June 04, 2009 09:41 am
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Fresh off Northridge High School’s second-ever boys track and field regional championship, eighth-year head coach Ryan McClane is seeking his best-ever finish at the state finals.
The boys state meet is Friday and girls Saturday at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington.
Both days field events begin at 3 p.m. Finals of the 4 x 800-meter relay are at 4:15. Running trials start at 5 and finals at 6:15.
Two years ago, Northridge finished in a tie for 54th place with 5 points.
“That is the best we have done since I’ve been at Northridge,” McClane said.
Northridge totaled 78 points to win the Kokomo regional last week and 142 to win its first-ever sectional title on May 7 at Goshen.
“Regional was a good win, but it has a little different feel than sectional,” McClane said. “Winning sectional is hard to beat. When I ran at Northridge, Elkhart Central was so good you didn’t stand much of a chance in sectional.
“In the regional, you have to rely on your top performers. As long as they are ready to perform, you are going to score points. The state meet is much the same way.”
Northridge senior Seth Virgil is the top seed in long jump after winning at Kokomo with a leap of 23-5 1/2.
“Seth has not had the best of luck at state so I think he feels he has something to prove,” McClane said. “This year is a little different. In the past, all he had to do at state was long jump. This year he is in the open 400 and on the 4 x 400 relay. It will be more like a regular meet.”
Also for Northridge, senior Jordan Hoffman is fourth in discus (178-2 1/2) and the 4 x 800 relay of senior Jake Meier, junior Austin Ball, seniors Andrew Albert and Mitch Keyser is sixth (7:58.66).
“We have asked our guys to perform at the Northern Lakes Conference, sectional and regional meets. Now we are asking them to perform again at State,” McClane said.
Goshen’s 4 x 800 relay of junior Austin Hodge, sophomore Tyler Wynn, seniors Clark Warner and Cameron Miller is seeded 15th (8:05.91).
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