FORTVILLE — A slow start turned into a decisive swing.
Behind initially to defending sectional champion Lawrence North on Thursday night, the Mt. Vernon boys track and field team did what it does best and surged ahead in the team points standings, one event after another.
“Five minutes, then boom, boom. We were ahead by one at the time, after three events, the whole meet just went whoosh, and it never changed the rest of the night,” Mt. Vernon head coach Bruce Kendall said. “That was the ‘it’ for us right there.”
The determining factor was simply placement points — a litany of them — and a robust eight first-place finishes during the 2021 Mt. Vernon Sectional, leading to the host Marauders first team title since 2014.
Junior Keagan La Belle captured two key first-place ribbons in the pole vault and long jump, while adding a third with the 400-meter relay team that consisted of Cameron Parsley, Caden Wildey and Derrick “DJ” Marble.
Marble, a sophomore, also ran away with the 100-meter dash title, freshman Andres Langston won the 400, sophomore George Burhenn seized the 110-meter hurdle championship and Joseph Bowsher completed the hurdle sweep in the 300-high event.
The Marauders’ 1,600-meter relay team of Wilbert Jones, Andrew Jones, Langston and Bowsher added the final touch in 3:28.70.
“You got to get one in that first four, then one in that second four, and if you get two in that first four, it makes up if you don’t score in the second four. Where we only got shut out was in the discus tonight,” Kendall said.
The Marauders’ efficiency led to an unmatched 178.5 team points for the program’s fourth sectional title since 2003-04 and third in nine years.
Lawrence North was second with 142.5 points. Pendleton Heights was third at 99.50 behind two new-meet records in the shot put (57-feet, 4-inches) and discus (172-00) by senior Andrew Harvey, and New Castle was fourth at 60.
Eastern Hancock advanced a pair of qualifiers into next week Thursday’s Lawrence Central Regional with the top-three finishers in each event moving on.
The Royals had a third-place run in the 800 by senior Cayden Sotelo (2 minutes, 3.01 seconds) and were third in the 400 relay with Cole Rainbolt, Ashton Smith, Houston Swan and Zach Arnold teaming to post a 44.86.
La Belle’s pole vault victory at 11-06.00 was part of the rally that eventually led to a 126.5-86 point margin over Lawrence North after 11 of 16 events scored.
La Belle’s winning leap in the long jump covered 20-06.00. Domanic Barnett’s third-place finish in the pole vault at 9-00.00 added to the Marauders’ forward charge. Wildey was also third in the long jump at 20-00.50.
Parsley was third in the high jump at 6-00.00.
“The jumps are the hardest events to get right in a big meet because there are so many variables in the high jump, pole vault and long jump. We were at our best in all of them,” Kendall said. “Every jumper was at his best.”
In the 100, Marble continues to hit his stride as the weather gets warmer.
During the Hancock County Meet earlier this month, Marble helped the Marauders win the team title with an 11.42, which placed him third in the 100.
During the Hoosier Heritage Conference Meet this month, he won in 11.24. At sectional, he ran an 11.37.
“This means the most to us. We worked so hard for this, and it paid off,” Marble said. “And my time just kept dropping and dropping. I don’t even know what’s going on. I’m a sectional champion. Everyone is surprised.
“Our team is stacked,” Marble added. “At regional, we just need to go in there like we didn’t win. Just come out there and try to get the W, again.”
The Marauders beat the Lawrence North Wildcats during the regular season in a dual meet, 79-53, this past April. At sectional, they wanted to prove it wasn’t a fluke.
“We’ve been focused on this meet for pretty much two weeks now. After conference, this was all we were doing. Hard practices and we just came out big,” La Belle said. “It’s a big win for sure. We were projected to lose. We were behind, then we came out and destroyed them. It feels really good.”
Parsley finished runner-up in the 200 with a time of 23.23, and Langton won the 400 in 50.29 with Andrew Jones in fourth at 52.07.
In the 800, Daylon King was fifth and Evan Rappe took sixth for four more team points. Austin Rush placed fourth in the 1,600-meter run in a time of 4:36.62 for five more points, followed by Reyce Morgan in fifth.
Morgan was third in the 3,200 with a time of 10:14.38.
The Marauders owned the hurdle events with Burhenn winning the 110 in 15.72, followed by Langston in second at 15.90. The 300-high hurdle title went to Bowsher in 40.78, just ahead of Burhenn in 41.34 after the latter swept both events at county and during the HHC meet.
“The hurdlers have had such a load on them, but every meet they just come in 1-2, bam, bam, bam; it’s a huge psychological boost, and Marble is just on fire lately,” Kendall said. “We need to figure out what he’s eating.”
Mt. Vernon’s 400 relay team won in 43.81, and the 3,200 relay of Colin Brown, King, Rappe and Joseph Blagrave were second in 8:24.30.
“It was a great meet for us. We’re in the mix to win regional. We’ll have to beat Lawrence Central. North Central is the one to beat, but Lawrence Central is the one to beat in the state,” Kendall said. “You can’t count us out because a majority of the team is intact. We might get some call back in the distance.”
Lawrence Central is ranked ninth in the state, according to the recent IATCCC boys track and field poll.
