MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon News SpecTRACKular has had some tightly contested events over its 30 years of existence. The performances Friday didn’t disappoint.
Two of those extremely tight events helped propel Mount Vernon’s Thoren Lindsey to the Most Valuable Competitor trophy Friday. The senior finished with 35 individual points, edging Johnstown’s Jeremy Hornick (32) for the top spot.
“I was praying and hoping. I had looked through the paper, looked at all the names and knew it would be a tough night,” said Lindsey. “I knew I’d have to perform at the top of my ability.”
Lindsey edged Derek Hull of Northridge by one-tenth of a second (50.5 to 50.6) in the 400-meter dash, then nipped teammate Leevi Stump by the same amount in the 100-meter dash (11.3 to 11.4). He was also a member of Mount Vernon’s winning 4x400-meter (Lucas Armstrong, Harley Filyaw and Caleb Thomas) and 4x200-meter relay teams. The 4x200 relay team (Armstrong, Chris Walters, Noah Evans and Lindsey) set a meet record with a time of 1:31.8.
“The 100 was my most worrisome event. Leevi Stump, a freshman, has been doing ‘SpecTRACKular,’” Lindsey said. “I narrowly edged him with my lean.
“Then, Levi and I turned around with Lucas Armstrong and Noah Evans in the 4x200 and had a good race. All four of us ran in the indoor season. We’ve been training hard, hoping to achieve part of what we have this year. We still have some to go, though.”
Johnstown’s Jeremy Hornick won one event (1,600-meter run), was on a winning relay team (4x800-meter along with Matt Wall, James Platt and Alex Wright), finished second in the 800 and was on the second-place 4x400 relay team (Kortney Cartwright, Wright and Jay Orders).
Hornick was narrowly beaten by teammate Alex Wright in the 800 (2:04.1 to 2:04.4), but won the 1,600 by a full three seconds over teammate Matt Wall (4:41.3 to 4:44.9).
Hull broke the Northridge school record (50.6) with his second-place finish in the 400.
“It’s what I’ve been shooting for all year. I finally got some good weather and some good competition,” Hull said. “It’s such a relief to finally get the record. I thought I needed a couple more meters and I would have had him (Lindsey).”
There were several other strong performances at the event.
Taylor Jones of East Knox (23.4) nipped Utica’s Andy Moone and Fredericktown’s Brennan Goeppinger in the 200.
“I came out of the blocks kind of shaky, then ran the curve fine. I think I ran best on the straightaway,” Jones said.
Austin Morgan of Utica edged Johnstown’s Jay Orders in the 110 hurdles (16.1 to 16.3), while Caleb Thomas of Mount Vernon beat Fredericktown’s Garrett Gatton (41.5 to 41.7) in the 300 hurdles.
Isaac Potes of Fredericktown ran away from the competition in the 3,200. His time of 9:50.8 was more than 30 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, Nathaniel Schultz of Mount Vernon.
The Mount Vernon team of Stump, Tyler Hillard, Filyaw and Jordan Williamson won the 4x100 relay in a time of 44.5. Clear Fork and East Knox finished in a virtual tie, with the Colts’ team edging them at the wire.