20 Years, 20 Records

David Neville was a Senior at Merrillville High School when he decided to try running the 400 Meter Dash, and what a good decision it was. Neville won the 2002 state title with a time of 46.99, and quickly became a world class sprinter.

Neville went on to win three Big Ten outdoor championships over the next four years for Indiana University. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Neville earned a bronze medal in the 400 and was part of the USA 4x400 relay team that won gold. Now, Neville is a sprinters coach at The University of Tennessee. 

Austin Mudd had a sensational day at the 2011 State Finals, breaking two long standing records. Mudd won the 1600 Meter Run in 4:03.00, breaking Rudy Chapa's record that had stood since 1976. Then, little more than an hour later, the Center Grove Trojan went out and covered the field in the 800 Meter Run. Mudd's time of 1:49.25 in that race was nearly a second faster than Tom Martin's record, which was set in 1977.

Mudd had an injury laden college career at Wisconsin before retiring from the sport in 2016. 

One year after Austin Mudd broke Rudy Chapa's 1600 record, another distance star took down Chapa's record in the 3200. Futsum Zienasellasie is one of the best track and cross country runners Indiana has ever seen, and his time of 8:51.15 in the 2012 State Finals beat Chapa's 37 year old record by four seconds. Ziensellasie also won the cross country state championship that year by nearly 45 seconds, the largest ever margin of victory at the Indiana State Finals.

Zienasellasie went on to run cross country at Northern Arizona, and earned multiple top five finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Harrison's Bryce Brown is one of only 27 individuals to win three state championships in an event, winning the 300 Meter Hurdles in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Brown dominated the event, and crushed the record with a time of 36.26 his senior season. He also won the 100 Meter Hurdles that year, and finished third in the 100 Meter Dash.

Brown would go on to run at South Plains Junior College and Texas Tech University, and in 2018 Brown was inducted into the Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame.

Lawrence Central's 2011 3200 Meter Relay team of Adam Turner, Connor Claftin, Michael Steele and Matt Dorsey set the state record with a 7:28.62. Turner would go on to run at the University of Notre Dame, Claftin at Columbia University, and Dorsey ran for Air Force.

Nathan Patterson of Plymouth High School cleared 7 foot 4 inches in the High Jump at the 2018 State Finals, crushing the previous record of 7 foot 1.25 inches that had stood for 40 years. Patterson's 7-4 is the seventh highest mark ever set by a high school athlete nationally. Now, Patterson competes at the University of Southern California.

On the same day Patterson broke the High Jump record, Frankfort's Colton Crum set a new Pole Vault record. Crum finished second to Deakin Volz in the 2015 meet, but ultimately got the better of the Bloomington South product by erasing Volz from the record book with a vault of 17-6.25 in 2018. Crum now competes at Notre Dame.

Lynaa Irby is arguably the best female sprinter ever to run in the state of Indiana. Irby is the only athlete to ever win 12 state championships, taking the 100, 200 and 400 titles each year of her high school career. Irby's time of 11.41 in the 100 Meter Dash her senior season is the fastest ever in the State Finals.

Irby ran collegiate track at Georgia, where she won the 400 Meter Dash at the 2018 NCAA National Championships and set the meet record in that event with a time of 49.80. Irby decided to leave Georgia and turn pro last year.

Elizabeth Stanhope finished second in the 800 Meter Run at the 2018 State Finals, missing out on the title by less than one tenth of a second. Stanhope more than made up for that near miss when she came back as a Senior in 2019 and won the race for Pike in 2:06.62, breaking Brittany Neeley's 2013 record by more than a second. Stanhope now runs track and cross country for Indiana University.

Waverly Neer is one of the best female distance runners ever to come out of Indiana. Neer won state championships in cross country, the 1600 Meter Run, and the 3200 Meter Run for Culver Academies in her senior year. Neer broke both the state meet record in both the 1600 and the 3200 as she dominated both races, and her 1600 time of 4:43.46 remains the best ever to be run at the IHSAA State Finals.

Neer went on to run at Columbia and later Oregon, where she led the Ducks to a 3rd place finish at the 2015 NCAA National Championships.

Like Waverly Neer before her, Mishawaka's Anna Rohrer won three state championships in her Senior campaign, earning top honors in cross country, the 1600, and the 3200. While Rohrer's 1600 time was not as fast as Neer's, her 3200 time of 10:11.2 crushed the record set by Neer in 2011. Rohrer's closest competition in that race finished nearly 45 seconds behind.

Rohrer went on to compete at the University of Notre Dame, where she was a four time All-American.

Lake Central's Destiny Washington edged out a win over Nakita Turner-Lee in the 100 Meter Hurdles in the 2018 State Finals. Washington finished 0.05 seconds ahead of Turner-Lee with a time of 13.93, and set a new state meet record. Her performance on that day helped secure a spot on the track team at Youngstown State, where she runs now.

Concordia's Symone Black won both the 100 Meter Hurdles and the 300 Meter Hurdle at the 2014 State Finals. She established a new state record in the 300, turning in a time of 41.36 on her way to a comfortable victory. Black would go on to run for Purdue, and finished 4th for the Boilermakers in the 400 Meter Hurdles at the 2018 NCAA National Championships.

Fort Wayne Northrop's 4x100 team of Tamara Adams, Lakeita Rox, Kyndal Carr, and Zakiya Robinson set the state record in 2003 with a time of 45.75. This was a Northrop team that scored 93 points to claim the state title that year, part of a streak of six consecutive state championships that lasted from 2000 until 2005.

Both Carr and Robinson went on to run track at Indiana University from 2005-2008.

North Central became the new state record holders in the 4x400 Meter Relay at the 2019 State Finals with a team of Skylynn Blue-Williams, Chanler Robinson, Ramiah Elliott and Alyssa-Simone Robinson. The Panthers set a time of 3:43.99 that day, 1.7 seconds clear of second place Hamilton Southeastern. The win also secured the 2019 team title for North Central.

The Comets of Eastern High School took down the record in the 4x800 Meter Relay at the 2013

State Finals. The team of Jessica Sprinkles, Sarah Wagner, Brittany Neeley and Bethany Neeley turned in a title winning performance with a time of 8:53.74. Brittany Neeley won the 800 Meter Run that day, while Bethany Neeley took the 1600 Meter Run title and also earned points in the 300 Meter Hurdles.

Portage's Tori Bliss won four state championships throughout her high school career, and in 2011 she broke the state record in the Shot Put with a mark of 50-9. Bliss went on to compete at Louisiana State University, where she became a three time All-American.

Adriana Brown broke a 13 year old Discus record at the 2013 State Finals with a mark of 168-6, smashing the old record by more than three feet. The Lawrence Central product went on to compete at the University of Kentucky.

Ellie McCardwell won Pole Vault state championships in 2009 and 2010, and it was her performance in 2009 that remains the state meet record at 13-6.25. She went on to compete at Stanford, where she ranks second in school history in the Pole Vault.