2011 IndianaRunner Year in Review
Drake Sterling and Justin Floyd
January
January is always a slow month in terms of action around the state, but there were still some interesting headlines to open up 2010.
-Connor Martin (Westfield) opened up his season at the Midwest Club Meet (Jan. 22) with a 4:27 win in the 1600 (http://indianarunner.informe.com/forum/high-school-results-f5/midwest-club-meet-1-22-t3790.html)
-Barn Burner - In a nail biter Kyle Overway narrowly defeats Austin Mudd in the “Bop to the Top!” 36 floor stair climb 4:07.0 to 4:07.6. This early season defeat would be one of the very few for Mudd. (http://indianarunner.informe.com/forum/high-school-results-f5/bop-to-the-top-1-22-t3760.html) While HSE runner Sawyer Hitchcock defeats teammate Jack Andritsch in the “Triple” event.
-College Action - Former Indiana Prep athletes dominate with some impressive times at the IU Relays:
-Andy Bayer: 3:57.75 Mile
-Andrew Poore: 13:48 5000m; Race: http://www.flotrack.org/video/284311-M-5k-H01-1348-Poore-IU-Relays Post Race Interview: http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/234866-2010-ProCollege-FloList-5000-Meters/video/285582-Andrew-Poore-Indiana-University-Mens-5k-First-1348
-Zach Mayhew: 13:58
February
-The Great Ice Storm of 2011 has runners state-wide trying to find ways to get their runs in!
-IR Distance Showcase grows in its second year – with athletes breaking the meet records in every event! Top stories include Michael Sublette’s 9:18.80 3200, Waverly Neer’s 10:42 3200, and Austin Mudd dominating a stacked 800 field in 1:53.94.
-The state’s best begin to choose their future schools - Austin Mudd commits to Wisconsin while James Martin chooses Butler.
-Chris Walden, Austin Mudd, Shane Mikesky, Glenn Powell, Marcus Safer compete at Brooks PR Invitational – Mudd was fourth in the 800 in 1:53.52, Mikesky was fifth in the 60m hurdles in 8.05, Powell was seventh in the 60m hurdles in 8.21, Safer was eighth in the 60m hurdles in 8.24, while Chris Walden was eleventh in the 1600 in 4:17.16
-Ray Beverly jumps an outstanding 23’8” long jump at the Bloomington South Invite just missing the All-Time State Record by 2 inches!
March
March is the culmination of the indoor season. Runners are rounding into shape with intentions of blasting some fast times and this year they did not disappoint.
The HSR 3200m did not fall short of expectations and got the running community excited with possibility of more great performances to come in the outdoor season. Jace Lowry of Martinsville won the 4-5a division with an impressive sub 9 clocking (8:58.95) over John Mascari of Terre Haute South (9:00.83). It was an impressive race as 5 other athletes went on to clock a sub 9:30 at the meet (Ahmed Aljobeh, Kyle Overway, Adrian Glover, Keigan Culler 1-3a, and Christopher Kelsey). Neither Lowry nor Mascari would go on to run faster this season. (http://www.flotrack.org/video/478653-HSR-B3200-H1)
Connor Martin of Westfield competes at New Balance Indoor Nationals placing 7th in the Mile with an impressive early season time of 4:15 (Converts to 4:13.92 1600m) which is the number 1 time on the Leaderboard
Former Prep stars competed at the NCAA indoor meet and represented Indiana well. Andy Bayer of IU continued his great indoor season with a 3rd place finish in the 3000m while teammate Andrew Poore placed 7th while also placing 9th in the 5000m (http://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/files/D1indoorfinalresults.pdf).
The Indiana University DMR places 2nd with a scorching time of 9:29 with former prep stars Daniel Stockberger (McCutcheon) Joseph Holahan (Bloomington South) and Andy Bayer.
April
-The 2011 Franklin Central Miracle Mile lives up to the hype and Austin Mudd shocks the state in 4:12.88. Watch Mudd close his last 400 in 58 seconds here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdZ4nNFxX8Q
-Walden and Crist compete at Arcadia Invitational 3200 –Walden finishes third in 8:51.59 while Christ goes 8:59.85 for 10th! Video:
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&year=2011&folder_id=1714&event_id=63&pg=1&offset=1#video
-Triple Crown Sprinter Jarvis McMillan commits to South Plains College in Texas
-Walden and Mudd run two amazing double at MIC. Walden wins the 16/32 in 4:08/9:05 white Mudd goes 4:13 then 1:51! Video and Results: http://indianarunner.informe.com/forum/general-f4/2011-mic-pics-and-vids-t4429.html
-Nick Stoner goes nuts at Johnson County Meet doubling the 100/200 in 10.54 and 21.46
May
May is the pivotal month in the outdoor track season and if you are not on form you will be left home for Regionals and State. The first true tests to runners form are conference meets. From the best Conference (DAC) to the rest, it is an exciting time in our sport.
Chesterton 4x4 relay team wins the DAC title with a team consisting of 2 distance runners
Chris Walden runs like the world knew he could, setting an impressive Hamilton County meet record (4:10.13).
Cornelius Strickland (Bowman Academy, Gary) wins the 100m and the 200m at the Crown Point Sectional in a time of 10.54 and 21.71. His 100m tied the outdoor best on the Leaderboard and won by almost .4 seconds! 6 Runners dip under the 11 second barrier.
Regional conditions are absolutely horrible equating to many slow times around the state and more importantly putting many runners in the slow heat in Bloomington
The Connersville regional (home to one of the most famous 2 mile races pre-state) produces 3 state standard times in the 3200 led by Jason Crist (Franklin Central) Michael Sublette and Christopher Kelsey (Columbus North)
Austin Mudd continues his hot streak by pulling the 1600/800 double at both sectionals and Regionals (1:55/4:20; 1:57/4:14.9)
Jace Lowry? Jace Lowry? Jace Lowry?.... Kid from the back of the room, “absent.”
MAY 19- Drake Sterling takes over as the man with a plan (CEO) at IndianaRunner.com!
June
-Nick Stoner and Austin Mudd double in individual events and win championships in both, then come back for an epic 4x400 that seals Center Grove as the 2011 State Champions.
-A week after the nasty elements for the Statewide Regional Meets, the heat sheets have many top athletes in “slow” heats. Austin Mudd proves mentally tough to win the 800 out of the slow heat in a State Record, 1:49.25! Later, Mudd would come back to run 4:03.00 in the 1600, breaking Rudy Chapa’s State Meet Record!
-Lawrence Central 4x8 breaks records ….twice! The team of Matt Dorsey, Connor Clafflin, Michael Steele, and Adam Turner runs 7:38 at the State Meet then travel to New Balance Nationals and run 7:34.45!
-Futsum waits just a little too long to make his move in the 3200 and misses the State Record by 1.63 seconds, running 8:56.73.
-Batesville’s Chris Geisting sets an All-Time State Best in the 400 at the Midwest Meet on Champions in 46.89.
-Austin Mudd just keeps getting better – extending his magical season, running 4:00.63 in the Dream Mile vs. Lukas Verzbicas then 1:48.09 at New Balance Nationals!
-IU gets 2 All-American athletes in the Steeplechase as Andrew Poore finishes third in 8:36 and Desean -Turner finishes sixth in 8:39
-Former Evansville runner Bryce Brown finishes third at NCAA Nats in 49.71 in the 400 hurdles
-Gabe Hull and Austin Mudd bring home National Titles at USATF Junior Championships.
-Kylie Hutson from Terre Haute North / Indiana State wins the USATF Outdoor Championship in the Pole Vault
July
-I.U.P.U.I. announces they will be adding a Track and Field program to their school!
-Indiana Runner announces it will be releasing training blogs!
-Preseason All State and Jones Top 50 begin being released…
August
-Columbus North opens up as favorites in the Preseason Polls.
-Mishawaka sets the tone early for what would end as a great season, winning the Viking Stampede and putting their top 5 under 16:45 in the first meet.
-Carmel High School hosts the first ever Carmel Classic, introducing an interesting format of 3k, 4k, 5k and drawing many of the State’s top teams to the race.
-Hamilton County blows up! August 30th Hamilton County Results show 5 Carmel runners under 16:09. Reeder wins with a blazing 15:34! Full results here: http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=21011
September
Gimme that hot sauce!!!!!! Cross country season really heats up with the biggest invitationals of the year including New Prairie, Flash Rock, and Culver. Drama was not lacking this month as teams and individuals jockeyed to show off the goods.
Flashrock Invite (http://onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=7382) : A combined 25 runners clock a sub 16 minute 5k! and on top of that we all got our mind blown by the stellar performance of Futsum. 14:36. Enough said.
Columbus North sends a message that it will take something absolutely special to beat them when they are on with their top 5 at 16:16 or better.
Bloomington South has the strongest top 3 in the state after this meet.
New Prairie: (2011 official results are MIA) http://indianarunner.informe.com/forum/high-school-results-f5/new-prairie-invitational-9-17-t5450.html
Mitch Hubner, aka Mr. Consistency wins another big race convincingly. The kid is a competitor
October
Troy Reeder starts a hot streak winning HCC in 15:30
Freshman Zack Snider breaks the 4k course record at Warren Central Frosh Inv., running 12:35
Guerin qualifies out of Sectionals for the first time in school history, beating powerhouse Fishers in the process!
Ahmad Aljobeh causes State-wide chaos as the IHSAA scrambles to outlaw “open” races
Michael Sublette/Carl Smith photo causes controversy over DQ’s on the message board. See the photo on our Pictures page here: http://indianarunner.com/Pictures.aspx
The Brebeuf Regional takes two more victims: Westfield and Brebeuf are sent packing…Spencer Clapp sent walking as well…literally…
South Bend St. Joe’s and Perry Central end the season as the #1 teams in the Medium/Small School Polls
Some big names left out of the State Meet: Josh Niedeck, Colin Rinne, Luke Brahm, Kent Garrett, Homestead
Biggest shocks making it to State? Damon Pruett and Gil Stamm
All the talk of West Lafayette ends as they fail to qualify out of NPSS.
Coach Kellison of Franklin Central retires, leaving behind a great history and a successful career.
Futsum breaks the State Meet record by Brock Hagerman, misses Verzbicas’ course record.
State Meet winners: Lawrence Central, Mishawaka, Mitch Hubner , Gil Stamm, Alex Kostelnik, FW Carroll
State Meet losers: Jason Crist, Tate Scheinbien, Caleb Kerr, Zionsville, Bloomington South
November
As cross country faded in most of the minds of most people, the real post season and quest for national glory started.
Nike Cross Country Regionals got off to a hot start with the pre-race party!! There were things that these eyes can never un-see. Ciaran O’lionaird giving IndianaRunner a shout out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdRsI736M8E) (Good), and a bunch of uncoordinated kids dancing (So bad…)
Futsum rocks the IndianaRunner.com Singlet (mucho gracias) and puts in a dominant performance for a big “W”
Columbus North Boys qualify for NXN as expected.
December
- Justin Floyd joins the Indiana Runner Staff as VP/Marketing/Communications. Along with working hard on the NXN Webcast Project, Justin begins releasing podcasts capturing the pulse of Indiana running.
- Sam Berger grabs the last spot at Foot Locker Midwest and shocks the State in qualifying for the Foot Locker National Championships. Berger had a great race in San Diego, finishing 29th and showing he is a legit contender in the future. Check out his podcast interview here: http://soundcloud.com/indianarunnerdotcom/podcast-2 and his Footlocker Recap Blog here: http://indianarunner.com/SamBergerTheFootlockerExperience.aspx
- Futsum wins NXN - No suprise as Futsum dominated the 5k course in Portland. Winning by 24 seconds...Fustum broke the course record and became Indiana's first NXN Champion. The question began to surface, however, how would racing NXN affect his chances for Foot Locker the next weekend?
- Futsum 2nd at Foot Locker Nationals - If you havent seen the race, watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkGmomwMDcM&feature=youtu.be&a. Futsum and Edward Cheserek threw down an EPIC battle that had everyone on the edge of their seats. The race itself was one of the best in history. Cheserek would go on to win by just a matter of tenths of a second. More importantly, both athletes earned respect for eachother and became close friends for what should be the rest of their bright careers.
- IUPUI makes it rain - In the span of just 21 days, IUPUI received verbal commitments from the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th place finishers at the 2011 XC State Meet.
- IHSAA talks re-alignment - The IHSAA acknowledges that the current Semi-State set up is flawed and forms a committee. Check on the thread here: http://indianarunner.informe.com/forum/general-f4/email-from-the-ihsaa-t5944-25.html. The committee will meet the first week of Jan and will attempt to hammer out a solution in just one days meeting...which at least is better than the NFL lockout.