Comets, Kats, Panthers sending athletes to state

— After announcing his retirement late last week, Eastern boys track and field coach Paul Nicholson knew Thursday’s Kokomo Regional could be the final meet of his 43-year career.

Senior Josiah Price and junior Grant Cole made sure it wasn’t.

Price won the shot put with a distance of 55 feet, 8 1/2 inches, and Cole broke a school record on the long jump with a leap of 22-2 1/2 to make the state standard and place third.

An overjoyed Nicholson was more than happy to stay on the job another week.

“What a going-away present in the true sense of the phrase,” he said. “These two guys have been absolutely fabulous. So coachable. So congenial. Leaders in a quiet way. They haven’t had to say much to show their leadership. I couldn’t be happier. There are so many great kids on this team, and I feel so blessed that I’ve been able to win some county and conference [meets], but not without these kids. I’d like to have more kids go, but I couldn’t have picked two better ones.”

Price rebounded from a sub-par — by his standards — performance in the sectional. He won the sectional with a put of 51-11, but uncorked the 55-8.5 to top a talented field Thursday. That distance is a foot short of his personal-best and school-record put.

“I’m super happy for coach Nicholson. This isn’t his last meet,” Price said. “I was our best chance to make it on, but Grant jumped really well, too, so he’s going to be a buddy down there with me. Coach Nicholson has two of us down there, so that’ll make it even more special for him.”

Price had the top seed going into the finals and pulled through, but feels he has better in him as he prepares for the state finals in Bloomington.

“I dropped out of discus, and I was a little more fresh for the shot,” Price said. “You have good days and bad days sometimes, and [Thursday] was a better day. I was feeling it.”

After setting the new school record, Cole took a tumble over the first hurdle in the 300 lows and was disqualified. The roadrash was little easier to take knowing he had already punched his ticket to Bloomington.

“I wanted to do as good as I could for coach,” Cole said. “He’s helped me so much and made me the jumper I am, really. It was disappointing to mess up in the hurdles, but I’m still going to state, so what can I say?”

In all, Howard County had five athletes earn trips to the state finals.

Kokomo had two sate qualifiers in senior runners Taylor Killings and Tony Moses.

“You’re always happy when kids get to the state meet,” Kokomo coach Tom Byrnes said. “Earlier in the week, I told my team you have to bring you A game, [because] B games don’t get you out. Tony ran very well and Taylor ran OK. … We have some kids who are disappointed [to not advance], but hopefully we can turn those negatives into positives with two kids in the state meet. That’s exciting, and hopefully it’s two kids who have realistic chances of earning medals.”

Moses won the 400-meter dash with ease in 48.7 seconds, a full second ahead of his closest competitor.

“Coming into [the regional], we had a workout with [coach] K.O. [Jackson],” Moses explained. “He’s an awesome coach, and he told me he had a workout for me that would take me to the next level. I had nothing to lose, so I tried it, and came into [Thursday], and it paid off. Coach Byrnes has been putting me through extra workouts after practices, always making push harder and harder. Those two have had a huge impact on my season, and I want to thank them.”

Killings took part in the most exciting race of the evening, the 110 high hurdles. In a dead heat with South Bend Clay’s Jordan Hunt after clearing the final hurdle, Hunt out-leaned Killings to win the race by .01 at :14.94.

“I thought I had him with the lean, and this hurts because it’s my senior year,” Killings said. He will be making an appearance at the state finals for the second straight year. “All that matters is that I am going to state and can go and do my school and family proud. [One one-hundredth of a second] is going to be everything that fuels my training this next week. It’s going to make me work even harder, because [Thursday] wasn’t my best time and I want to be a state champion.”

Western sophomore Matt Grider punched the county’s final ticket to the state finals, taking third in the 3,200 run in 9:40.25. After weaving his way through the pack, Grider broke away with Mishawaka’s Miguel Lozano in the final laps, but Grider was overtaken by Northfield’s Caleb Augustus in the final straightaway.

“I’ve been looking forward to making it to state since I got into high school,” Grider said. “I got fifth last year [in the 3,200] and was seeded fifth this year, so I was happy to be able to move up two places and make it. Since it was windy, I tried to get behind people, and that’s why I was eighth at the mile. I knew if the leader got too far away, I’d never catch him, so I tried to stay as close as I could.”

Several other area athletes just missed earning trips to state. Kokomo junior Darrion McAlister took fifth in both the shot put (51-3) and discus (152-0). Freshman teammate Avery Barrett finished fifth in the pole vault at 13-6, while senior Armon Bridgeforth took sixth in the long jump at 21-1.5.

Kokomo’s 4x100 relay team of Killings, Bridgeforth, Bryson Sparks and Harvey Lenior took sixth in :43.55, while Eastern’s 4x800 relay team of Damon Byers, Lewis Duke, K.J. Myers and Joshua Sommers took sixth at 8:30.8.

In the final team standings, Penn edged Warsaw 83-82, marking the third straight year the Kokomo Regional has been decided by one point.

Penn’s Kyle Johnson set a new meet record in the pole vault, clearing 15-9.