What to watch at the Bloomington boys track regional: storylines, top seeds

Evan Cheng came up a foot short of a berth to state in the long jump last year.

So the Bloomington North sophomore took an even bigger leap, across the Pacific Ocean, in the off-season to find some new coaching techniques that could improve his abilities. He posted a career-best leap of 22-5¼ this season, the best ever for a Cougar sophopmore.

He'll be looking for a similar effort to best a tough field at Thursday's Bloomington North Regional.

A family connection helped hook him up with one of China's top female long jumpers, who herself has gone 22-plus.

"My mom knows the athletic director for China's national team," Cheng said. "She just happened to be in the area, so it worked out. She won an Asian championship. I was getting great coaching over there."

It was an interesting experience getting exposed to the Chinese system. Athletes are hand-picked from a young age and focus heavily on their discipline while going to school.

"Here, it's student-athlete," Cheng said. "Over there, they still have school, but their main focus is on training.

"They taught me a lot of things I definitely hadn't learned over here. They also train six days a week for three hours a day. They work hard over there."

One difference Cheng has made is extending his approach onto the track itself, taking several slower steps before accelerating to full speed once he's back on the runway. He went 21-0 last week and is a No. 2 seed for regional. He's still rehabbing an ankle injury from basketball but also has a better mental approach, having a year under his belt.

"It's a lot better," Cheng said. "I can trust myself to get my foot under me, get up and get far."

Tickets, time schedule

Qualifiers at North come from sectionals at North, Terre Haute, Madison and Brownstown. The North Sectional contributed 29 of the 64 call-ups to the regional, seven each from Bloomington South and Eastern Greene, North had four and Edgewood three.

The meet will begin at 6 p.m. with field events and the 3,200 relay. Running trials for the 100, 200 and 100 hurdles (top two in each heat to finals and next four best) at 6:45 and running finals begin at 7:20.

Only the top three and any others who meet the state standard in that event (see seeds at the end of the story) will move on to the state meet on Friday, May 31 at IU's Billy Hayes Track. Heat sheets and live results can be found at bhsnathletics.com.

Tickets are $10 and are available ahead of time at ihsaa.eventlink.com/Tickets or at the gate with a credit card.

Familiar faces from 2023

Four regional champs from 2023 are back in North's Caleb Winders (800), Martinsville's Martin Barco (1,600), Brayden Patterson of Bedford North Lawrence (high jump) and Landon Dobbs of Henryville (pole vault).

Also looking to make a return to state are Orleans' Patrick Alston in the 400, high jump and long jump; South's D'Andre Black in the 110 hurdles; Josh Tait in the 400 and Ryan Rheam and Joe Zinkan in the 3,200; North's Max Wynalda in shot put and Jaidyn Johnson in the 100, Springs Valley's Larron Childers in discus and Terre Haute South's Ethan Aidoo in the 1,600.

Nearly every senior in that group is a Division I track commit: Black (Cincinnati), Rheam (Army), Johnson (Louisville), Barco (Washington), Alston (Indiana) and Aidoo (Marquette).

Deep races abound

Start with the 400 where seven come in seeded at under 50.3, led by Tait (49.20), who broke his school record with a 49.10 this season, with two others under 50. Alston was third in last year's race. Eastern Greene's James Lewis, the fifth seed, broke his school record last week (50.26) and was called back in the 200.

"My freshman year, I never thought I'd be close to the school record," Tait said. "I ran the mile my freshman year and started running the 400 by sophomore year and I still wasn't fast but I improved a lot, just by working a lot during the offseason and coach puts together a good workout for us."

Tait has often been by himself as he hits the front stretch for the last 100. Usually, by the 200 mark, he's gone out fast enough that he's already in front and has little trouble finishing. It might be different at regional but that's a good thing in pushing him to a strong finish.

"It helps a ton when there's a guy right next to me, like Caleb," Tait said in reference to North's Winders, his foil at the end of the 1,600 relay. "I split a 47.9 last week when I raced Caleb. Other than that, I'm just trying to go as fast as I can even though my legs are burning."

In the 800, another thrilling finish is expected between Barco and Winders (who missed the regional record by .18 last year) with Aidoo now in the mix with Martinsville's Rayce Wolff and North's Dominic D'Onofrio both under 1:57 last week. In all, the race includes 10 sub-2:00 racers from the sectional.

In the 1,600, Aidoo and North's Caelan D'Onofrio will give chase again to Barco, who set the regional record in the 1,600 last year at 4:08.75. Again, 10 ran under 4:30 last week and that doesn't include North's Jack Holden, who has run a season-best of 4:18.39.

As for the 3,200, Rheam and North's Jacob Mitchell figure to go at it again for the top spot and Zinkan has set himself up well for another state berth. The top five seed times all came from the Bloomington sectional and they include Edgewood's Jackson Klinger and Zane Meyers.

The 400 relay is led by Bloomington South at 43.17 but six others timed within 0.8 of that last week.

Hurdle-mania

South's Black figures to be in much better form this week after gutting his way through sectionals and throwing up between races. He had to settle for 15.22 and 39.97, well off his career bests this season, but still good enough to earn No. 1 seeds.

The battles for second and third should be interesting. There are nine at 16 seconds or better in the 110s, including South's Aazam Zaidi and North's Ben Boland and Alan Hays. In the 300, seven ran sub 42s last week, including South's Noah Liele-Beyene, who was fourth last year, and North's Hays.

BLOOMINGTON NORTH REGIONAL SEEDS

Top 4 seeds and area qualifiers (state standard in parenthesis)

100 (10.99): 1. Jaidyn Johnson, BN, 10.57; 2. Myles Baker, Henry, 11.07; 3. Zane Catlin, Sullvn, 11.11; 4. Stephon Opoku, BN, 11.14; 6. Khaliq Akou, BS, 11.20; 11. Elija Peters, Mart, 11.36; 13. Gabe Taylor, BS, 11.43.

200 (22.19): 1. Johnson, BN, 21.66; 2. Baker, Henry, 22.23; 3. Akou, BS, 22.42; 4. Blaine Ison, JennCo, 22.53; 5. Taylor, BS, 22.54; 7. Peters, Mart, 22.78; 13. James Lewis, EG, 23.28.

400 (49.16): 1. Josh Tait, BS, 49.20; 2. Camran Mitchell, Chrlstwn, 49.36; 3. Jaylan Johnson, Seym, 49.66; 4. Patrick Alston, Orlns, 50.15; 5. Lewis, EG, 50.26; 8. John Sobiech, BS, 50.63; 11. Jade Dawes, EG, 51.63; 12. Kellen Bishop, BN, 51.68.

800 (1:54.87): 1. Martin Barco, Mart, 1:52.05; 2. Caleb Winders, BN, 1:53.13; 3. Ethan Aidoo, THSouth, 1:54.97; 4. Rayce Wolff, Mart, 1:56.20; 5. Dominic D'Onofrio, BN, 1:56.47; 6. Jake Antibus, WRV, 1:58.06; 7. Teagan Bullock, BS, 1:58.20.

1,600 (4:17.64): 1. Barco, Mart, 4:15.37; 2. Caelan D'Onofrio, BN, 4:16.75; 3. Aidoo, THSouth, 4:21.51; 4. Alan Marshall, SprVly, 4:26.28; 12. Jack Holden, BN, 4:32.88; 16. Suoming Zhang, BS, 4:36.81.

3,200 (9:13.17): 1. Ryan Rheam, BS, 9:10.95; 2. Jacob Mitchell, BN, 9:13.10; 3. Joe Zinkan, BS, 9:25.76; 4. Jackson Klinger, Edg, 9:33.28; 5. Zane Meyer, Edg, 9:42.39.

110 hurdles (14.84): 1. D'Andre Black, BS, 15.22; 2. Ben Boland, BN, 15.46; 3. Jake Holland, TrinityLuth, 15.58; 4. Willard Barnes, JennCo, 15.66; 8. Aazam Zaidi, BS, 15.98; 9. Alan Hays, BN, 16.00.

300 hurdles (39.46): 1. Black, BS, 39.97; 2. Isaiah Engle, BrtwnCent, 40.68; 3. Barnes, JennCo, 41.39; 4. Noah Liell-Beyene, BS, 41.42; 7. Hays, BN, 41.86; 12. Eli Anderson, OV, 42.98; 13. Roman Valentine, EG, 43.20.

High jump (6-4): T1. Chandler Dukes, EastPekin, 6-2; Patrick Alston, Orlns, 6-2; Noah Hall, OV, 6-2; Andrew Elsesser, BS, 6-2; T5. Amare Draughn, BN, 6-0; T9. Zhane Capshaw, Mart, 5-10; Alex Shaevitz, BS, 5-10.

Long jump (22-0½): 1. Jay. Johnson, Seym, 21-5½; 2. Evan Cheng, BN, 21-0; 3. Shaevitz, BS, 20-11½; 4. Catlin, Sullv, 20-8½; 9. Luke Waugh, Edg, 20-4; 10. Elijah Bennett, BN, 20-3½.

Shot put (56-2¾): 1. Max Wynalda, BN, 56-9; 2. Keenan Mowery-Shields, SPut, 54-1; 3. Jason Cosby, Mad, 52-9; 4. Traeh Young, BN, 50-8; 6. Nolan Hughes, Blmf, 50-4½; 7. Chris Davis, Edg, 49-7¼; 10. Ethan Barnes, BS, 48-10; 11. Ivan Lynch, BS, 48-6¼.

Discus (163-0): 1. Nate Robertson, Mitch, 164-2; 2. Adis Hamidovic, BN, 161-7; 3. Lucas Rice, BN, 152-2; 4. Ben Teipen, SPut, 150-8; 5. Lynch, BS, 150-3; 7. Hughes, Blmf, 147-4; 10. John Powers, WRV, 141-6; 14. Peyton New, EG, 136-8.

Pole vault (14-6): 1. Landon Dobbs, Henry, 14-6; 2. Seth Ponsford, Salem, 13-6; T3. Jaston Wyke, THSouth, 13-0; Ethan Isles, BN, 13-0; Will Steiner, BN, 13-0; Frank Decker, BNL, 13-0; T10. Arthur Banks, BS, 11-6; T13. Valentine, EG, 11-0; Ben Gaunt, Mart, 11-0.

400 relay (42.45): 1. Bloomington South 43.17; 2. Seymour 43.27; 3. Sullivan, 43.37; 4. Brownstown Central, 43.67; 5. Martinsville, 43.85; 12. Edgewood, 44.83.

1,600 relay (3:22.61): 1. Bloomington South, 3:22.72; 2. Bloomington North, 3:23.05; 3. Terre Haute South, 3:27.46; 4. Seymour, 3:28.62; 6. Edgewood, 3:30.37; 8. Eastern Greene, 3:31.26; 12. Martinsville, 3:34.90.

3,200 relay (7:57.93): 1. Bloomington North, 7:58.15; 2. Terre Haute South, 8:07.97; 3. Silver Creek, 8:09.37; 4. Northview, 8:12.73; 11. Bloomington South, 8:24.50; 15. Edgewood, 8:39.61; 16. Eastern Greene, 8:46.76.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: What to watch at the Bloomington boys track regional