Brownstown Central’s Camryn Thompson runs the 300 hurdles at the Bloomington North Regional. She placed fourth overall and re-broke her own school record.
Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
Brownstown Central’s Camryn Thompson runs the 100 hurdles at the sectional at Seymour High School.
Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
At the Bloomington North Regional last week, the top four seeds in the 300 hurdles were as close together in time as it could get.
Bloomington North’s Dede Eberle was seeded first at 46.54, followed by Edgewood’s Sara Polito at 46.67, Paoli’s Kyrsten Fehriback at 46.95 and Brownstown Central’s Camryn Thompson at 46.97.
No more than one second separated the competitors, but only the top three places would automatically qualify for the state meet.
“I kept telling myself, ‘Give everything. Everything you have, leave it all on the track because you have nothing to lose.’ That’s what I did,” Thompson said.
When the race begun last Tuesday night, they all finished as close as the seeding projected — but even faster.
Eberle took home first place in 45.32, followed by Fehriback 45.39, Polito 45.77 and Thompson 45.98.
Thompson, who broke the 300 hurdles record at BCHS earlier in the season, re-broke it again at the sectional at Seymour and then again at the regional.
“I re-broke my own school record, went sub 46 seconds and still placed fourth,” Thompson said. “That just shows you how competitive our regional is, but running against those kind of girls that were that good, it pushed me to go faster.”
Upon finishing that tightly contested race, Thompson didn’t know how to feel.
On one hand, she didn’t get an automatic spot into the state finals, but on the other hand, her time was so good and so close to the other girls, she thought there was still a chance.
“I had so many emotions after that race and that whole evening,” she said. “I knew I was so close to those three girls, and I knew I had a chance for a callback, but you really just never know until it’s official. I didn’t know if I should be upset or hopeful. It was so hard to figure out even what to feel.”
It didn’t take long after the race for head coach Maria Conklin to start checking times in the 300 hurdles at different regionals across the state, seeing if Thompson’s time was fast enough to advance.
Late Tuesday night, Conklin felt good about Thompson’s chances.
“I was pretty confident,” Thompson said. “Once I knew coach Conklin was confident, I was confident.”
The day after, the IHSAA officially released the state finals performance list, and Thompson made it. She is ranked 19th out of the 27 competitors in the 300 hurdles.
“I was so relieved because I was so tired of waiting for the unknown. I was so happy,” she said. “It’s almost like a dream come true. I’m so excited. I’m looking forward to it.”
Thompson had been a regional qualifier the past couple of seasons in track and field but never reached state until this year.
The girls state finals is Saturday night at Indiana University in Bloomington with the 300 hurdles scheduled to start at 7:20 p.m.
Thompson is used to also running the 4×100 relay, 110 hurdles and 4×400 relay, so it will be a different feel only having one event to focus on.
“It’s going to be really weird, honestly,” she said. “I’m used to having one or two events before the 300 hurdles, so I’m excited to see what I can do on fresh legs.”
Thompson will race in the first heat on Saturday, and she’s seeded first in that heat.
“I think it’ll be close. I’ll just have to dig deep and really push myself since there isn’t anyone I know I can chase,” she said.
The top nine finishers in each event on Saturday receive a state medal, and even though Thompson is seeded 19th, North’s Eberle is seeded ninth, who Thompson has been less than a second within this season.
“It would be cool to get to that goal, but I’m just going to have fun, leave it all out there and see what happens,” she said.
Graduation already happened at BCHS, so Thompson’s high school career is done, but she’s happy she can still wear a Brownstown uniform one final time.
Thompson plans to attend the University of Southern Indiana and pursue a degree in elementary school.
She said if there were two words to describe how her high school career has been, she would say fulfilled and grateful.
“I’m super excited,” she said. “I’m so grateful, and I’ve just so worked so hard to make this goal of mine come true.”