A lot of metal came home to NWI from the IHSAA Track & Field State Meet held at IU Bloomington with Portage bringing home the load. Portage medaled in 4 events, the 3200 M Relay with Balboa, Dustin (11), Clegg, David (11), Martin, Tommy (09), Tribble, Gemel (11) taking the podium for 8th place with a final time of 7:57.06
Portage senior Jeron Blake medaled in 3 events he was set to run including the 100 M Dash for 7th with a time of 11.04 in the finals and the 200 M Dash with a final time of 22.72.
Blake’s 400 M Relay team also took the podium for 8th with a time of 42:46. Running on the team with Blake was Wells, Lorenzo (11), Nieves, Jared (10) and Holmes, Dashun (11).
Portage Assistant Coach Nick Haas said of the job Portage track team did at state, “We are really proud of the team. They have worked hard all year and their hard work is showing and is paying off.”
Bringing home metal for La Porte was junior Anthony Didion. Didion ran the 1600 M Run and placed 6th with a time of 4:17.24.
Didion said of his first experience running state, “I came down freshman year as an alternate for the 4x800 and last year I was injured so this was my first year to run. I gained the experience and I loved it. My 1600 wasn’t what I wanted it to be, I was boxed-in in the beginning but I made it work; I medaled. I came home with something and that’s what makes it worth it. I hope it is the first of many and I am ready to come back next year.”
Bringing home metal for Valpo was the very strong 4x400 M Relay team of Chapman, Jacob (11), Zander, Cody (12), Withrow, Isaac (12) and Marciniak, Joshua (12). They took the podium for 9th with an impressive time of 3:20.98.
Zander said, “We did an awesome job as a team and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the season and senior year. I wanted to accomplish getting a medal at state my whole track career and I was able to end my senior year bringing home that medal and it is very exciting to have done that.”
To get more of the results visit www.ihsaa.org.
http://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/boys%20sports/track/2012-13/201213BoysStateResults.pdf