GREENFIELD — Tate Helm peaked at the right time.
The Greenfield-Central senior, Hancock County’s lone scorer at the IHSAA Boys Track and Field State Finals, did his best in the big meets.
Helm placed ninth in the shot put, and also won titles at the Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference meets — where he was runner-up the last two years — to garner The Hancock County Boys Track Athlete of the Year.
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Helm won the county meet with a distance of 48’10” and from then on out, he was a man of the 50s.
It started the following week at the HHC Championships, Helm threw a personal best of 53’, nearly two feet further than second-place Andrew Harvey (51’3”) of Pendleton Heights.
“When it was time to get moving, he stepped up,” Greenfield-Central head track and field coach Scott Burton said. “He really stepped up his game when it counted.
“Once he got to conference, everything started falling into place and he took off from there.”
It wasn’t a matter of making major changes. In fact, it was just the opposite.
Throws coach Brian Burkhart, who was an outstanding thrower at Greenfield-Central in the late ‘80s, would remind Helm to stay with his technique, and good things would happen.
“Stay consistent with your technique and you’ll pop one,” Burkhart recalled on his advice to Helm. “He didn’t look any different from when he threw 48’ at county. Everything came together and he hit it.”
“I let my technique take over and when I hit 53’ (at conference),” Helm said. “I thought, ‘Oh snap, I’m only five and a half inches from automatically going to state.’”
Already close to state standard, Helm had a slight setback prior to the Warren Central Sectional. He suffered a sprained wrist just a couple of days ahead of the tournament. He persevered, and needing a top-three finish to advance to the regional, he finished second with a throw of 52’9”.
Then it was time for the big one. Helm made the biggest statement of his season and his career at the Warren Central Regional.
First up in his flight, Helm let loose a heave of 54’4¾.” It automatically put him in the state finals, eclipsing the state standard of 53’5½”. It also ranks him fourth all-time in Greenfield-Central history, trailing only Brett and Brian Burkhart and Tyler Beeson. He was just one spot away from his coach, who is No. 3 at 54’10½. Brett is the school record holder at 56’10½”. The Burkharts set their marks in 1987. Beeson is a 2014 Greenfield-Central grad.
“It deflated the competition,” coach Burkhart said of Helm’s initial throw in the regional. “Now, everybody was having to play catch up.”
“I put all my nervousness into one throw, and it felt great,” Helm said. “Coach Burkhart always talked about consistency, stay consistent and you’ll end up popping one off soon.”
The regional throw was good enough for a second-place finish.
Along with hitting the big one through his sound technique, Helm has other attributes that have made him one of the elite throwers in Cougars history.
He is smaller than many high school throwers. At 5’10” and 220 pounds, he’s going up against a lot bigger competition. More guys fall into the 6’3” and 250-pound category.
“He’s a quick kid and smaller size compared to other athletes, but he’s fast, athletic and explosive,” coach Burkhart said. “He has been that way all four years I’ve coached him.”
Helm brushes off the size difference, which he admits is a little easier to do than the fall during football season. “It’s a little different than going up against those guys in football. There, it hurts.”
Against the big guys at the state finals, Helm threw 52’8½” to finish ninth. He said he would have liked to have done better, but still feels good about going home with some hardware.
“Your goal for every season is to get to state. I had that goal as a freshman, too, but it wasn’t realistic then,” Helm said.
“I was two feet under my PR. If I threw a foot further I would have got sixth, but at the end of the day, a medal is a medal and that’s better than nothing.”
Coach Burkhart was proud of his protégé, too.
“The pinnacle is to get to the state meet,” he said. “To medal was a bonus.”
