Shutout of any berth’s in last year’s IHSAA State Finals, the Chesterton boys track team had no problem picking up some tickets this year.

The Trojans finished third as a team and advanced participants in four events to next Friday’s State Finals in Bloomington including a Regional title for the 4x400 quartet of Jon Watson, Remy Lewis, Matt Raffin and Joe Raffin.

“That was a goal coming in,” Chesterton coach John Snyder said. “We talked about the time and the automatic qualifier, but in the end, we just really wanted to win. Matt was big. He put us back in second and put Joe in a position to do what he does.”

Joe Raffin took the baton about four steps behind Valparaiso’s Nick Thompson, but took the lead with 100 meters to go and never looked back.

“I tried to just stay focused on my race and stay relaxed,” Raffin said. “For the first 300, I just tried to slowly catch him and then at the final straight I took a few steps and caught him fast.”

The Trojans owned the State’s fastest time going into the Meet and knew early in the season they had a chance to be special.

“We knew coming back at the beginning of the year we had a chance to be pretty good,” Snyder said. “We finished fifth in the Indoor State Meet and then at the Chesterton Relays we ran 3:24 in early April.

“I’m really excited about the fact these guys aren’t satisfied with this. They’ll work hard the next week and once you get there, who knows what’ll happen.”

Chesterton’s Ryan Cutter dropped six seconds off his Sectional time and used a late spring to pass LaPorte’s Corbin Slater for third place and a State Finals berth.

“(The race) went out a little slow,” Cutter said. “The plan was just to stick with the leaders and the last 400 give it everything I had. I was lucky one kid came back to me.

“I just didn’t want to be that kid that finished fourth. I’m still in shock.”

Trojan David Osborn buried last year’s disappointing finish in the 3,200 by running a comfortable 9:36.27 to finish second and earn a berth in the State Finals. Dan Dellumo’s throw of 52-11 1 was good for second as well in the shot put.

“I’m really impressed with Dan Dellumo and Ryan Cutter,” Snyder said. “They both really jumped up to qualify as sophomores for the State Finals.

“I’m equally as happy for David Osborn after just missing out last year.”

1. VALPARAISO 80, 2. MERRILLVILLE 76, 3. CHESTERTON 50, 4. CROWN POINT 36, 5. LAPORTE 32, 6. WIRT 30, 7. MORTON 26, 8. LOWELL 25, 9. BISHOP NOLL 22, 10. NEW PRAIRIE 21, 11. PORTAGE 19, 12. LAKE CENTRAL 17, 13. (tie) LEW WALLACE, HOBART and MUNSTER 16, 16. (tie) MICHIGAN CITY and ROOSEVELT 14, 18. WEST SIDE 13, 19. HEBRON 11, 20. WINAMAC 10 1/2, 21. (tie) BOWMAN ACADEMY, CALUMET, ANDREAN and HANOVER CENTRAL 8, 25. KOUTS 7, 26. (tie) GAVIT, MORGAN TWP. and RENSSELAER 6, 29. GRIFFITH 5, 30. (tie) BOONE GROVE and HIGHLAND 4, 32. (tie) WHEELER and KANKAKEE VALLEY 3, 34. EAST CHICAGO CENTRAL 2, 35. M.C. MARQUETTE 1, 36. LACROSSE 1/2.

3,200 RELAY -- 1. VALPARAISO (KYLE BREITENBACH, BRENDAN POPE, NICK VIOLANTI, KEVIN COSTALUNGA) 8:03.14, 2. CROWN POINT (ANDREW FACEMAYER, KYLE DAVIS, CHRIS SHELLENBERGER, BRIAN WITT) 8:03.41, 3. MUNSTER (ZACH VEGA, FRED OLAOSENBIKAN, MATT GEHRIG, BILLY HEUER) 8:06.12, 4. Merrillville 8:12.03, 5. Hobart 8:12.76, 6. Kankakee Valley 8:18.62.

100 HUR -- 1. ALAN HALL (ROOS) 15.08, 2. COLIN SCHREIBER (NOLL) 15.31, 3. RAY SKAMAY (LOW) 15.51, 4. Tom Trinosky (VAL) 15.73, 5. Matt Raffin (CH) 15.78, 6. James Elia (VAL) 15.81.

100 -- 1. JARVIS MCMILLIAN (WIRT) 11.07, 2. QUENTRELL COLE (MOR) 11.25, 3. ISAAC BULLOCK (VAL) 11.32, 4. Romeo Harper (MV) 11.38, 5. Michael Perkins (VAL) 11.57, 6. Rayven Bullock (GAV) 11.68.

1,600 -- 1. KYLE SMILEY (NP) 4:24.38, 2. PHILIP STRADER (MC) 4:24.85, 3. RYAN CUTTER (CH) 4:26.47, 4. Corbin Slater (LAP) 4:27.54, 5. Mike Fauser (BG) 4:35.68, 6. Dylan Harrison (MV) 4:35.71.

400 RELAY -- 1. VALPARAISO (BULLOCK, NICK THOMPSON, MATT HILLS, PERKINS) 43.09, 2. MORTON (CORY PHILLIPS, SHEVIN WILLIAMS, KAYLN AARON, QUENTREEL COLE) 43.11, 3. MERRILLVILLE (ROMEO HARPER, LANDAU LANG, JOSH PERRY, KELLY WIGGINS) 43.21, 4. Crown Point 43.29, 5. Portage 43.41, 6. Gavit 44.04.

400 -- 1. McMILLIAN (WIRT) 48.26, 2. GEORGE EZELL III (CAL) 49.05, 3. BRADY SCHUSTER (CP) 49.18, 4. Joe Raffin (CH) 49.30, 5. Juian Taylor (WS) 50.35, 6. Josh Luna (WHE) 50.78.

300 LH -- 1. DENZELL MILLER (CP) 39.46, 2. SKYLER COBURN (LAP) 39.77, 3. SKAMAY (LOW) 39.80, 4. Nick Thompson (VAL) 39.83, 5. Alan Hall (ROOS) 39.87, 6. Colin Schreiber (NOLL) 50.85.

800 -- 1. IAN O'BOYLE (NOLL) 1:55.07, 2. BILLY HEUER (MUN) 1:56.44, 3. KYLE PATTEE (LOW) 1:56.79, 4. Craig Fettig (MC) 1:59.34, 5. Kyle Breitenbach (VAL) 1:59.49, 6. Antonio Ellis (WEST SIDE) 1:59.93.

200 -- 1. McMILLIAN (WIRT) 22.26, 2. KENDALL GUNN (HOB) 22.65, 3. QUENTRELL COLE (MOR) 22.71, 4. Harper (MV) 22.91, 5. Perkins (VAL) 22.93, 6. Thomas Moore (LOW) 23.20.

3,200 -- 1. MATT MILLER (LAP) 9:21.66, 2. DAVID OSBORN (CH) 9:36.27, 3. KYLE SMILEY (NP) 9:41.90, 4. Jacob Carden (KOUTS) 9:48.07, 5. Ahmad Aljobeh (VAL) 9:48.60, 6. Patrick Massoels (RENS) 9:58.90.

1,600 RELAY -- 1. CHESTERTON (JON WATSON, REMY LEWIS, JOE RAFFIN, MATT RAFFIN) 3:20.15, 2. MERRILLVILLE (RON CROSBY-GREENE, KEON JONES, MELVIN DAVIS, ELIJAH SAMUELS) 3:21.12, 3. VALPARAISO (SCOTT SHIMALA, KEVIN PIET, JAMES ELIA, NICK THOMPSON) 3:21.62, 4. Crown Point 3:21.71, 5. West Side 3:23.57, 6. Lowell 3:23.84.

HJ -- 1. DAMION McGEE (LW) 6-6, 2. MATT GERBICK (AND) 6-6, 3. ASHTON

COLE (MV) 6-6, 4. ROBERT WEBB (NP) 6-5, 5. Matt Hills (VAL) 6-2, 6. Alvin Best (PORT) 6-2.

LJ -- 1. MELVIN DAVIS (MV) 22-2, 2. FLOYD HOSKIN (BOWMAN) 22-0, 3. ZACHARY MARVEL (MTWP.) 21-11, 4. STANLEY ROBERTS (LAP) 21-10, 5. Andy Martin (VAL) 21-5, 6. Brandon Harris (HOB) 21-4.

DIS -- 1. RYAN FRICK (LC) 161-11, 2. MARK PASSINE (HEB) 160-4, 3. BRIAN WEST (MV) 156-10, 4. Derek De St. Jean (HC) 151-4, 5. Tyler Monahan (PORT) 144-5, 6. Timothy Kubiak (HC) 142-5.

SP -- 1. WEST (MV) 54-2, 2. DAN DELLUMO (CH) 52-11 1/2 3. STEPHEN RODGERS (LW) 52-7 1/2, 4. Brad Hardin (GRIF) 51-1 1/2, 5. Joey Little (PORT) 50-9, 6. David Raffin (CH) 50-8 1/2.

PV -- 1. ANTHONYH CHAPMAN (WIN) 14-8 (REGIONAL RECORD), 2. BYRON FERRELL (MV) 14-8.5, 3. DREW SIEGLE (LC) 14-6, 4. Nate Malone (VAL) 14-0, 5. Tony Smith (CH) 13-6, 6. Tyler Skinner (REN) 13-0.