10:08.21.

300 HURDLES -- 1. Brandon Shanks (Lo) 39.8, 2. Gibson (BA) 39.92, 3. Trembacki (LC) 40.12, 4. Josh Marciniak (V) 40.13, 5. Peterson (CP) 40.27, 6. Othie Freeny (P) 40.85.

400 RELAY -- 1. Crown Point (Wes Honaker, Matthrew Netluch, Logan McRae, Rogerick Shannon) 42.85, 2. Lake Central (Trembacki, Duggan, Duggan, Robert Lauerman) 43.1, 3. E.C. Central (Jason Stewart, Marteyveus Carter, Anthony Hunt, Hall) 43.23, 4. Valparaiso 43.85, 5. Merrillville 43.87, 6. West Side 43.95.

Posted 5/25/2012