Miles, medals the most memorable

Editor’s note: Whether key plays, incredible achievements or milestone events, sports are full of instances that stick out more than others. Sports editor Chris Schanz has seen a ton of them. In this “Memorable Moments” series, he’ll revisit some important moments in area athletics.

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I’ve often said the best times of the sports calendar is when postseason rolls around.

No matter the season, that part of the year is always hectic. But it’s also the most fun.

In the fall, it’s juggling soccer sectional tournaments around volleyball and football games. In the winter, swimming sectional and state meets coincide with the wrestling postseason. In the spring — the shortest season of the three — baseball, softball and track all seem to have their respective tournaments concurrently.

It can be a scheduling nightmare at times, trying to make sure everything gets the coverage it deserves. It also helps to have a former sports editor around to help us be in two locations at once. That’s what happens during girls swim sectional and wrestling regional — both at Jay County — and the rest of the winter sports postseason.

But sometimes there are too many things going on at once, especially in different states, so it requires some considerable windshield time.

It’s all part of the job, and as I mentioned earlier, sometimes the most fun. And it leads to experiences, a memorable moment, if you will, I’ll never forget.

The first weekend in June 2017 is a prime example.

Early in the afternoon of June 2, a Friday, I made the 2-hour, 32-minute, 144-mile trek from the office down to Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington to cover the most decorated distance runner in South Adams High School history.

Bailey McIntire, who now runs for Purdue University, was the top-seeded runner in the 3,200-meter race in the IHSAA boys track and field state finals. McIntire blazed his way to the front of the pack at the start of the race, like he always did during that senior season, and was setting the pace for the first three laps.

He fell back one spot behind eventual state champion and future Boilermaker roommate Curt Eckstein, but later overtook Eckstein to regain the lead after 1,800 meters before starting to fade a bit.

McIntire later fell back to as low as sixth place, but made up two more spots to cap his Starfire career with a fourth place medal.

“It was a tough race,” he said. “I got pushed around a lot. There was a lot of tripping up and kicking my heels around by the other guys.

“I think I kind of lost my stride in parts of it. Not to say that was an excuse, but there were some times the race was a little challenging.”

At the end of the meet, I made my way to an Airbnb I had rented for the night, as I was set to have a long day ahead of me once the sun rose again.

June 3, a Saturday, was the second day of the OHSAA Division III track and field state finals at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Fort Recovery had five runners competing in three races, including returning medalist Robby LeFevre. It was also the IHSAA girls track state finals back in Bloomington.

I was going to cover both.

I woke up that day at 5:15 a.m. after a few hours of shut-eye, and by 6:03 a.m. I was fueled up — gas for my car and caffeine for me — and began the 225-mile trip to Ohio’s capital on an excursion that was set to take about 3 hours, 33 minutes.

Travis Sutter’s 1,600-meter race was set for 10:05 a.m., therefore I was leaving little time for any traffic hiccups. Thankfully, there weren’t any, and I arrived at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium ready to go at approximately 9:30 a.m.

Sutter finished in 13th place in his race. Riley Pearson, Jared Timmerman and Brayden “Butch” Schoen finished eighth in the 4x100-meter relay about 15 minutes after Sutter ran. LeFevre, who was the third seed, was disappointed with his fifth-place finish in the 200 dash at 11:20 a.m. to earn back-to-back state medals after he tied for seventh as a freshman.

“They ran very well,” then-coach Hank Bevington said of the relay, which was the only one made up of all underclassmen. “I was very proud of them. It is an unbelievable accomplishment for them to just come to a state track meet. Being in the ninth lane and going to the podium, it is a very difficult situation for them to run everything down.”

I didn’t have much time to stick around to watch the rest of the meet, or even write the story, as I had to head back to Bloomington to cover Addie Wanner of South Adams in three events.

At 12:22 p.m., I was heading back west. Just after 4 p.m., I arrived at IU, but unfortunately missed Wanner’s long jump, during which she placed 24th out of 27. She still had the high jump as the No. 2 seed and the 100 hurdles.

Between jumps, Wanner ran to a time of 14.98 seconds in her hurdles race, placing fourth in her heat and 12th overall, improving one place from her sophomore season a year earlier.

Back at high jump, the bar was raised to 5 feet, 6 inches, and Wanner was one of seven remaining competitors to guarantee herself a state medal. She did not clear the height and finished fifth.

“I’m very happy and excited,” she said. “I wasn’t really expecting it at the beginning of the season.”

Once she was done, I wrote and published the story from the OHSAA state meet as well as Wanner’s performances. Then it was time to head home.

By 9:05 p.m., I had left Bloomington and was on my way north back to Portland. And once I got home, I had spent approximately 12 hours, 14 minutes behind the wheel, traveled roughy 740 miles, covered three track state final meets and witnessed four state medals.

It was a long, taxing span of about 33 hours — fueled by copious amounts of caffeine — but what I got to do and see along the way was well worth it.

And it’s one of the most memorable two-day stretches I’ve had since I’ve been here.