Class 2 Boys
Blake Hays Contributes 36 Points To Monroe City's Team Title Effort
It was a total team effort for a small squad, but Monroe City's Blake Hays really put the team on his back on Saturday. His anchor legs on the winning 4x200 (1:29.63) and 4x400 (3:27.14) and 49.40 victory in the open 400, in addition to his third place finish in the 200 (22.28, +2.3), combined for 36 of the 57 points Monroe City would score to win the Class 2 team title.
Senior Clifford Talton, also a part of both champion relay teams, would chip in another 13 points with a fourth place finish in the long jump (22-1.75, +0.0) and second place finish in the triple jump (44-4.5, -0.2). He was a part of 33 of the team's points.
Eight more points came from Zacharee Osborn in the triple jump (43-0, NWI) and Dalton McAfee in the javelin (153-4).
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Nathan Babcock Runs Away With 800, Shuts The Door In 4x800
A soft-spoken, humble young man off the track, Nathan Babcock was anything but kind to his fellow competitors on the track this weekend.
After back-to-back sixth place finishes in the Class 3 800, Babcock followed his Principia teammates down to Class 2 and was able to secure the state title in the event.
With a 1:58.77 personal best to his name from his sophomore year, regardless of the 2:02.18 season best with which he entered the state finals, Babcock was the heavy favorite to secure the win. An opening lap 59.16 had him leading the pack comfortably, but as they turned the curve, Babcock began to open up the lead before blowing the field away, negative splitting the race (58.54 second lap) and winning by almost four seconds in 1:57.71.
"That was tough, to say the least," Babcock told us after the race.
Brock Wood Narrowly Misses Quadruple
Several athletes went for quadruple event victories this weekend. They all fell just short, but South Shelby's Brock Wood was incredibly close to pulling it off.
Wood brought home victories in three of the four events in which he competed, winning the long jump (22-9.25, +1.0), 110m Hurdles (14.89, +2.6), and 300m Hurdles (38.62). The mark in the 300m Hurdles is the No. 5 mark in the entire state at the moment and the 110m Hurdle mark is an all-conditions MO No. 12.
The 200m Dash would prove to be his only hiccup as he was outlasted by Frontier School of Excellence sophomore phenom Trevion Wilson. Wilson's 21.96 (+2.6) is a MO No. 19 all-conditions and No. 1 among sophomores, and it was enough to hold off Wood's 22.20 (+2.6).
The South Shelby senior scored 38 points for his team, but in Class 2, that was not good enough to earn him a team trophy as Principia's 40 points would push him back to fifth.
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Deablo McGee Wins Triple Jump, High Jump, 3rd In Long Jump
Reigning team champions Cleveland NJROTC lost several of their top scorers to graduation in 2018, but rebounded nicely and finished in a tie for fifth with all but one of their point scorers returning for the 2020 season.
Leading the charge for the Commanders was junior Deablo McGee who emerged this year as a field events fiend.
After not competing at all in 2018, McGee returned to competition in a big way in 2019, securing the victory in the high jump, triple jump, and grabbing a third place medal in the long jump.
In the high jump, McGee was able to emerge from the four athlete scrum that occurred at 6-4 victorious after clearing the height on his first try. Pleasant Hope freshman Tanner Hillenburg also cleared the height, but did so in his third attempt. Both athletes missed at 6-5, so McGee took the win on jumps.
In the triple jump, his 45-2 (+0.8) mark was good enough to hold off Clifford Talton for the championship. Though it was 8.5 inches off his MO No. 12 45-10.5 mark, McGee will return as the heavy favorite to repeat in the event in 2020 as the next closest returner is almost 3 feet behind him.
McGee would go on to add a 3rd place finish in the long jump. His 22-4.75 (0.0) mark was less than 5 inches back of the winner Brock Wood, but his 22-10 personal best has him as the top returner in this event, as well.
Watch out for McGee next year as he could pull down the jumps treble and help Cleveland NJROTC return to the top of the podium as a team.