The Chesterton Boys Track team didn’t have a presence at the IHSAA State Finals last year, but they had one this year and set themselves up for more in the future.

“I’m very happy for the kids to have the experience of running at the State Track Meet,” Chesterton coach John Snyder said.

The Trojans 1,600 Relay quartet of Jon Watson, Remy Lewis, Matt Raffin and Joe Raffin took home third place honors in a PR time of 3:18.41, just .09 off the CHS school record.

“For the 4x4 to finish third is outstanding,” Snyder said. “The first three guys all finished their legs better than they had all year. We knew if we put Joe (Raffin) in position, he could hang on.”

Watson ran the opening leg with a PR and gave the baton to Remy Lewis in stride with the top three teams.

“It’s always important for the first guy to get you in position and Jon did that for us by running a PR,” Snyder said. “Remy was running fast and was able to stay with everyone on the second leg.”

When Lewis handed the baton to Matt Raffin, the Trojans were in fourth place, but a great home stretch put older brother Joe Raffin in position as the anchor.

“What Matt did a great job of was not getting stuck inside,” Snyder said. “We really worked all week about being able to get outside and get it to Joe. When he popped out, he was finishing as fast as anyone else.”

Joe Raffin fought Ft. Wayne Snider for second as Indianapolis Ben Davis took top honors, but easily outdistanced fourth place New Palestine.

“I’m very excited for Joe as the only senior there to have a medal and a great memory,” Snyder said. “At the State Meet, it’s hard to go out and chase everybody down, but he had his family there and was running with his brother. What a great way to end your career.”

The Trojans also got a 10th place finish from junior David Osborn in the 3,200.

“I’m happy for David after just missing out being here last year,” Snyder said. “I know he’s disappointed with just missing a medal, but he ran a personal best. I don’t know that you can ask for much more than that.”

Sophomores Dan Dellumo and Ryan Cutter also took part in the IHSAA State Finals. Dellumo finished 21st in the shot put, while Cutter was 21st in the 1,600.

“For sophomores to come into a big stage like that, I thought they did a nice job,” Snyder said. “I want our kids to be the guys other people are talking about. And that only happens when you perform at an elite level. Now those guys have got a taste of that and they can set their goals even higher.”

1. Ben Davis 57, 2. Warren Central 33, 3. (tie) Bloomington South and Northridge 27, 5. Ft. Wayne Northrop 26, 6. Carroll 22, 7. (tie) South Bend Adams, Carmel and Indpls. North Central 18, 10. Ft. Wayne Harding 17.5.

3,200 RELAY -- 1. Carmel 7:41.79, 2. Northridge 7:48.24, 3. Lawrence North 7:49.45, 4. Westfield 7:49.72, 5. Indianapolis North Central 7:51.53, 6. Center Grove 7:53.17, 7. Avon 7:54.03, 8. Ben Davis 7:54.03, 9. Homestead 7:56.18.

100 -- 1. Matt Terrell (Ben Davis) 10.47, 2. TroyVier Franklin (S.B. Washington) 10.67,3. Kadeem Hunter (Brebeuf) 10.73, 4. Leo Cordova (Richmond) 10.73, 5. Jared Miller (Bremen) 10.77, 6. James Rogan (F.W. Northrop) 10.84, 7. Darnell Harris (Pike) 10.88, 8. Jarvis McMillian (Wirt) 10.88, 9. Jordan Gater (East Noble) 10.91.

110 H -- 1. Logan Griffith (S.B. Adams) 14.07, 2. Quontrel Wiley (Elkhart Central) 14.09, 3. Luke Swift (Center Grove) 14.28, 4. Johntel Smith (Franklin Community) 14.31, 5. Duane Brown (Ben Davis) 14.33, 6. Robert Rose (Ben Davis) 14.36, 7. Shane Mikesky (Zionsville) 14.37, 8. Marquis Collins (Warren Central) 14.40, 9. Taylor Maxey (Tipton) 14.88.

200 -- 1. Matt Terrell (Ben Davis) 21.29, 2. Jared Miller (Bremen) 21.59, 3. Leo Cordova (Richmond) 21.59, 4. Kadeem Hunter (Brebeuf) 21.87, 5. James Rogan (F.W. Northrop) 22.00, 6. Jordan Gater (East Noble) 22.46, 7. Jarvis McMillian (Wirt) 22.51, 8. Darnell Harris (Pike) 22.75.

1,600 -- 1. Drew Shields (Fishers) 4:11.36, 2. Dylan Sorensen (Zionsville) 4:12.45, 3. Robert Kleber (Carroll) 4:16.10, 4. Kyle Smiley (New Prairie) 4:16.88, 5. Tyler Byrne (North Harrison) 4:20.30, 6. Jason Crist (Franklin Central) 4:20.98, 7. Hale O'Herren (Cathedral) 4:22.01, 8. Oliver Book (Providence) 4:22.36, 9. Andrew Ramos (Frankfort) 4:23.05, 21. Ryan Cutter (Chesterton) 4:35.59.

400 RELAY -- 1. Ben Davis 41.17, 2. Harding 41.52, 3. F.W. Northrop 42.01, 4. Warren Central 42.02, 5. Pike 42.17, 6. Columbus East 42.21, 7. Valparaiso 42.26, 8. Richmond 42.37, 9. Elkhart Memorial 44.43.

400 -- 1. Devin Randle (Marion) 47.75, 2. Pat Feeney (New Palestine) 47.98, 3. Keenan Johnson (Princeton Community) 48.34, 4. Austen Barnes (Homestead) 48.65, 5. George Ezell III (Calumet) 48.78, 6. Seth Virgil (Northridge) 48.82, 7. Brady Schuster (Crown Point) 48.91, 8. Trae Heeter (Lawrence North) 48.99, 9. Curtis Ivy (Plymouth) 49.01, 27. Joe Raffin (Chesterton), DQ.

300 H -- 1. Corey Olive (East Central) 37.50, 2. Logan Griffith (S.B. Adams) 37.51, 3. Buchanon, Jarrod (S.B. Clay) 38.20, 4. Marquis Collins (Warren Central) 38.28, 5. Luke Swift (Center Grove) 38.45, 6. Anthony Yoder (Concord) 38.47, 7. Denzell Miller (Crown Point) 38.53, 8. Dexter Childress (Forest Park) 38.72, 9. Daniel Ching (Culver Academies) 38.98.

800 -- 1. Joe Holahan (Bloomington South) 1:52.26, 2. Nathan Hendershot (Pendleton Heights) 1:53.45, 3. Mark Crossman (Brownstown Central) 1:53.66, 4. Drew Gambill (Shakamak) 1:53.93, 5. Drew Shields (Fishers) 1:54.14, 6. Ian O'Boyle (Bishop Noll) 1:54.26, 7. Logan Rosenberg (Carmel) 1:54.35, 8. Robert Kleber (Carroll) 1:54.44, 9. Barry Wilkins (North Central) 1:54.66.

3,200 -- 1. Futsum Zeinasellassie (North Central) 9:11.97, 2. James Martin (Carroll) 9:14.81, 3. Andrew Buzzelli (Bloomington North) 9:15.44, 4. Al Escalera (McCutcheon) 9:16.50, 5. Corey Scott (Western) 9:17.67, 6. Tom Ohlman (Carmel) 9:18.12, 7. Matthew Miller (LaPorte) 9:18.31, 8. Scott Vicenzi (Brownsburg) 9:19.67, 9. Zach Tranter (Franklin Community) 9:21.20, 10. David Osborn (Chesterton) 9:21.67.

1,600 RELAY -- 1. Ben Davis 3:17.15, 2. F.W. Snider 3:18.24, 3. Chesterton (Jon Watson, Joe Raffin, Remy Lewis, Matt Raffin) 3:18.41, 4. New Palestine 3:18.74, 5. Evansville Harrison 3:19.52, 6. Harding 3:19.91, 7. Zionsville 3:19.92, 8. Lawrence North 3:20.08, 9. East Central 3:20.27.

DIS -- 1. Nicholas Banke (Mishawaka)179-2, 2. Ryan Pervine (Lawrence Central) 173-11, 3. Jordan Hoffman (Northridge) 172-6, 4. Jordan Stepp (Ben Davis) 169-5, 5. Aaron Baker (Lakeland) 168-2, 6. Ben Stancombe (Bloomington South) 165-8, 7. Gabe Hull (Bloomington South) 165-5, 8. Geoff Getts (Garrett) 161-0, 9. Justin Applegate (Martinsville) 159-5.

SP -- 1. Aris Allen (North Side) 58-6, 2. Ben Stancombe (Bloomington South) 58-0, 3. Kris Harley (Warren Central) 57-5 3/4, 4. Rex Drabenstot (Huntington North) 57-1, 5. Shane Wyant (Lafayette Jefferson) 56-8 1/4, 6. Nicholas Banke (Mishawaka) 56-7 1/4, 7. Matt Krempel (Columbus North) 56-3 1/4, 8. Anthony Bradley (North Central) 55-6 1/4, 9. Brian West (Merrillville) 54-11, 21. Dan Dellumo (Chesterton) 50-4 3/4.

LJ -- 1. Duwyce Wilson (Columbus East) 22-10 1/2, 2. Seth Virgil (Northridge) 22-8, 3. Victor Sapara-Grant (Warsaw Community) 22-5 3/4, 4. Darrian Mikell (Avon) 22-5 1/4, 5. James Hinton (Cloverdale) 22-3, 6. Kendal Brown (Evansville Harrison) 22-2 3/4, 7. Justin Boone (North Central) 21-11 1/2, 8. Dwight Roland-Witherspoon (S.B. Washington) 21-11, 9. Jake Moran (Franklin Community) 21-10 1/2.

HJ -- 1. Derrick Spight (Warren Central) 7-0, 2. Derrick Hill (Anderson Highland) 6-10, 3. Darrian Mikell (Avon) 6-9, 4. Xavier Carr (Harding) 6-8, 4. Randy Lientz (Owen Valley) 6-8, 6. Kevin Bloom (East Noble) 6-7, 7. Todd Nibbs (Brownsburg) 6-7, 8. Jamal Hampton (Warren Central) 6-7, 9. Travis Jauregui (Bellmont) 6-7.

PV -- 1. Corey Shank (F.W. Northrop) 16-3, 2. Zach Saunders (Lawrence Central) 16-0, 3. Peter Roach (Elkhart Memorial) 15-6, 4. Kyle Campbell (Penn) 15-6, 5. Richard Musi (Carroll) 15-3, 6. Dennis Samsonov (Evansville Harrison) 15-3, 7. Michael Wanhainen (Castle) 15-0, 8. Drew Volz (Bloomington South) 15-0, 9. Jack Eckert (Silver Creek) 15-0.

Posted 6/8/2009