BLOOMINGTON – Bedford North Lawrence seniors Tripp Stahl and Luke Morris earned automatic invitations to the IHSAA state finals during the boys track regional on Thursday night.
Stahl finished second in the shot put, while Morris was third in the 300 meter low hurdles. The top three in each event advanced to the state meet at North Central in Indianapolis on June 6.
Seeded third in the shot, Stahl uncorked a mammoth throw of 56-10.75 on his final attempt to secure his state spot, set a personal best, and earn the red ribbon. Morris sprinted to the finish line in 40.50 in the hurdles.
Stahl and teammate Driven Axsom will wait to see if their regional marks will earn them a state trip in other events. With eight regionals, there are 24 automatic qualifiers. The final six (to complete a field of 30 in each event) will be determined when all the regional results are tabulated. Stahl was fourth in the discus (159-6, missing third by four inches), while Axsom was fourth in the 300 hurdles (40.51, trailing Morris by .01 seconds).
“All I can say is ‘Wow,’” BNL coach Brett Deckard said. “My seniors stepped up. Tripp was pretty pumped up. Luke ran well, even though he said he lacked some energy.”
Other regional competitors for the Stars included Morris (sixth in the 110 high hurdles in 15.84), Weston Holtz (10th in the 1600 in 4:37.85), Jaden Gilbert (15th in the 200 in 24.37), Ben Conner (16th in the 400 in 55.33), Axsom (10th in the pole vault at 11-0), Orion Hill (11th in the discus at 141-5) and Eli McFarland (13th in the 3200 in 10:32.28).
BNL also competed in all three relays. In the 400, Beau Allender, Axsom, Parker Beeson and Morris combined to clock 45.60 for 10th place. Sam Strauser, Hayden Rich, Tate McFarland and Holtz teamed to finish eighth in the 3200. In the 1600, Saeben Arce, Axsom, Conner and Morris posted 3:38.79 to finish in 11th place.
The Stars finished sixth in the team competition with 28 points. Bloomington North dominated the title with 144 points.
“These guys are seeing what they have to be able to do,” Deckard said. “We scored 28 points and we beat a lot of teams we competed against all year.”
Mitchell’s Aiden Swartz was seventh in the 110 hurdles (16.27), while the 400 relay team of Swartz, Kelan Endris, Tyson Quinn and Gavin Robinson finished 13th in 46.43.
