You can only be first once.

The Chesterton boys track team won its first-ever Regional title by outscoring second place Valparaiso 93 1-67 on Thursday night in the IHSAA Valparaiso Regional.

“It’s a great feeling knowing that it’s never happened before at Chesterton,” Chesterton coach John Snyder said. “To be the first-ever is quite a feeling. They are a great bunch of kids and you don’t reach this level with out high-character kids. They’ve done everything I’ve asked of them.”

The Trojans got off to a flying start on the track with a victory from the quartet of Remy Lewis, David Osborn, Ryan Cutter and Shane Kenney running 7:58.21 in the 4x800 Relay.

“You always want to start the meet off on a positive note and the 4x800 really did that,” Snyder said. “A 7:58 is just off our school record and our best time this year. I’m very excited about that.”

Chesterton’s first individual Regional Championship came from Cutter in the 1600. He also finished third, qualifying for State, in the 3200.

“Cutter coming back in the mile after finishing third last year was impressive today,” Snyder said. “He has a really high upside and it’ll be exciting to see what he can do next Saturday.”

The other Trojan title came from Osborn in the 3200.

“I’m sure there were some doubts creeping into David’s mind about if he was going to get fully back,” Snyder said. “I’m more excited about this being his first Sectional or Regional title. Will he get down to the time he needs to at the State Meet? I don’t know.

“But, he has a Regional title and you can’t ever take that away.”

The Trojans also finished second in the 4x400 Relay to advance to the State Finals with the quartet of Lewis, Cole Galloway, Matt Raffin and Jon Watson. Watson also finished second in the 400.

“That time is very close to what we ran at the State Finals last year,” Snyder said. “You can be upset with not winning, but you have to be pretty happy and pleased with where you are progression-wise. We still need to clean some things up.”

In the field events, the Trojans advanced two shot putters as David Raffin finished second overall and Dan Dellumo was third.

“I know David’s disappointed because he got beat, but you can’t be disappointed because you’re going to State and get to throw for another week,” Snyder said. “Last year, he just missed qualifying and I know how hard that was for him.”

Chesterton also got third place performances from Kody Galloway (high jump) and Justin Zosso (pole vault) to punch tickets to State.

“Kody hit the qualifying mark and then they moved it up to 6-8 and that’s a tough jump to make mentally from 6-5 1,” Snyder said. “Kody had a disappointing meet here last year and it’s really nice to see him moving on.

“Justin’s only a sophomore with some incredible potential. It’s great and exciting for him to get a chance to experience the State Meet. It’s only going to propel him to be even better.”

The IHSAA State Finals will be contested at Indiana University in Bloomington next Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. Chesterton time.

“We had 14 kids competing and we thought a lot of them had a shot to get (to State),” Snyder said. “We’ve got 12 kids going to the State Finals and that’s the most I can remember in a long time.”

1. Chesterton, 93 1; 2. Valparaiso, 67; 3. Hobart, 53 1; 4. Merrillville, 42; 5. Andrean, 37; 6. Lowell, 35 1; 7. Lake Central, 31; 8. (tie) Portage and Hammond Gavit, 26; 10. LaPorte, 24; 11. Bowman Academy, 20; 12. (tie) Gary West Side, Crown Point, Boone Grove and Hanover Central, 15; 16. (tie) Winamac and Hebron, 11; 18. (tie) Washington Twp., Rensselaer Central and EC Central, 10; 21. Morgan Twp., 9; 22. Michigan City, 6; 23. (tie) Kankakee Valley, Griffith, Highland and West Central, 5; 27. Munster, 4 1; 28. (tie) Hammond Morton, South Central, North Judson and Bishop Noll, 3; 32. New Prairie, 2; 33. (tie) Gary Lew Wallace, Wheeler and Kouts, 1.

100 – 1. JARVIS MCMILLIAN (HOB), 11.00; 2. RAYVEN BULLOCK (HG), 11.32; 3. CORNELIUS STRICKLAND (BOW), 11.34; 4. Landau Lang (Mer), 11.47; 5. Christian Ellison (HG), 11.62; 6. Devin Price (SC), 11.64; 7. Jake Dixon (Por), 11.65; 8. Brandon Hogge (WT), 14.49.

200 – 1. JARVIS MCMILLIAN (HOB), 21.83; 2. RAYVEN BULLOCK (HG), 22.65; 3. ISREAL MERCADO (CP), 22.81; 4. Brandon Hogge (WT), 22.96; 5. Christian Ellison (HG), 23.00; 6. Rahim Conwell (Mer), 23.31; 7. Landau Lang (Mer), 23.45; 8. Eric Sass (Win), 23.83.

400 – 1. JARVIS MCMILLIAN (HOB), 47.73; 2. JON WATSON (CHE), 49.31; 3. BLAKE SURFACE (MC), 49.83; 4. Chris Arvia (And), 50.26; 5. Alvin Best (Por), 50.36; 6. Cole Midgett (Low), 50.38; 7. Darius Smith (HM), 50.70; 8. Brelen McGee (GLW), 51.63.

800 – 1. MIKE FAUSER (BG), 1:54.33; 2. DANIEL MARCHETTI (VAL), 1:57.08; 3. ANTHONY JANIGA (AND), 1:57.62; 4. Dustin Schultz (KV), 1:58.62; 5. Antonio Ellis (GWS), 1:59.64; 6. Patrick McCarthy (BN), 2:00.47; 7. Jacob Caddick (Mer), 2:01.77; 8. Stuart West (LaP), 2:01.84.

1600 – 1. RYAN CUTTER (CHE), 4:25.23; 2. JASON EGOLF (HEB), 4:25.83; 3. DYLAN HARRISON (MER), 4:25.86; 4. Mitchell Hubner (LaP), 4:26.62; 5. Patrick Massoels (RC), 4:31.14; 6. Andrew Morris (Che), 4:36.19; 7. David Gladys (HC), 4:38.16; 8. Joshua Hojnacki (LaP), 4:38.34.

3200 – 1. DAVID OSBORN (CHE), 9:27.76; 2. AHMAD ALJOBEH (VAL), 9:33.05; 3. RYAN CUTTER (CHE), 9:42.67; 4. Jake Baranowski (High), 9:51.83; 5. Kevin Horecky (LC), 9:53.50; 6. David Gladys (HC), 9:56.50; 7. Blake Lawson (NP), 10:01.51; 8. Jake Carden (Kou), 10:10.22.

110 H – 1. RAY SKAMAY (LOW), 15.15; 2. ADAM KARCZ (LC), 15.30; 3. DEANTE MAHONE (GWS), 15.34; 4. Andrew Kittridge (Val), 15.55; 5. Matt Raffin (Che), 15.60; 6. Thomas Camacho (Hob), 15.70; 7. Troy Yarnelle (Gri), 16.04; 8. Dominique Peterson (HM), 16.05.

300 H – 1. RAY SKAMAY (LOW), 38.00; 2. SKYLER COBURN (LAP), 39.02; 3. JAMES ELIA (VAL), 39.12; 4. Matthew Rosado (ECC), 40.24; 5. Matt Raffin (Che), 40.29; 6. Troy Yarnelle (Gri), 40.47; 7. Adam Karcz (LC), 40.64; 8. Randy Trembacki (LC), 40.89.

4x100 Relay – 1. BOWMAN ACADEMY, 42.48; 2. VALPARAISO, 42.57; 3. ANDREAN, 42.97; 4. Merrillville, 43.27; 5. Lake Central, 43.54; 6. LaPorte, 43.65; 7. EC Central, 43.72; 8. Wheeler, 43.87.

4x400 Relay – 1. LOWELL, 3:17.66; 2. CHESTERTON (REMY LEWIS, COLE GALLOWAY, MATT RAFFIN, JON WATSON), 3:18.95; 3. HOBART, 3:20.90; 4. Valparaiso, 3:21.05; 5. Gary West Side, 3:22.40; 6. Crown Point, 3:27.87; 7. EC Central, 3:28.66; 8. Munster, 3:29.56.

4x800 Relay – 1. CHESTERTON (RYAN CUTTER, SHANE KENNEY, REMY LEWIS, DAVID OSBORN), 7:58.21; 2. VALPARAISO, 8:00.06; 3. LAPORTE, 8:01.35; 4. Hobart, 8:03.83; 5. Merrillville, 8:12.44; 6. Munster, 8:13.67; 7. Crown Point, 8:15.23; 8. Gary West Side, 8:15.64.

HJ – 1. MATT GERBICK (AND), 6-5 1; 2. JON CHERMAK (MT), 6-5 1; 3. KODY GALLOWAY (CHE), 6-5 1; 4. Bob Rapley (BG), 6-4; 5. Jordan Romanov (Val), 6-2; 6. (tie) Austin Jamerson (Mer), Alvin Best (Por) and Kentrall Bailey (HG), 6-2.

PV – 1. ANTHONY CHAPMAN (WIN), 14-4; 2. BYRON FERRELL (MER), 13-6; 3. JUSTIN ZOSSO (CHE), 13-0; 4. (tie) Peter Fouts (Che) and Ryan McGuire (Hob), 12-6; 6. Paul Andrie (Val), 12-6; 7. Jake Markiewicz (LC), 12-6; 8. (tie) Matt Collison (Mun) and Joseph Gruzkowski (Low), 12-6.

LJ – 1. MATT GERBICK (AND), 23-2 1; 2. MICHAEL PERKINS (VAL), 22-10; 3. JAKE DIXON (POR), 22-8; 4. Spencer Dobson (WC), 22-2 3; 5. Floyd Hoskin (BA), 22-0 1; 6. Andrew Martin (Val), 21-11 1; 7. Cole Midgett (Low), 21-6 1; 8. Jonathan Hill (ECC), 21-3 1.

SP – 1. JOEY LITTLE (POR), 54-10; 2. DAVID RAFFIN (CHE), 54-2; 3. DAN DELLUMO (CHE), 52-8; 4. Jeremy Koselke (Hob), 52-3 3; 5. Zach Breuckman (CP), 50-1 3; 6. Quentin Barnhart (NJ), 50-1 1; 7. Derek De St. Jean (HC), 49-5 1; 8. Jacob Grossnickle (Val), 49-1 1.

DIS – 1. RYAN FRICK (LC), 168-0; 2. DEREK DE ST. JEAN (HC), 164-4; 3. BRAYLON GAGNON (RC), 163-3; 4. Sanchez Tate (Mer), 160-6; 5. Richard Russell (WT), 158-3; 6. Mark Passine (Heb), 157-10; 7. Tyler Monahan (Por), 150-6; 8. Chest Hunsley (MT), 147-1.