HSE, North Central triumph in sprint relays, Bloomington North wins 4x800
Bloomington North was able to successfully defend its title in the 4x800-meter relay, bringing back three runners from its 2023 state championship team.
The Cougars amassed about five seconds on the next closest team going into the final leg and maintained the distance, running 7:47.94 to Fishers' 7:52.93.
The fastest split of the day belonged to future IU Indianapolis Jaguar Nick Cook, whose 1:52.75 anchor leg brought Wapahani from 12th to fifth in the fast heat and 14th to fifth in the overall splits between the two heats.
After their girls team placed third in two relays the day prior, the Hamilton Southeastern boys 4x100-meter relay squad decided to score 10 points of their own, taking down Center Grove by over a half-second.
Fishers finished in third and then it was a close race for fourth through seventh: Indianapolis Cathedral, Harrison (West Lafayette), Brownsburg, and Concord crossed the line within .06 seconds of each other.
The meet was closed out by North Central's 4x400-meter win, running 3:16.88 to beat Bishop Chatard's 3:17.00. Franklin Central and Center Grove were each also within one second of first place.
North Central and Franklin Central both had three runners who scored in an individual event earlier in the day, while Center Grove's relay featured one and Bishop Chatard had none.
Though the top six teams came from heat three, seventh-placer LaPorte ran in heat two. Tayshaun Williams was on anchor duty and took his team from fifth to first in their heat, but more importantly, they jumped from 15th overall to seventh. He would split an incredible time of 48.264 which would be the fastest split of the meet and fastest 400m of the day in general as Cainen Northington won the state title with a time of 48.38 earlier in the evening.