Neal wins high jump

MUNCIE — Aaron Neal had only won high jump once this season.
It was April 18 at Delta in a three-team meet with Yorktown.
Thursday, he won again.
It was at the same venue, but this time it earned him a sectional championship.
Neal, a Jay County High School junior, cleared 5 feet, 10 inches, during the track and field sectional meet at Delta, earning the only title for the Patriots.
He was also third in the long jump to qualify for the regional meet. The top three places in each event advance.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Neal, who accounted for 25 of the Patriots’ 38 points. “It’s my first time going to regional in any sport. I’m having a really good time.”
A first-place finish in the shot put from Dominique Hood of Muncie Central gave the Bearcats the team title with 122 points. Yorktown was the runner-up with 118 points, and Delta was third with 83.5 points.
Neal was one of five athletes to clear 5 feet, 10 inches — teammate Andrew Trewyn was another — but because it took Neal fewer jumps he was crowned the champion. Trewyn finished fourth.
Neal was inches from successfully jumping an even 6 feet, but he clipped the bar with his elbow on his second attempt and hit it with his heel on the third try.
While he’s happy for the junior, JCHS coach Greg Garringer said the competition would only get more difficult for Neal at regional.
“His starting height is going to be what he did tonight,” he said. “It’s an uphill battle for him, but we just want to see how he performs under pressure of competing against (those) top-notch kids.”
The regional meet is 6 p.m. Thursday at North Central in Indianapolis and includes qualifiers from the Mt. Vernon, North Central and Decatur Central sectionals.
In the long jump, Neal was sitting in second before his final jump with a distance of 18 feet, 8 inches. He trailed only Yorktown’s Brandt Applegate, who was a head of him by 1 1/2 inch.
Muncie Central’s Jeremiah Bailey jumped 19 feet, 4 inches, on his final attempt, bumping Neal down to third, and the Patriot wasn’t able to improve his distance on his final try.
Neal also finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (16.22 seconds) and fifth in the 300 hurdles (44.47). He was a mere 0.17 seconds behind Samson Waters of Wes-Del for the final qualifying spot in the 110 hurdles. Mason Bechdolt of Delta, who finished third in 110 hurdles during the state meet last season, won both events Thursday with times of 14.64 and 38.77 respectively.
“We’re pretty happy with Aaron’s performance,” Garringer said.
Also scoring for Jay County were the 4x800 and 4x100 relay teams. Tanner Craw, Dallas Dudleston, Tyler Leonhard and Luke Weaver placed fifth in the 4x800 with a time of 9 minutes, 4.16 seconds, and Alec Burcham, Ian Bentz, Alec Lewis and Kyle Blankenship teamed to finish the 4x100 in 48.55 seconds for sixth place.
“For the team we have this year, it was a good night for us,” Garringer said. “It would be a totally different scenario if we had the team that we were supposed to have.
“They did the best they (could).”