2024 CIC Boys Track Season Review

With the season being done let's look back and reflect on the season. In this post, we will talk about the conference meet, state, awards, and the season as a whole.

Conference Meet

Clinton held the conference meet on Thursday, May 2nd, 2024. The results can be found at https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/555862/results/all. Tuscola ended up winning with 191 points, Clinton came in 2nd with 136, Shelbyville 3rd with 123, CAM 4th with 46, Warrensburg 5th with 29, and lastly Meridian with 24. Through the field events, our top 3 teams were relatively close, but when we stepped onto the track Tuscola dominated and pulled ahead. Let us look at who won each event and some notes on each race:

• Pole Vault- Shelbyville Freshman Owen Beyers won by vaulting 11.5 feet. 2nd went to Shelbyville's Peyton Curry, 3rd went to Clinton's Kristian Hibbard. That was our only 3 competitors as Clinton's Justin Droke scratched after warmups.

• Shot Put- Tuscola's Senior Aiden Weaver just barely beats Shelbyville's Jack Jokisch by an inch to win by throwing 48 feet.

• Discus- As usual Sawyer Woodard excels in the Discus ring winning by throwing 156.5 feet. Reed Cordts, a Warrensburg Sophomore, came in 2nd to get some rare Warrensburg individual points and Meridian's Cooper Greenwood threw a PR of 134 feet to get 3rd.

• High Jump- Shelbyville Sophomore Will Nohren won by jumping 5'11.5". The competition was rather disappointing as I feel many were expecting better results.

• Long Jump- Clinton's Sophomore Luther Fitch won with a jump of just over 20 feet. Meridian's Drew Smithers took advantage of others having a disappointing day to upset them and get 2nd.

• Triple Jump- Tuscola Junior Kam Sweetnam jumped 40'10" to win over Clinton's Taylor Anderson. Shelbyville claimed 3 and 4 with Karson Bruns and Isaac Chambers.

• 4x8- A complete jog won by Tuscola's team of James Jonas, Xander Neamtu, Jackson Barrett, and Josiah Hortin. The first leg was actually pretty interesting as all teams came through pretty close, after that though each team separated from each other and Clinton and Tuscola slowed up to save energy.

• 4x1- What a race! Tuscola came through with a gap handing off to last-leg Dylan Graves but CAM's Ryan Neece was not going to let them win; coming all the way back to lead his team of Carter Thomas, Titan Traster, and Hayden Sams to win by 0.01 seconds, 45.67 to 45.68. No other teams were nearly as close with Clinton beating Shelbyville by 0.4 seconds for 3rd.

• 3200- Just like the 4x8, another jog took place. A pack of 3(Tuscola's Will Foltz, Blake McLeese, and Clinton's Talan Thrasher) led slowly before the Tuscola boys surged and ended the race. Will Foltz came out on top.

• 110mH- Shelbyville's Sophomore Hadley Smith won with a dominant 15.57. Tuscola's Carter Simpson ran 16.29, and Clinton's Dyllon Wright ran 16.83 for 3rd taking advantage of Tuscola's David Hornaday slipping out of the blocks.

• 100- Just like the 4x1 this was a super close race. Clinton's Anthony Westbrooks just barely outleaned Tuscola's Kamden Flenner to take 1st, 11.1 to 11.11. Both PR'd and Anthony Westbrooks set Clinton's school record. 3rd and 4th were close as well separated by just 0.02, Meridian's Lleyton Miller beating CAM's Ryan Neece.

• 800- This race was actually a fun one. It saw Tuscola's Josiah Hortin and Clinton's Drew Moser work together for the first 600 meters before Josiah Hortin surged ahead for the win in 2:03 and Drew Moser a second behind. The race for 3rd was a close one between Clinton's Nolan Rhodes and Tuscola's Xander Neamtu. Nolan led them through 400 before Xander made a move past with 250 left, Nolan hung on though never letting him fully pass, and had a really good kick to beat Xander by 3 seconds. It would've been interesting to see Shelbyville's Ryne Peavler in that race but unfortunately, he could not race.

• 4x2- This event was dominated by Tuscola and their team of Kam Sweetnam, Tavi Neamtu, Kamden Flenner, and Kade Wilcox running 1:34.41.

• 400- Shelbyville's Fisher brothers had a good 1-2 punch in this one with Aydan running 52.8 and Ayson 0.6 behind. The slower heat in this one was actually pretty interesting as all the kids ran a PR with Clinton's AJ Brown surging past Warrensburg's Myles Schrimpsher and the rest of the field in the last 100 meters to run 57.3.

• 300mh- Another Hadley Smith hurdles win this time in 42.03. David Hornaday runs 42.8 for 2nd. Originally Tuscola's Carter Simpson was 3rd in 43.71, but we had a rerun as a hurdle was hit into Clinton's Dyllon Wright's lane and he ended up running 43.68 to steal the 3rd place medal.

• 1600- This race was pretty evenly spread with a decent gap between our top 3 for basically the whole race. Tuscola's Jackson Barrett won in 4:34 with Drew Moser and Blake McLeese finishing in 2 and 3. The race for 4th was closer with Clinton's Colin Jameson beating Shelbyville's Jack McClain in the final 400 meters.

• 200- Tuscola's Kamden Flenner came back after his 100 loss to win the 200 in 22.9. He had a good gap on CAM's Ryan Neece who finished 2nd just barely ahead of Clinton's Anthony Westbrooks 24.03 to 24.16. Kade Wilcox took advantage of most of the other runners being gassed from other events snatching 4th in a PR of 24.5.

• 4x4- This race was the perfect way to end the night. Tuscola at this point as we all knew had the win guaranteed but Shelbyville wanted to send them home with a loss. An interesting first 3 legs saw Shelbyville get a little gap on Tuscola by putting big brother Aydan Fisher on first leg but Tuscola was very slowly closing it. This led to Shelbyville's Ayson Fisher getting the baton with a little lead on Tuscola's Josiah Hortin. But Hortin isn't known for his come-from-behind wins for nothing, as everyone ran from the back straight to the home straight Hortin closed the gap and pulled even with Ayson with 50 meters left, a super close race saw Tuscola win by 0.1, 3:34.8 to 3:34.9, leading his team of David Hornaday, Will Foltz, and Dylan Graves to a win.

State

State Qualifiers:

2A:

• Drew Moser, Clinton Senior, 3200m- 9:59.06 24th place

• Anthony Westbrooks, Clinton Junior, Long Jump- 19'4.75" 25th place

1A:

• Lleyton Miller, Meridian Senior, 100mp- 11.04 16th place, good way to end his track career, running a good PR.

• Kamden Flenner, Tuscola Sophomore, 200mp- 22.48 11th place, just barely misses finals but only being a sophomore very interested to see what he can do over the next 2 years.

• Aydan Fisher, Shelbyville Senior, 400mp- 52.3 22nd place

• Josiah Hortin, Tuscola Senior, 800mp- 2:00.11, 800mF- 1:51.98 1st place, 1600mp- 4:29.45, 1600mF- 4:20.19 3rd place, amazing 800 win against Elmwood's Isaiah Hill, came back for 3rd in the 1600 holding off teammate Jackson Barrett

• Will Foltz, Tuscola Senior, 800mp- 1:59.08, 800mF- 1:57.59 8th place, 3200mF- 9:18.86 1st place, sit and kicks on his teammate for a great 3200 win and runs a solid 800.

• Jackson Barrett, Tuscola Senior, 1600mp- 4:26.61, 1600mF- 4:20.28 4th place, 3200mF- 9:25.21 2nd place, led most of the 3200 and hanged on for 2nd, came back in the 1600 for a solid 4th place.

• Carter Simpson, Tuscola Junior, 110mHp- 15.57, 110mHF- 18.38 9th place, unfortunately, trips over a hurdle in the finals.

• David Hornaday, Tuscola Junior, 300mhp- 41.78 10th place, sadly misses finals by 0.05 seconds but runs as well as he could.

• Hadley Smith, Shelbyville Sophomore, 300mhp- 42.84 20th place

• Aiden Weaver, Tuscola Senior, Shot Put- 50'11.5" 9th place

• Sawyer Woodard, Tuscola Junior, Shot Put- 50'5" 11th place, Discus- 157'3.5" 4th place

• Jack Jokisch, Shelbyville Junior, Shot Put- 48'2.75" 13th place, Discus- 101'7.75" 29th place

• Will Nohren, Shelbyville Sophomore, High Jumpp- 6'0.75", High JumpF- 6'0.75" 9th place

• Karson Bruns, Shelbyville Freshman, High Jumpp- No Height

• Peyton Curry, Shelbyville Freshman, Pole Vault- No Height

• Kam Sweetnam, Tuscola Junior, Long Jump- 19'2" 34th place, Triple Jump- 42'6.25" 7th place

• Tuscola 4x2p- 1:31.34 12th place- Kade Wilcox, Dylan Graves, Calvin Cook, Kamden Flenner

• Shelbyville 4x4p- 3:33.71 19th place- Aydan Fisher, Hadley Smith, Isaac Chambers, Ayson Fisher

• Tuscola 4x4p- 3:34.22 20th place- David Hornaday, Dylan Graves, Calvin Cook, Kade Wilcox

Team Scores:

1A:

• Tuscola- 54 points, 2nd place, loses only to Winnebago by 3 points, if just a few things had gone differently we would have a state champion in the CIC. Still should be very proud of how good this team was and the accomplishments they have made.

• Shelbyville- 1 point, 74th place

Season Review

Meridian-

Meridian took a very good step forward this season. This was led by senior Lleyton Miller; he placed 16th at state in the 100m dash with a 11.04 and ran a 7.08 60m dash indoor. He was a phenomenal athlete and he will be moving on to play football at Millikin. Two other of Meridian's best athletes were throwers Cooper Greenwood and Caden Ford, Greenwood placed 3rd in Discus and 5th in Shot Put at the conference meet, and Ford also scored in Discus. Unfortunately, with these three graduating we must look at who else Meridian will have. With half the team being freshmen Meridian may be building a competent class. The Sites brothers, Aiden and Griffin, are two of these freshmen. Aiden ran 11.95 in the 100 and Griffin ran 12.35, both have the potential to become solid competitors in this event. Drew Smithers is another freshman who is a great long jumper, taking 2nd at the conference meet, he also has a 12.11 100m. Freshman Jonas Henderson is their 200m runner running 25.11. Juniors Kyle Miller and Wyatt Weybright are their 400m runners, running 58.66 and 59.26. Freshmen Karter Tangney is their young thrower who is looking to solidify this event group. Lastly, Freshman Tristan Ziemer is their do-it-all man, he's run everything from 100 to 800, hurdles, and long jump, he allows them to have someone to throw in each event. Meridian improved a lot from years past, and while waving goodbye to Miller, Greenwood, and Ford will be tough as they've brought a lot to this team, these freshmen show they can continue to build on this success.

Warrensburg-

Warrensburg's season was rather disappointing, but there were still some highlights. Sophomore Reed Cordts was the only individual to score in the top 4 at the conference meet, taking 2nd in Discus. He was the highlight of the team throwing 39'8.75" in shot put and 148'9.75" in discus, as only a sophomore he can develop and find himself at the top of the conference over the next 2 years. Caz White, another sophomore, is a good 400 runner who took 5th at conference with a 56.49. Junior Jeuliyan Koehler may not have had the season anyone was expecting; injuries always suck and unfortunately, he was out from March 6th to April 25th with a pulled hamstring. He was looking strong indoor PR'ing in the 60 by 0.32 seconds. Warrensburg only had 3 seniors on the roster. Unfortunately, two of those seniors were Jake Dominick and Myles Schrimpsher. Jake led the distance group in the 800 with a 2:18 and Myles contributed to distance well too. Freshman Joey Dominick should be able to step up in the 800 showing great potential with a 2:21, and sophomore Aiden Baker can hold down the longer distances with an 11:20 3200 and 5:22 1600. For such a small school they hold a solid distance squad. With this squad, Koehler returning, and this young roster only graduating 3 seniors and developing they should only improve.

CAM-

CAM had some high moments this season, while they may not have been the best team, they have some great athletes for a school their size. Junior Ryan Neece is the superstar of this team, he took 2nd in the 200 and 4th in the 100 at the conference meet, his PRs are 23.25 and 11.3. He led a great sprints groups that also included Drew Damery, Kadyn Higgins, Isaac Rund, Hayden Sams, Carter Thomas, and Titan Traster. These last 3 joined Ryan Neece for a win in the 4x1 and 2nd in the 4x2 at the conference meet. The team as a whole though is a little older as unfortunately, Thomas, Damery, and Sams were all seniors; along with Neece and Traster being juniors. This will leave the group to freshman Higgins, and sophomore Rund. Outside of the sprint group, they have 2 notable distance runners: Junior Griffin Adrian and Senior Max Johnson. Senior Hunter White was their best thrower, throwing 41 feet in shot put and 139 feet in discus, the only thrower left on the roster is freshman Dawson Templeton who shows potential in discus throwing 116 feet. CAM had a great year but they must look forward to the future or there may be some issues coming whenever they lose these great upperclassmen.

Shelbyville-

I think Shelbyville had a rather positive season. They were stuck in the middle ground of the conference and a little more towards the bottom in most invites, but they showed flashes and should be moving up in the team scores over the next few years. They should improve from this year to the next and with some good underclassmen, who were able to win the Fresh-Soph Invite at Tuscola, they are set to win in the future not now. Two important seniors they are losing though are Aydan Fisher and Isaac Chambers. Aydan represents Shelbyville perfectly, he runs a 51.63 400 but also is a great 100, 200, and 800 runner; he was able to win the 400 and take 2nd in the 4x4 at the conference meet. Chambers was a good long sprinter and triple jumper, at the conference meet he ran each relay(except 4x8) and took 4th in triple jump. The star of this team is sophomore hurdler Hadley Smith, he rattled off 11 wins this season, including the 110mH and 300mh at conference, his PR of 15.57 had him ranked 11th in 1A in the 110mH and his 300mh time of 41.52 ranked him 15th. With hurdles this year being stacked with seniors I believe he can medal at Top Times and state in both of the next 2 years. Two more sophomores, Ryne Peavler and Ayson Fisher, really help contribute to this team, Peavler runs the 400/800 and Ayson runs the 200/400. Peavler missed the conference meet with a minor injury that held him out from April 29th to May 11th; it would have been fun to see him in that conference 800 and he may have even been able to push Shelbyville's 4x4 to a win past Tuscola, adding these up would have made a fight for 2nd place with Clinton even more interesting. Ayson was at conference and took 2nd in the 400(only losing to his big brother) and 4x4. Junior Jack Jokisch is a great lead thrower, and where he lacks in "thrower weight" he makes up for with strength and technique. The fact I haven't gotten to talk about another star sophomore Will Nohren shows how great this Shelbyville team can be. He has a PR of 6'4 in high jump and took 9th at state. He doubles in long jump jumping 20'4". In high jump though they also have freshman Karson Bruns who qualified for state as well jumping 6'2, while this may have been a fluke performance he shows great potential; where Nohren doubles in long, Bruns takes up triple jump, taking 3rd at conference with 38'8. The last thing that most people don't think about that can push Shelbyville to the front in meets is their pole vaulters. Freshman Peyton Curry vaults 12'9 and fellow freshman Owen Beyers also vaults 12 feet, this leaves them with no competition at conference or many other small meets. This Shelbyville team had a lot to talk about and they have the top athletes to be able to make some noise at invites, they just need to develop some young pieces to add depth to match how top-heavy they are, and if they can do that it may be a return to being champs just like 2022 for Shelbyville.

Clinton-

Clinton had a year that shows they may be ready to challenge for the top spot in the conference. They had two main stars; junior Anthony Westbrooks and senior Drew Moser. Westbrooks is a long jumper and sprinter. He took 1st at conference in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m. He has PRs of 11.1, 23.19, 54.75, and 21'8". These PRs had him as the best on the team in each event he did, and it wasn't too close. This was the same with Drew Moser who was the team's best distance runner, taking 2nd in the 800, 1600, and 4x8 at conference. He had PRs of 2:04.6, 4:28.9, and 9:43.8. Both of these athletes qualified for state(Westbrooks in long jump and Moser in the 3200) and set a school record(Westbrooks in the 100 and Moser in the 3200, Moser also had the 2nd fastest time in the 1600). Moser is committed to run at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. These two aren't all Clinton has though, I believe this team can be great because of the help they have. The team's strength is their jumpers who double as sprinters, just like Westbrooks. Junior Taylor Anderson, who moved to Clinton his sophomore year, is their great triple jumper(taking 2nd at conference), holding a PR of 41'1; he also ran an 11.66 100 and 24.75 200. Junior Jack Webb is their #2 high jumper, he qualified for state last year with a 6'2 jump, but was only able to jump 6' twice this year; outside of high jump, he runs mostly relays. Junior newcomer AJ Brown also high jumped 5'10; he was very spread between hurdles, relays, and sprints otherwise. Notably, he ran a 57.36 400m. Their star jumper is junior Luther Fitch, he does all 3 jumps; holding PRs of 6'4, 20'5, and 37'4, he took 2nd, 1st, and 5th at conference; outside of jumps he runs a 24.94 200m and took 3rd in the 4x2 at conference. Junior newcomer Trey Jones showed potential in long jump jumping 18'3 the one time he did it, actually beating Luther. They do have one pole vaulter, junior Kristian Hibbard who is serviceable; they also had freshman Justin Droke try it out but he suffered a hip injury before he got a chance to compete. Droke had potential as a freshman but only got to compete a few times, most notably in his first week of training he ran a 5:08 mile indoor. Other notable distance runners they have, from their state qualifying cross country team, are juniors Talan Thrasher and Colin Jameson, and sophomores Abel Koritz, Nolan Rhodes, and Miguelangel Mendoza. Thrasher is their 3200m runner running a 10:16, he also ran a 4:51 mile indoor. Rhodes and Mendoza are more 800m runners. Rhodes ran 2:08 and broke 5 minutes in the mile, also taking 3rd in the conference 800. Mendoza had a rougher season before improving a lot to end the season. His first 800 of the season was a 2:33, his last was 2:10, he also ran a 5:22 1600. Jameson and Koritz are more spread out between events. Both run a 10:36 3200, but Jameson runs 4:50 and 2:10 while Koritz runs 4:56 and 2:14. Sophomore Dyllon Wright is on the cross country team but is also the team's best hurdler, he runs 16.83 and 43.2, he took 3rd in both hurdles at the conference meet. The team was able to get junior Dalton Bell and sophomore Keagan Daughtrey to return to the track after basketball. Bell ran 12.02 in the 100 and 56 in the 400, he took 3rd in each relay(except 4x8) at conference. Daughtrey ran 26.02 and 56.34. Lastly, the team's throwers are subpar. Senior Brock Newberry threw 45'4 and 118'2, he took 4th at conference in shot put. Junior newcomers Riley Adams and Jadon Akeman are the other varsity throwers. Adams throws 35' in shot put and Akeman throws 101' in Discus. Other than them they have a lot of throwers who dont compete well, but some of the freshman could progress to be decent. Clinton had a very positive year and look to build on that. All Clinton needs to do to take the conference championship home for the first time is stay healthy and progress their good contributing pieces into great winning pieces.

Tuscola-

Tuscola had a phenomenal year. This is one of the best teams we've ever seen. Potentially the best 1A distance group of all time, an elite sprints group, elite hurdlers, elite throwers, and great jumpers. This team was not supposed to be this good. Unlike the XC team where we knew they would be at the top of the state, this team developed and brought in newcomers to become that. It is unbelievable how this team improved to be how great they are. They won the ALAH Invitational, Monticello Invitational, Tuscola Open, CIC Conference Meet, and the Okaw Valley Sectional Meet, and none of these were close. Starting with the group we know, the distance group, seniors Josiah Hortin, Will Foltz, and Jackson Barrett are all state champions. Hortin had an undefeated 800 season with a PR of 1:51.9, he also ran a 4:15.8 1600 and 9:05.8 3200, he brought home an 800 and 1600 Top Times championship, a state 800 championship, and 3rd in the state 1600. He won the 4x4, 4x8, and 800 at conference. All this makes it not surprising that Louisville wanted him. Foltz had an undefeated 3200 season, besides an easy jog at sectionals, running a 9:09.66. He also ran a 1:56.6 and 4:16.4. At state he took 8th in the 800 and 1st in the 3200, at Top Times he took 2nd in the 1600 and 1st in the 3200, and at conference he took 1st in the 3200 and 4x4. He is committed to run at Southern Illinois. Lastly, Barrett runs a 1:59.7, 4:18.4, and 9:07.4. He suffered a stress fracture very late in the season, but was able to run through it to compete at state. When you consider that his state performance was very optimal. He took 2nd in the 3200 and 4th in the 1600 at state, 2nd in the 3200 and 3rd in the 1600 at Top Times, and 1st in the 4x8 and 1600 at conference. Junior Xander Neamtu and sophomore Blake McLeese are their other star distance runners. Xander runs a 2:10.3, 4:39.1, and 9:55, he took 4th in the open 800 and 1st in the 4x8 at conference. McLeese runs 2:06, 4:36, and 9:44, he took 2nd in the 3200 and 3rd in the 1600 at conference, and 6th at Top Times in the 3200. Other good distance pieces are sophomore James Jonas and Junior David Hornaday. Jonas progressed a lot from last year, and even the start of the season, to the end of this season. He ran 2:16.9, 4:56.8, and 11:19.6, as a sophomore he could progress into a great runner that they will need in years to come. David is a hurdler but also was a good cross-country runner, he got to race the 1600 once and ran 5:00.5. He's a better hurdler though as he went 16.08 and 41.78, he also ran in some 4x2s and 4x4s. At conference he took 4th in the 110 hurdles, 2nd in the 300 hurdles, and 1st in the 4x4, at Top Times he took 9th in the 60m hurdles and 4th in the 4x4, at state he took 10th in the 300m hurdles prelims and 20th in the 4x4 prelims. Junior Carter Simpson is the other great hurdler on the team. He has PRs of 15.57 and 42.45, also running the team's 4x1. At Conference, he took 4th in the 300m hurdles and 2nd in the 110 hurdles and 4x1, at Top Times he was 14th in the 60m hurdles, but at state, he was 7th in the prelims, before falling in finals and finishing 9th. The star sprinter on the team is sophomore Kamden Flenner. He progressed a lot from last year to run 11.11 and 22.44 and also run those relays. He took 1st in dominant fashion in the 200 and 4x2 at conference and barely was out leaned for 2nd in the 100. At state he was 11th in the 200 and 12th in the 4x2, and 6th in the 4x2 at Top Times. Other contributing sprinters are seniors Bryce Graves, and Tavi Neamtu, junior Kade Wilcox, and sophomores Dylan Graves, and Calvin Cook. Bryce's season ended on April 26th with a stress fracture in his foot, but before that, he ran 23.73 and 51.97. He helped his team get 6th in the 4x2 and 4th in the 4x4 at Top Times. Tavi is an impressive 200 runner, being on that Top Times 4x2, he has a 200 PR of 24.14. Kade also had a crazy improvement from last season. He ran PRs of 11.67 and 24.58 for 5th and 4th at conference, he also anchored the 1st place 4x2. He was also on the state 4x2 and 4x4 teams. Dylan is also a relay stud. His open PRs are 24.31 and 54.43. He ran a lot of relays. At conference, he took 2nd in the 4x1 and 3rd in the 400. At state and Top Times, he was on the 4x2 and 4x4 relays. Cook was also on those state 4x2 and 4x4 teams. His PRs are 12.04, 24.14, and 55.58, just like Dylan he took 1st in the 4x1 and 4th in the 400 at conference. They have two freshmen who also mainly run the 400, Tytus Hornaday and Michael Picazo. Tytus ran 24.83 and 57.59 and Picazo ran 57.65. Neither have good 100 speed but they are the team's future in the 400. They have two jumpers/sprinters: juniors Kam Sweetnam and Zack Rennels. It was Sweetnam's first year doing track, but he was a great athlete on the basketball court. He joined late and only got to compete at one indoor track meet. His PRs came out to be 11.58, 24.11, 5'10, 20'5, and 43'4. He was very useful at conference taking 1st in the 4x2 and triple jump, and 4th in high jump and long jump. He made it to state in long jump and triple jump, where he placed 34th and 7th. Sweetnam can get more experience on the track and keep being a great athlete for the team. Rennels isn't as good of a jumper but still fills the spot for the team. He has PRs of 12.19, 25.45, 56.1, 5'2, 18'2, and 37'. He took 7th in long jump and 6th in triple jump at conference. Moving on to throws they lost star Arkansas State thrower Chris Boyd. This didn't slow them down though with senior Aiden Weaver and junior Sawyer Woodard stepping up to be a dominant top 2. Weaver improved a lot to become an amazing shot put thrower and good discus thrower. He threw 51'5 and 131'11. He took 1st and 5th at conference, and 9th at state in shot put. Woodard has PRs of 50'5 and 157'9. At conference, he took 3rd in shot put and 1st in discus, at state he was 11th and 4th. They have very good throwing depth led by juniors Andrew Spillman, Jackson Burlew, and Nathan Klie, sophomores Trey Waldrop, and Cooper Wigall, and freshman Kale Wilcox. All of them have PRs over 34' and 100'. Waldrop and Kale are the future of the team's throws and are great throwers. Waldrop should be varsity in shot put but Discus is a coin flip between the two. Tuscola had a dominant year, but if they want to do it again next year they can't settle. Shelbyville and Clinton are closing the gap. For now, though Tuscola gets to enjoy their amazing year.

Awards

Most Improved Team- Meridian

Best Team- Tuscola

Meridian MVP- Lleyton Miller

Warrensburg MVP- Reed Cordts

CAM MVP- Ryan Neece

Shelbyville MVP- Hadley Smith

Aydan Fisher has an argument to be the Shelbyville MVP but I went with Smith as he usually earns enough high placing hurdle points to counteract how Fisher does more events.

Clinton MVP- Anthony Westbrooks

Drew Moser also has an argument to be the Clinton MVP. This one is very close and I'd have no problems going the other way. I went with Westbrooks for the same reason i went with Smith; higher placing in his events.

Tuscola MVP- Josiah Hortin

Senior of the Year-Josiah Hortin(Tuscola)

Junior of the Year- Sawyer Woodard(Tuscola)

Anthony Westbrooks and David Hornaday were good but you cant argue with 4th and 11th at state.

Sophomore of the Year-Hadley Smith(Shelbyville)

Freshmen of the Year-Peyton Curry(Shelbyville)

Curry's only disadvantage is he only does pole vault, because of that I could see an argument for Jonas Henderson who could do 3 or 4 events at a meet. But Curry is much better at pole vault than Henderson is at sprinting.

Thrower of the Year- Sawyer Woodard(Tuscola)

Jumper of the Year- Luther Fitch(Clinton)

This was a very close one with Kam Sweetnam. I went with Fitch as he had high jump and long jump on Sweetnam and performed better at conference.

Sprinter of the Year-Hadley Smith(Shelbyville)

Distance Runner of the Year- Josiah Hortin(Tuscola)

Most Improved Athlete- Carter Simpson(Tuscola)

This award was the hardest one to choose, it was a toss-up between Simpson, Aiden Baker, James Jonas, and Reed Cordts. They all improved a lot but Simpson went from a 19.66 110mH to a 15.57. That takes him from a well below average time to one of the best times in the state. He also went from 13.05 to 11.84 in the 100, 26.05 to 24.44 in the 200, 11.07 to 9.23 in the 60mH, 46.54 to 42.45 in the 300mh, and 16'11 to 18'3 in long jump. All of this is insane improvement and makes me intrigued to see what he can do next year.

CIC Track Athlete of the Year-Josiah Hortin(Tuscola)

Coach of the Year- Ryan Hornaday(Tuscola)

CIC Track First Team-

Josiah Hortin(Tuscola), Will Foltz(Tuscola), Jackson Barrett(Tuscola), Sawyer Woodard(Tuscola), Hadley Smith(Shelbyville)

CIC Track Second Team-

Carter Simpson(Tuscola), Kamden Flenner(Tuscola), David Hornaday(Tuscola), Drew Moser(Clinton), Anthony Westbrooks(Clinton)

Honorable Mentions-

Aiden Weaver(Tuscola), Xander Neamtu(Tuscola), Kam Sweetnam(Tuscola), Blake McLeese(Tuscola), Luther Fitch(Clinton), Aydan Fisher(Shelbyville), Will Nohren(Shelbyville), Ryan Neece(CAM), Lleyton Miller(Meridian)