For the Daily Reporter
BLOOMINGTON —The difference between ninth and 10th place in the Boys Track and Field State Finals is a spot on the medals stand, but two Greenfield-Central seniors were happy regardless with their finishes in those spots.
Tate Helm finished ninth in the shot put with a throw of 52 feet, 8½ inches. He was seeded 11th coming in.
“Everybody had a little bit of an off day today, but I’m glad I got top nine,” said Helm, who was making his first apperance at state. “I’d like to (set a personal record) every meet, but sometimes, it just doesn’t happen. This meet is so big, and the energy is there. It caused a lot of nerves.”
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Adam Lee finished 10th in the pole vault at 14-0. He had finished 16th at state last season, but had pulled a hamstring in two places earlier this season.
“I had a really rough season with injuries, so to come here and do as well as I did, I’m happy with it,” Lee said. “I’ve had a good set of coaches that helped me get here.”
One of those coaches, pole vault coach Greg Arnold, said Lee was on his way to big things when he cleared 14-6 on April 9. He tore the hamstring on his next attempt that night.
“He was looking amazing up through April 9,” Arnold said. “He did rehab for 3½ weeks and didn’t do any running, and he’s just now getting back.”
Meanwhile, New Palestine senior Josh Collins and juniors Owen Kleine, Carson Sams and Devon Whitaker finished 13th in the 4×800-meter relay in 8 minutes, 3.20 seconds. Sophomore Ryker Large, Sams and seniors Drew Austin and Laine Schonauer took 21st in the 4×400 relay in 3:26.57.
Whitaker finished 19th in the 800 in 1:58.99. Austin took 20th in the 1,600 in 4:26.25, and Schonauer was 23rd in the 400 in 50.61.
“It was really hot, but I’m proud of making it here and coming out and running,” Schonauer said. “I would have like to have seen a better result, but it what we got.”
Mt. Vernon’s lone state qualifier, junior Dawan Langston, finished 23rd in the preliminaries of the 200 in 22.70.
North Central edged Pike 42-41 to win the team title.
