GREENFIELD — Due to a camera malfunction affecting the ability to time races, the Greenfield-Central boys track and field sectional will now be a two-day event.
All events were scheduled to take place Thursday, but with races being affected by the malfunction, track events were postponed until Friday at 6 p.m., while the field events ran as scheduled. Tickets from Thursday will be good for admission on Friday.
After a nearly hour-long delay, and a meeting with all of the head coaches, the meet was postponed by Greenfield-Central athletic director Jared Manning.
“It was a camera issue and with the rules and regulations with track and field, you have to have automatic timing. When you don’t have a camera, you can’t run a race. Right before the 200-meter prelims, our timer realized there was an issue and he did everything he could to get it to work tonight, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do that,” Manning said. “After talking with the IHSAA, a decision was made that we would bring all the running events back tomorrow.”
The opening race of the meet ran as scheduled with Franklin Central winning the 4×800 relay with a time of 7:59.19. Greenfield-Central’s team of David Wasson, Christopher Ross, Braylon Mumaugh and Carter Crouch was runner-up with a time of 8:07.52.
Following that race, the 100-meter prelims and the 110-meter hurdles prelims ran as scheduled before the camera issue was discovered.
Friday’s events will begin with the 200-meter prelims.
While the meet was shortened, multiple Greenfield-Central athletes already punched their ticket to next week’s regional.
Along with the 4×800 relay team, Elliot Ryba defended his sectional title in the high jump.
He cleared a height of 6-feet, 8-inches to secure the top spot.
Greenfield-Central’s Bradley Streveler took the third spot in the event to secure his regional qualifying bid alongside Ryba. He cleared a height of 6-feet, 4-inches.
In the long jump, Greenfield-Central’s Kirk Knecht finished third with a jump of 22-feet, 3.75-inches. He was bested by Warren Central’s Damien Keys (22-feet, 5.75-inches) and Franklin Central’s Damir Swanigan (22-feet, 9.75-inches).
The last qualifier on Thursday for Greenfield-Central came from Zachary Blevens in the shot put. He placed second with a throw of 41-feet. First place went to Shelbyville’s Joshua Eikman at 41-feet, 6-inches.
In the discus, Greenfield-Central will be hoping for a callback. Reese Hill threw a distance of 147-feet, 1-inch for fourth place. Roncalli’s Seth Brosseau won the event with a throw of 173-feet, 10-inches.
New Palestine’s Quinn Crawmer secured his spot in the regional with a tie for third in the pole vault, clearing a height of 12-feet, 6-inches. His height matched Roncalli’s Brayden Rossman, while Franklin Central took the top two spots. Ivan Weaver won with a height of 14-feet, and his teammate, Preston Stokell was second at 13-feet, 6-inches.
In the shot put, New Palestine’s Abe Walling placed fourth with a throw of 40-feet, 1.5-inches.
After six events, Franklin Central and Greenfield-Central are tied for the lead in the team scoring with 49 points. They are followed closely by Warren Central with 43 points and Roncalli with 37.50. New Palestine is in sixth with 14.50 points.
