Cash-ed in

MUNCIE — Jay County’s senior leader went out on top.
Two sophomores proved they have the potential to get there.
Zach Cash’s sectional championship in the 300-meter hurdles along with second-place efforts from sophomores Tyler Back and Cade Price led the Patriot boys track team Thursday as it finished fourth in sectional competition at Muncie Southside.
Jay County scored 77.5 points, finishing well ahead of fifth-place Union (39.17) in the 12-team field. Muncie Central scored 134 points to finish ahead of 2010 champion Muncie Southside (117.67) and Delta (112.17).
The top four finishers in each event advance to compete Thursday in the regional meet at North Central.
“With this young group, I’m very happy with that,” said JCHS coach Greg Garringer, who will have 12 athletes competing at the regional level. “We had some kids step it up today. It’s the first time in eight years that I’ve coached that we had all three relays get through.”
Cash highlighted the day for the Patriots as he went head-to-head with Delta senior Austin Cook in the 300 hurdles.
Cook had the lead down the backstretch, but Cash caught him as the runners rounded the curve toward the home stretch. He took the lead with about 80 meters to go and pulled away from his counterpart to win by nearly a second with a time of 40.99.
“It feels great,” said Cash, who finished third in the event behind Gabe Detro of Winchester and Cook last season. “I was really hoping I could … go out with a win.
“I knew he had me there at the beginning of the race. He was getting to the hurdle a little bit quicker than I was. Then coming down the straight-away we kind of got side-by-side and I just kicked it into gear …”
Cash also qualified for regional competition in his other individual event — the 110 hurdles.
He edged Muncie Central’s Quintrell Hopkins at the finish line by a tenth of a second, finishing four tenths behind Cook for the runner-up spot in 16.5.
In the 4x400 relay Cash teamed with Jarod Lochtefeld, Brad Leuthold and Blake Crouch for third place in 3:39.66, and he joined Joe Imel, Darren Bogenschutz and Crouch for fourth in the 4x100 in 46.9.
Back continued his hot streak in the shot put, posting a career best distance for the fourth straight meet. He launched his longest throw of the night on his final attempt of the finals to take second place at 46 feet, 4¾ inches.
Delta’s Shane Conley won easily at 50 feet, ¾ inches, but no other competitor cleared the 43-foot mark.
“That felt really good,” said Back, who credited assistant coach Josh Swift for keeping him focused on the fundamentals heading into that final throw. “I’m only a sophomore, so it’s only up from here I hope.”
“Tyler started off throwing about 39,” added Garringer. “He’s just jumped leaps and bounds. … We’ve got him for two more years. It’s pretty exciting.”
Back also just missed a regional berth, finishing at 115 feet, 8 inches for fifth place in the discus.
Price matched his classmate by posting a runner-up effort in the high jump. He was one of just two jumpers to clear the bar at 5 feet, 8 inches, and eventually finished at 6 feet even to take second behind Muncie Central’s JaRon Terry (6 feet, 2 inches).
“Price is very athletic, and that helps him a lot,” said Garringer. “He’s so aggressive. We’ve had kids like him in the past who just don’t like to lose. He’s very competitive, and that’s great.”
Zane Shreve followed Price in the high jump, tying for third place at 5 feet, 6 inches. Jay County’s 4x800 relay team of Dylan Cope, Nick Leuthold, Nick Leonhard and Brad Leuthold also qualified for regional competition in fourth place at 8:53.04.
Karlos Harper (fifth – shot put) and Crouch (seventh – 200 dash) will also compete at the regional after scratches in their events bumped them into the field.
Also scoring points for the Patriots were Imel (sixth – 300 hurdles), Dylan Cope (seventh – 800 run), Raistlin Rice (seventh – long jump), Shreve (seventh – 110 hurdles), Brad Leuthold (eighth – 800 hurdles), Crouch (eighth – 100 dash) and Lochtefeld (eighth – 400 dash).[[In-content Ad]]