Rochester competing in the Hoosier State Relays Indoor State Finals

Rochester competed in the IATCCC Hoosier State Relays Indoor State Finals, Small Schools Division on Saturday at Fall Creek Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. 

Harrison Dunwoody represented RHS in the 60 Meter Hurdles.  Leandro Javier, Grant Bailey, Lincoln Holder, and Camdyn Furnivall ran in the 4x800 Relay. 

Kyra Doran qualified for RHS in Long Jump and the 60 Meter Hurdles, but did not compete due to a spring break conflict.

In the 60 Meter Hurdles, Dunwoody ran a personal best 8.34 and medaled, placing fourth. Dunwoody cut nearly a half of a second (.48) off his result from last season’s HSR finals, where he ran 8.82 in the prelims and placed 15th overall.  This year, his prelim was 8.49. The .33 improvement placed him comfortably in the finals as the 6th seed. 

A delay in parking upon arrival at the Indiana State Fairgrounds cut Dunwoody’s warm-up time to bare minimum, and he was not able to get through his customary routine prior to prelims.  Dunwoody ran in the second of three heats.  He ran a solid race, placing second in his heat and running just .06 slower than his qualifying time from IWU two weeks ago.  Still, with all advancements based solely on time, and no automatic qualifying spots based on place, there were a few moments of trepidation awaiting the results of the prelims.  He already knew that two runners from the first heat and one from his had already qualified ahead of him, so the results of the third heat were a concern.   However, only two runners in the third heat qualified. Once qualification was settled, he was able to get better acclimated for the finals, and the result was the best 60m race of his life, and a trip to the podium.

Harrison’s finals results compare favorably to the large schools division.  His time would have placed seventh.

For the Boys 4x800 team, reaching the state finals was the goal.  The team of Lincoln Holder, Camdyn Furnivall, Leandro Javier, and Tyson Wachtmann ran its first qualifier at Indiana Wesleyan and performed better than expected, with a time of 9:17.52.  That effort put the team in 26th qualifying position.  The top 24 teams are invited to state.   

With the team so close to qualifying, another race was scheduled at Indiana Tech to try to break through and earn an invite to state.  The team was modified with Grant Bailey stepping into Wachtmann’s spot.  This time they cut all the way down to 8:56.06 and moved up to 23rd on the qualifying list.

At the state meet, the team placed 21st with a time of 9:00.75.  They placed ahead of sectional opponent Bremen.