WEST LAFAYETTE — Harrison’s boys track and field team had the depth and talent that winning an eighth straight sectional title was a foregone conclusion.
The challenge for head coach Chris Crum and his staff was putting together a meet lineup that both gave the Raiders a chance to win a sectional championship while also providing a path to get as many runners to the state meet as possible.
It takes strategic planning, both plotting who should compete in which events even if that means sacrificing max points, and coordinating training schedules individualized for athletes based on their realistic expectations.
Harrison may have the strategy mastered, keeping its sectional streak intact at the Salisbury Athletic Complex Thursday, May 21 while also positioning some Raiders well for next week’s regional meet.
“We don’t want to stretch people too thin,” Crum said. “We have a big enough team where we can spread people out and do their individual events.”
Case in point, Ben McBreairty likely would’ve been a regional qualifier in the long jump, but he focused solely on the high jump, winning the event when he cleared 6 feet, 2 inches.
Evan Lottes could’ve added more individual sectional titles, but instead he’ll go to the regional with sectional victories in the 800 meters and as a member of a 3,200 relay team with River Bender, Ossama Belal and Jonathan King.
And Zion Clopton, who unlike some of his teammates did not taper for the sectional meet with his expectation being a podium finish at the state finals in hurdles.
Harrison won 10 events, spreading the wealth among seven different individuals, which bumps to 11 when factoring in members of relays who didn’t win an individual race.
“Speaking from the distance side, I know we had a tough time deciphering who is going to run what event,” Lottes said. “The 1,600, the 800, we can all do both of those events and place well and move on to regionals. Who are we going to trust to go out there and do that? Our coaches did a great job at making that decision and giving us the best opportunity to go out and push.”
Despite Clopton’s training tiered toward the two weeks to follow, the sophomore still erased former Lafayette Jeff standout Prentice Stovall’s 27-year-old 110-meter high hurdles sectional record.
Clopton finished in 13.96 seconds and later added a victory in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and as a member of a 400 relay team that included Sullivan Garrett, Jeremiah McCray and long jump champion Jacob Schwartz.
“We just cheer each other on, push each other the best we can and see how it goes from there,” Clopton said.
On Thursday, it went pretty well.
Next Thursday, Harrison will compete in the Lafayette Jeff Regional, annually one of the state’s fastest.
A team title, while welcomed, is no longer the goal. It’s now about extending the season another week for as many individuals as possible.
For Harrison, putting a lineup together with that in mind was still enough Thursday, but there’s work to do in the six days that follow.
“We know we need faster times to get in better position, so even though we might be winning (in the sectional), we have to keep pushing,” Lottes said. “We have to go harder and put ourselves in a place to succeed in the future.”
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
West Lafayette boys track sectional results
Team scores: Harrison 220, West Lafayette 137, Twin Lakes 68.5, Carroll 55.5, Faith Christian 44, Tri-County 24, North White 18, Rossville 15, Benton Central 15, Delphi 14, Frontier 12
Regional qualifiers
3,200 relay – 1. Harrison (River Bender, Jonathan King, Ossama Belal, Evan Lottes) 8:07.92; 2. West Lafayette (Jinsoo Choi, Aiden Graves, Luca Reynolds, Grant Johnson) 8:27.72; 3. Faith Christian (Joshua Dinius, Harvey Camp, Andrew Dawalt, Hunter Lehe) 8:31.11
100 – 1. Ethan Landess (West Lafayette) 10.96; 2. Jonathan Beever (Harrison) 11.04; 3. Ledger Shaffer (Twin Lakes) 11.16
110 hurdles – 1. Zion Clopton (Harrison) 13.96 (sectional record); 2. Jaden Park (West Lafayette) 14.65; 3. Micah Davis (West Lafayette) 15.56
200 – 1. Ethan Landess (West Lafayette) 22.06; 2. Sullivan Garrett (Harrison) 22.36; 3. Jeremiah McCray (Harrison) 22.71
1,600 – 1. Jonathan King (Harrison) 4:33.81; 2. River Bender (Harrison) 4:35.42; 3. Leo Hernandez (Delphi) 4:38.76
400 relay – 1. Harrison (Zion Clopton, Sullivan Garrett, Jacob Schwartz, Jeremiah McCray) 43.18; 2. West Lafayette (Jaden Park, Ethan Landess, Fielder Melchi, Mason Wright) 43.91; 3. Faith Christian (Ziad Abdelbary, Ezra Church, Jacob Hill, Emik Tashkenbaev) 45.23
400 – 1. Joseph Finnerty (Harrison) 50.90; 2. Caleb Landess (West Lafayette) 51.33; 3. Arthur Vasquez (Harrison) 51.60
300 hurdles – 1. Zion Clopton (Harrison) 40.14; 2. Jaden Park (West Lafayette) 40.85; 3. Mason Wright (West Lafayette) 42.49
800 – 1. Evan Lottes (Harrison) 1:57.28; 2. Grant Johnson (West Lafayette) 1:57.45; 3. Hunter Lehe (Faith Christian) 1:57.83
3,200 – 1. Jacob Tilton (Harrison) 9:51.37; 2. Jango Lane (Harrison) 10:04.54; 3. Leo Hernandez (Delphi) 10:04.55
1,600 relay – 1. West Lafayette (Grant Johnson, Mason Wright, Caleb Landess, Ethan Landess) 3:24.40; 2. Harrison (Arthur Vasquez, Joseph Finnerty, River Bender, Connor Lange) 3:26.22; 3. Carroll (Maguire Mathews, Mason Scagnoli, Aiden Duff, Brody Ray) 3:34.64
Long jump – 1. Jacob Schwartz (Harrison) 21-11 3/4; 2. Ledger Shaffer (Twin Lakes) 21-1 3/4; 3. Jacob Hill (Faith Christian) 21-1
High jump – 1. Benjamin McBreirty (Harrison) 6-2; 2. Micah Davis (West Lafayette) 6-2; 3. Brody Ray (Carroll) 6-0
Discus – 1. Kingston Ayres (Carroll) 157-8; 2. Niko Papadogiannis (Harrison) 152-5; 3. Matthew Walters (Twin Lakes) 139-1
Shot put – 1. Niko Papadogiannis (Harrison) 51-6 1/2; 2. Kingston Ayres (Carroll) 48-8; 3. Deacon Prickel (Frontier) 47-0
Pole vault – 1. David Warner (Harrison) 14-0; 2. Martin Gazo (West Lafayette) 13-6; 3. Jaxon Pherigo (Harrison) 13-0.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Harrison track team strategy leads to eighth straight sectional title
Reporting by Sam King, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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