Most involved with Thursday’s IHSAA boys track and field sectional at Walter Cross Field knew it would take a monumental upset to dethrone defending champion Kokomo.

The host Wildkats were indeed able to secure their second straight sectional title, but it was the overpowering force with which they ran away with the crown that made it impressive.

Kokomo won nine of 16 events, placed in the top five in 13 of the events and went 1-2 in three more to blow away the field, topping second place Western 151-88. Eastern and Oak Hill tied for third with 81 each, and Maconaquah rounded out the top five with 53.

“A great job out of the kids. [Depth] is very important in meets like this,” Kokomo coach Tom Byrnes said. “I think we scored in every single event [Thursday] night, and that was great.

“I’m really happy for the kids, and especially these seniors. When they came in as freshmen and sophomores, we were taking our lumps a little bit, and I know they were questioning some things. It’s nice to see them have some big success.”

Leading the Wildkats’ charge was senior John Alsup, who wound up a quadruple winner. Alsup left little doubt in the 100-meter dash, blazing to victory in 11.20 seconds, topping Eastern’s Blake Thomas by over two-tenths of a second. He saw similar success in the 200, edging Western sophomore Matt Riley in :22.79. His most dominant performance of the night came in the long jump, winning with a leap of 23 feet, 8 inches, topping teammate Harvey Lenoir by over 21⁄2 feet. He then combined with teammate Armon Bridgeforth to lead a come-from-behind victory in the 4x100 relay in :43.84, teaming with Lenoir and Michael Clifton.

“It was all about focus,” Alsup said. “Coming into the last couple meets, I haven’t done so well because of my knee injury. My coaches just told me to ‘get focused, get in the mood — it’s time. This is the meet where you can show everyone what this team is made of.’ This feels good, but I know we can all do better and go for the regional title.”

Junior Taylor Killings and senior Adrian Glover were both double winners for the Wildkats. Killings won the 110 hurdles in :14.74, 14 hundredths of a second off the sectional record time, and took the 300 hurdles in :40.73. Kokomo was able to score 18 points in both hurdles events, as Robert Lancaster finished second both times.

Glover topped the field by over two seconds to win the 1,600 in 4:33.40, and returned to again win by over two seconds in the 800 in 1:58.47.

Clifton rounded out Kokomo’s winners in the 400 in :50.44, nipping Riley in a photo finish. Riley took second in :50.46.

In all, Kokomo will send 22 athletes on to next week’s regional at Walter Cross Field.

Eastern senior Blake Donson continued to top the list of area discus throwers, winning Thursday on a sore ankle with a heave 154-4, topping second place Jake Rouch of Cass by nearly 3 feet. Rouch won the shot put at 50-4.75, topping Eastern’s Joey Price by over 5 feet.

“I can’t really be upset with the outcome,” Donson said. “I was just going out there to get to the regional, just going through the motions, and ended up getting a good throw in. I haven’t given a full spin [on a throw] yet, but I’ve been icing it, and I’m almost there. I’m going to ease into some spinning next week, and hopefully by then I’ll be able to give it a full throw and make it to state.”

Western was able to edge ahead of Eastern and Oak Hill with a late 1-2 finish in the pole vault. Senior Jeff Stout was able to hold off the field and win with a vault of 13-0, topping teammate and fellow senior Garrett Welker by 6 inches.

“I just knew it would come down to attempts,” Stout explained. “I was seeded 13-6, and both Garrett and [Brenner] Stage [from Maconaquah] were both seeded at 12-6. I knew I had to get 13 on my first attempt. I relaxed once Brenner went out at 12-foot and it was just Garrett and I left. We had some fun with it.”

Western coach Marvin Boswell was pleasantly surprised with the new heights his athletes were able to achieve Thursday.

“We had some of our best times yet this year,” Boswell said. “… Kokomo is a very, very strong team. Their depth is so strong. We were just hoping to come in and score enough points to get us close to being in second, and the kids did well. They did exactly how we hoped they’d do. You save your best times for the sectional, and we have several kids moving on to the regional next week and living for another day. That’s our attitude.”