Jay's Back fifth in shot

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyler Back’s effort Thursday left him short of a guaranteed return trip to the state finals. But he may still get to throw in Bloomington.
The Jay County High School senior came up short of the top-three finish that would have given him a state berth as he placed fifth in the shot put.
However, the IHSAA fills out a 27-person field in each state event, and Back’s throw was good enough to put him in the mix. He is currently sitting in the 27th position and is awaiting the results of tonight’s Valparaiso regional, which was delayed until tonight because of weather.
Back led the Patriots to a 7.5-point effort at the meet, from which the top three finishers in each event advance to the state finals. They were 19th out of 31 scoring teams, while second-ranked Lawrence Central (111.5) fought off the No. 5 host Giants (104) for the title.
The Patriots entered the meet projected for five top-eight finishes and earned four, although not all of them in the events they expected.
“It was a little mixed,” said JCHS coach Greg Garringer, whose team won the sectional title at Muncie Central on May 16. “I think we had a little bit of a high last week … It was a little disappointing, but we’re not upset. We had a lot of good things happen this year.
“I don’t think it was a great night for us, but I think we did OK.”
Back, who was seeded eighth, immediately put himself in position to throw in the finals with a toss of 50 feet, 2 inches, on his opening throw. He improved on his third throw to 52 feet, ½ inch, surpassing his third-place distance from last season by seven inches.
That remained his longest toss of the evening through the finals as his season came to an end while Decatur Central’s Lukayus McNeil (57 feet, 10¼ inches), New Castle’s Kyle Goolsby (54 feet, 9½ inches) and Pendleton Heights’ Skyler Prol (53 feet, 7 inches) took the three state-qualifying positions. Armond Jones of Ritter was fourth at 53 feet, 3 inches.
“I know Tyler is probably not happy about not going back to the state finals,” Garringer said. “But he wasn’t supposed to go last year and he came through.
“At the first part of the season, we knew 54 was the magic number. … He just couldn’t get over the hump.”
In order for Back to pick up a state berth, his toss of 52 feet, ½ inch, would need to be better than the fourth-place finisher at the Valparaiso regional. Each of the top five seeds heading into that meet threw 53 feet, 8 ½ inches, or better at their sectional competitions.
Zane Shreve exceeded expectations in the high jump, improving over his sectional leap by two inches. He finished in a seventh-place tie with Lawrence Central’s Cameron Law at 6 feet, 2 inches.
Shreve also scored for the Patriots in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 42 seconds flat for an eighth-place finish. He qualified for the finals of the 110 hurdles and finished ninth in 17.04.
“I know he’s not happy with (the 300 hurdles), but there were a lot of positives,” said Garringer. “He went 6-2 in the high jump and scored for us where he wasn’t supposed to. If you look at his total night, it was a good night for him overall. I’m very happy.”
Andrew Eley joined Back and Shreve in the top eight after entering the meet as the No. 5 seed in the discus. He reached the finals and placed eighth at 138 feet even.
Cade Price, a senior who was seeded eighth in the high jump, missed the meet because of an illness.
Senior Dylan Cope was 10th in the 800 run at 2 minutes, 2.99 seconds. Also competing in individual events for the Patriots were Sean Winget (13th – 100 dash), J.D. Mangas (14th – long jump), Back (14th – discus) and Eley (14th – discus).
Darren Bogenschutz, Mangas, Cope and Shreve were 13th in the 4x400 relay, and Jalen Ryder, Will Rowles, Bogenschutz and Cope placed 14th in the 4x800 relay.
The meet was a good experience for the Patriot regional newcomers, said Garringer, who also complimented seniors Back, Price, Cope and Bogenschutz. The group helped lead the team to just its fourth sectional title in school history.
“(Back and Price) both didn’t come out until their sophomore years, but have done very well scoring for us,” Garringer said of the pair that has led the Patriots in the field events over the last couple of seasons. “We got good leadership out of those guys. …
“Dylan Cope has been a good leader for that distance group.
“Darren Bogenschutz is a kid who came through and had a nice senior season for us.
“They’ll be sorely missed.”


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