Wawasee's Cook 110 Hurdle State Champ, Gilmer 2nd In High Jump
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Staff Report-
BLOOMINGTON – Wawasee senior Clayton Cook won the state championship in the 110 hurdles, and teammate J.J. Gilmer was a wobbling bar away from winning the high jump at the IHSAA state track meet in Bloomington Friday. Cook’s was the only finalist to break the tape in under 14 seconds, and he edged out Mason Bechdolt of Delta by .03 seconds. All nine finalists were within three-quarters of a second of each other. “I’ve always pushed for the best place I could get,” Cook said. And after finishing fifth last year, I really pushed for the championship this year. “Fortunately, it worked out in my favor.” Wawasee head track coach Scott Lancaster said “Clayton went down and hammered it the way he envisioned. He was a little disappointed last year; he felt like he should have run faster. He was confident he could come here and win it this year, and he was right.” Classmate J.J. Gilmer was the runnerup in the high jump with a new school record leap of 6-10, an inch less than Francis Ehegbai of Hamilton Southeastern. But it almost went Gilmer’s way. “There were two lightning delays of a half hour each during the early part of the competition. J.J. cleared 6-10 on his first attempt, and it took (Ehegbai) three tries to clear it,” Lancaster explained. “On that third attempt the bar wobbled quite a bit but stayed up there. Had the bar come down J.J. would have won it right there. “He had three great jumps at 6-11, but the bar wouldn’t stay up there for him. Gilmer said “I had to do better than last year. My goal was to crack the top three, and I knew I’d get that once I cleared 6-8. “It was my best meet mentally, with the delays and everything. That surprised me a little bit, but my adrenaline kept me going. I’m not disappointed at all.” Cook also qualified for the finals in the 200, and finished eighth. All nine finalists were within eight-tenths of a second of each other. The Warrior 4x100 relay team finished 14th, but just 1.52 seconds off the winning pace. Warsaw senior Daniel Messenger finished eighth in the 800, and classmate Andrew Scheidt was 15th in the discus. Carmel was the team champion with 49 points, and Ben Davis High School was second. Warren Central, Center Grove and Hamilton Southeastern rounded out the top five. Wawasee’s 20 team points was good for a three-way tie for 12th with Fishers and south Bend Washington. The girls state meet will be held beginning at 3 p.m. this afternoon in Bloomington.
