The Brown County High School track and field teams swept the Western Indiana Conference Championship May 13, and for the boys, it was their first title.
The win came at the height of what has been an exceptional season for both teams.
This was the girls’ sixth WIC title.
“My girls team’s really tough, and I think that’s rubbing off a little bit,” said Head Coach Rob Abraham.
A WIC title for boys track and field has been something Abraham has wanted for a long time, he said. Of the four teams he coaches — boys and girls cross country as well as track and field — boys track is the only one that hadn’t reached that goal.
“I knew we were going to be OK, and were gonna do fine at the meet, but I was a little shell-shocked that we actually won the meet,” he said.
Boys also made All-WIC in several events, including senior Collin Hoskins, who set a new school record while taking first place with a 40.56 in the 300-meter hurdles.
Hoskins also placed second in 110-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash and fourth in long jump, leading the Eagles in all his events.
“I didn’t think I was gonna do decent at the hurdles at all,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to even run them.”
While Hoskins is well-known for his talent in basketball, he said this season has made him reconsider which sport he would like to focus on in college.
While he enjoys the team atmosphere of track, it also provides a more focused, individual aspect that he he does not get from basketball.
He did not pass the preliminaries at sectionals May 19 due to a pulled hamstring, but he had been looking forward to the chance to compete the day before.
“Basketball sectionals, you have all those nerves — with people watching. But track, you just have to go, do your hardest,” Hoskins said. “And that’s why track’s fun.”
Senior Cole Chudy made All-WIC with his first place 800-meter run, and with his 4-by-800-meter relay teammates junior Job Lawson, sophomore Wyatt Wyman and freshman Marino Dolph.
“We worked really hard for it and we all came together at the right time, so, it’s a pretty good feeling, but we’re not content yet,” Chudy said.
The boys went on to take first place May 19 at sectionals, while shaving 10 seconds from their WIC time.
Though Dolph has been running most of his life, his relay teammates have challenged him at new levels, he said.
“They’re, like, faster than me, so my goal is to get up with them, and just never have limits,” he said.
“It helps out when you’ve got two guys like Hoskins and Chudy,” Abraham said. The two have brought a lot of points for the team in multiple events during the season.
But there’s plenty of credit to go around, he said.
“It’s the little things that you gotta look at,” Abraham said. “Baylee Mosier, he placed in the shot(put). He wasn’t supposed to place in the shot. Wyatt Wyman, he had a great day. He scored in the mile and ran four different events for us and did a great thing. Zion Bunge ran well for us in relay.”
“A lot of people are going to look at Chudy and Hoskins,” Abraham said. “It took a team to actually end up doing this.”
“Absolutely,” Chudy said. “It’s not a two-man team at all.
“I think we all pull each other along and help each other out and really work together well at Brown County,” he said. “And that’s a really good tribute to the team and the coaching. I’m really thankful that we have a team that works like that here.”
Breaking records
On top of taking their sixth WIC title, the girls track team blew through school and WIC records May 13.The 4-by-800-meter relay team — seniors Corrissa Proctor and Sam Francis, freshman Kiyomi Ball and junior Haley Abraham — set a new WIC record at 10:11.36.
The 4-by-100-meter relay team — junior Elly Wertz, freshman Shaelyn Biddle and sophomores Vivien Crimmins and Kathleen McCann — broke both the WIC and school records at 50.19 seconds.
Though they lost a little time at sectionals compared to their WIC performance, all girls relay teams moved on to regionals.
The 4-by-800-meter relay placed third at sectionals and the 4-by-400 and 4-by-100 relays each placed second, both just behind Bloomington South.
The 4-by-100-meter relay was looking for Bloomington South to provide a push going into sectionals, and beyond, McCann said.
“If we use them to push ourselves further, I feel, definitely, we can break (the record) again and move on to state this year,” she said.
Crimmins said when they are competing together in the relay, they have a shared mindset from which to draw inspiration.
The 4-by-100 meter relay team prays together before each race, the girls said — a practice they have carried over from last season.
“There’s still the stress there, But I could say it’s a lot less stressful,” McCann said. “If you’re all having a bad day, you guys lean on each other. You look to each other for the moral support that you can’t really give yourself.”
The relays aren’t the only events where Brown County is moving on to regionals. Placing third overall at sectionals, the girls are bringing heat across the board.
McCann, Wertz and Crimmins are all competing in individual events in addition to the relay.
“It’s fun to work with these girls, and I feel like we all push each other to do better,” Wertz said. “It’s just an amazing feeling to be a part of something that’s so great.”
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GIRLS
Freshmen: Kiyomi Ball, Shaelyn Biddle, Evey Crimmins, Coralynne Robinson
Sophomores: Vivien Crimmins, Olivia Lee, Kathleen McCann
Juniors: Haley Abraham, Molly Austin, Tessa Dean, Maddy Fields, Ryanne Smith, Elly Wertz
Seniors: Kennedy Bruner, Sam Francis, Lindsay Leeper, Corrissa Proctor, Andi Smith, Jalynn Stanford
BOYS
Freshmen: Sam Bowman, Marino Dolph, Matthew Duncan, Jackson McPheeters, Layton Mosier
Sophomores:Justin Burns, Matt Chaiyasit, Jordan Dolph, Logan Miller, Elijah Nolan, Zacc Sheppard, Dawson Williams, Wyatt Wyman
Juniors: Gino Cosentino, Nathan Kilburn, Job Lawson, Baylee Mosier, Noah Seidle, Michael Southerland
Seniors: Zion Bunge, Chase Burns, Cole Chudy, Gabe Fleischman, Collin Hoskins, Bryant Inman, Tyler Lanfair, Austin Walsh
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