For The Tribune
SALEM
Brownstown Central’s Rob Fox garnered a blue ribbon the 300 hurdles, Jacob Wilson placed first in the long jump, and Ryan Benter won the pole vault to help the Braves place third in the Mid-Southern Conference meet Thursday night.
Silver Creek won the meet with 128 points, Eastern scored 112.5 and the Braves finished with 101.5.
North Harrison was a distant fourth with 68.
Braves coach Sam Terrell said he was especially pleased with his three champions.
“We had a lot of good performances,” he said. “We went 1-2 in the pole vault with Benter and (Jacob) Bollinger, Wilson had a good jump, Fox and (John) McKinney did well, our throwers did well.
“We just came up a little short tonight. We’ve got a lot of people coming back from having some type of illness and hoping to be ready for the sectional. We have great teams in the conference, with Silver Creek winning and Eastern second. We came in here and gave it our best shot. We’ve still got next week to try and defend our sectional championship title and that’s what we need to do.”
The Braves performed well, posting a handful of personal records.
“We had a lot of PR’s tonight,” Terrell said. “Jack McCullough ran his fastest mile tonight. Harlan Deaton ran his fastest split in the 3,200 relay. We had some really good performances we can feed off of tonight for next week.
“I think we’re going to do some damage over there with Seymour, Jennings County and Bedford, and it’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.”
Benter and Bollinger had a close battle in the pole vault, as both cleared 12 feet for new career highs.
Bollinger came in tied for first at 11-6 and Benter was seeded third at 11.
Benter said he was elated to improve his career-best by one foot.
“Today just felt like a good day, another day to pole vault,” Benter said. “I just tried to stay concentrated and trust the pole. It feels really good. I feel good going into section, just ready for some more competition.”
Fox was seeded second in the 300 hurdles at 43.4 and he ran 41.99.
“I felt good with my start,” Fox said. “I had good steps and going through the turn I got some energy. Coming into the straightaway I messed up going over the hurdles and kind of stumbled over them a little bit.
“I can usually sprint better on the straightaway. That’s where I’m strong. It feels pretty good. I’ve got high hopes for the sectional.”
Fox was second in the 110 high hurdles at 15:67.
Wilson was tied for first seed in the long jump, and although he didn’t have a new PR, he was pleased with his winning jump of 19-9¼.
“My second jump in the trials was my longest,” Wilson said. “It’s a great runway, but the board is kind of weird. It feels great to win.”
Wilson cleared 6-feet in the high jump to place third.
Matt Conrad was second in the 400 at 52.33, Ian Anderson in the shot put, at 45-1.
The Braves were fourth in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays and sixth in the 4×800 relay.