Joe Raffin has had a number on his mind for the better part of four years and Thursday night he finally hit it.

Raffin won the 400 at the Duneland Athletic Conference Meet in 45.59 to set the CHS record he’s been looking for.

“I just wanted to stick to my game plan of getting out hard and staying smooth all the way through,” Raffin said. “It really worked out well because I felt like I had something left at the end.”

And he needed it as he fought Crown Point’s Brady Schuster (45.64) the final 100.

“Brady gave me good competition and that really pulled me through at the 300 mark,” Raffin said. “The (school record) means a lot. It’s been my goal every year to break it. I’ve got at least two more races, so I want to keep breaking it.”

Valparaiso won the team title with 154 1 points, while Merrillville was second (120) and Chesterton (87) finished third.

“Overall, I was pretty pleased and pretty happy,” Chesterton coach John Snyder said. “I’m really excited for Joe with his school record in the 400. To have the day he had with (running four events), that’s just great. I know he’s got to be exhausted.”

The Trojans also won the meet’s first event as the quartet of Thomas Halpin, David Osborn, Ryan Cutter and Ian Smith won the 4x800 Relay in 8:10.14.

“The 4x8 started the meet in great fashion by coming back to win,” Snyder said.

Chesterton got runner-up finishes in the 110 hurdles as Matt Raffin (15.28) finished .02 seconds behind Valparaiso’s James Elia.

“Matt Raffin ran outstanding in the 100’s and Jake Holth qualifying for the finals was nice,” Snyder said. “Matt’s just getting better and better. They both ran really well in the 300 hurdles too.”

The Trojans also went 2-3 in the 3200 as David Osborn and Andrew Morris finished behind LaPorte’s Matt Miller.

“Andrew Morris had a goal to finish third and that’s what he did,” Snyder said. “He stayed in his race. The pace went out pretty fast and he just sat back and picked people off.

“I’m happy for him.”

Sophomore Kody Galloway finished second in the long jump by jumping 21-11 and hitting the state qualifying standard.

The state qualifying standard allows an individual to advance to the next round of the state tournament if they don’t finish in one of the top three individual spots. The standard must be met on the day of the Sectional or Regional to advance.

“Kody Galloway hitting the state qualifying mark in the long jump for the first time is big,” Snyder said. “He may not have done quite as good in the high jump as he wanted, but you can’t be too disappointed with a PR jump.”

Other performances of note included Thomas Halpin in the 1600 (6th), Joe Raffin in the 200 (7th), Galloway in the high jump (4th), Dan Dellumo in the shot put (4th) and Tony Smith in the pole vault (5th).

1. Valparaiso, 154 1; 2. Merrillville, 120; 3. Chesterton, 87; 4. Crown Point, 73; 5. Lake Central, 44 1; 6. Portage, 54; 7. LaPorte, 46; 8. Michigan City, 33.

4x800 Ð 1. Chesterton (Thomas Halpin, David Osborn, Ryan Cutter, Ian Smith), 8:10.4; 2. Merrillville, 8:12.21; 3. Crown Point, 8:14.86; 4. Valparaiso, 8:18.15; 5. LaPorte, 8:33.60; 6. Lake Central, 8:56.24; 7. Michigan City, 9:13.39; 8. Portage, 9:22.40.

100 Ð 1. Mike Perkins (V), 11.25; 2. Israel Mercado (CP), 11.32; 3. Issac Bullock (V), 11.33; 4. Nathan Samano (P), 11.34; 5. Blake Surface (MC), 11.51; 6. Brian Allan (MC), 11.63; 7. Dom Vasquez (P), 11.71; 8. Nate Haverstock (CP), 11.80.

110 H Ð 1. James Elia (V), 15.26; 2. Matt Raffin (C), 15.28; 3. TJ Trinosky (V), 15.75; 4. Adam Karcz (LC), 16.00; 5. Andrew Siegle (LC), 16.08; 6. DeAndre Jackson (P), 16.17; 7. Keith Pavlish (M), 16.24; 8. Jake Holth (C), 16.33.

200 Ð 1. Romeo Harper (M), 22.76; 2. Mike Perkins (V), 22.96; 3. Issac Bullock (V), 23.00; 4. Israel Mercado (CP) 23.22; 5. Blake Surface (MC), 23.46; 6. Rahim Conwell (M), 23.71; 7. Joe Raffin (C), 23.74; 8. Casey Pattengale (L), 24.09.

1600 Ð 1. Matt Miller (L), 4:23.74; 2. Phillip Strader (MC), 4:28.45; 3. Dylan Harrison (M), 4:28.86; 4. Brian Witt (CP), 4:30.75; 5. Corbin Slater (L), 4:36.01; 6. Thomas Halpin (C), 4:38.10; 7. Robert Blackwell (P), 4:42.04; 8. Michael Bobos (V), 4:43.56.

4x100 Ð 1. Crown Point, 43.10; 2. Valparaiso, 43.14; 3. Merrillville, 43.96; 4. Portage, 44.33; 5. LaPorte, 45.39; 6. Lake Central, 46.03; 7. Chesterton (Jake Holth, Greg Nowak, Alex Lydick, Dan Jensen), 46.39; 8. Michigan City, DQ.

400 Ð 1. Joe Raffin (C), 49.59; 2. Brady Schuster (CP), 49.64; 3. Scott Shimala (V), 50.91; 4. Jon Watson (C), 51.29; 5. Melvin Davis (M), 51.77; 6. Tristan Pearman (P), 51.95; 7. Deon Jones (M), 52.04; 8. Devin Piet (V), 52.06.

300 H Ð 1. Denzell Miller (CP), 38.92; 2. James Elia (V), 40.12; 3. Nick Thompson (V), 40.57; 4. Skyler Coburn (L), 40.62; 5. Adam Karcz (LC), 40.85; 6. Elijah Samuels (M), 41.10; 7. Matt Raffin (C), 41.22; 8. Jake Holth (C), 41.72.

800 Ð 1. Ron Crosby-Greene (M), 1:59.91; 2. Craig Fettig (MC), 2:01.18; 3. Erik Bisson (LC), 2:01.41; 4. Milton Davis (M), 2:03.16; 5. Kevin Costalunga (V), 2:03.35; 6. Andrew Facemayer (CP), 2:03.73; 7. Kyle Breitenbach (V), 2:03.87; 8. Mitch Hubner (L), 2:03.96.

3200 Ð 1. Matt Miller (L), 9:23.18 (DAC RECORD); 2. David Osborn (C), 9:32.41; 3. Andrew Morris (C), 9:53.65; 4. Matt Burgess (V), 9:54.56; 5. Corbin Slater (L), 9:54.67; 6. Ahmad Aljobeh (V), 10:02.19; 7. Chris Shellenberger (CP), 10:02.53; 8. Dylan Harrison (M), 10:02.85.

4x400 Ð 1. Valparaiso, 3:22.15 (DAC RECORD); 2. Crown Point, 3:22.95; 3. Chesterton (Matt Raffin, Remy Lewis, Joe Raffin, Jon Watson), 3:22.99; 4. Merrillville, 3:24.74; 5. Portage, 3:33.06; 6. Lake Central, 3:33.65; 7. LaPorte, 3:39.83; 8. Michigan City, 3:40.34.

HJ Ð 1. Ashton Cole (M), 6-8; 2. Jordan Romanov (V), 6-6; 3. Melvin Davis (M), 6-3; 4. Kody Galloway (C), 6-3; 5. Alvin Best (P), 6-1; 6. Matt Hills (V), 6-1; 7. Tommy Zega (LC), 6-0; 8. Nate Scully (MC), 6-0.

DIS Ð 1. Ryan Frick (LC), 146-5; 2. Sanchez Tate (M), 142-2; 3. Joe Paczolt (P), 141-2; 4. Tyler Monohan (P), 134-0; 5. Brian West (M), 130-4; 6. Brad Pusateri (CP), 130-1; 7. Ed McGuire (LC), 128-5; 8. Zach Greiner (V), 123-11.

SP Ð 1. Brian West (M), 51-6 1; 2. Joey Little (P), 50-1; 3. Connor Snapp (V), 49-10; 4. Dan Dellumo (C), 48-7; 5. David Spurrier (P), 48-4 1; 6. Zack Breuckman (CP), 47-10; 7. Zach Greiner (V), 47-1 1; 8. David Raffin (C), 46-9.

LJ Ð 1. Matt Hills (V), 22-1; 2. Kody Galloway (C), 21-11; 3. Andy Martin (V), 21-4; 4. Danny Tzrupek (LC), 20-8; 5. Melvin Davis (M), 20-7 1; 6. Nathan Samano (P), 20-7; 7. Nate Scully (MC), 20-2 1; 8. Doug Semla (L), 19-11 3.

PV Ð 1. Nate Malone (V), 15-1; 2. Byron Ferrell (M), 14-0; 3. Andrew Siegle (LC), 13-6; 4. Keith Pavlish (M), 13-6; 5. Tony Smith (C), 13-6; 6. (tie) Ben Kucinski (V) and Joe Mayer (LC), 12-0; 8. Christian Ahearn (CP), 11-6.

Posted 5/15/2009