5 local athletes take on the best in today’s boys state track meet

Kokomo Tribune - Saturday, June 02, 2012

— This is it.

Not next time. Not next week. Not next year.

This time. Today. Right now.

Kokomo’s Tony Moses and Taylor Killings, and Eastern’s Josiah Price are seniors. Today marks their final chance to make their presence felt on the state’s biggest stage.

Those three are joined by Eastern junior Grant Cole and Western sophomore Matt Grider today at the IHSAA Boys Track and Field State Meet at Indiana University in Bloomington.

“Words can’t even explain how excited I am for this,” Moses said. “I’ve been training hard. I can’t wait.”

Moses is the top seed in the 400. He placed 20th as a sophomore and has been longing for a return trip since then.

“I remember sophomore year, the talent level, just how great the athletes are,” he said. “You’ve got to bring your A game. Even better than your A game. I just love running against that.”

He’s a clear threat to win, and that’s what he’s focused on.

“My goal is to get a blue ribbon actually, that means win it,” he said.

Moses’ qualifying time is 48.70. He’ll line up in lane four in the fastest heat and is the only competitor with a qualifying speed under 49 seconds, though he and Kat coach Tom Byrnes noted several competitors have run faster than their qualifying times at different points in the season.

“Having the best time puts a bigger target on me,” Moses said. “You’ve got to attack that first curve and make everybody else run your race and get them out of their race and make them run with you. Like my coach [Kat assistant K.O. Jackson] says, you’ve got to throw the first punch.

“Once the race starts, I plan on attacking, making up the stagger from the five and six [lanes]. I plan on getting out fast, strong and hard and taking it to them, and seeing how they respond to that. I know previously they ran 48s also in the sectionals. I think it was lane five [Lawrence Central’s Jeron Brown], he had the previous fastest time in the state, so he’s one of the targets too. And the guy behind me [Tri-West’s Austin Lazaro in lane 3] is pretty fast.”

Byrnes said to win, Moses has to be even better than he showed in winning the regional.

“I feel like he’s going to have to go just a little bit faster,” Kokomo’s coach said. “There’s some other kids there that have run low 48s. Track’s going to be fast. Great thing is we’re in the fast section. Tony’s going to have the best lane so I think he’s going to have a real good opportunity.”

Byrnes, who skippered the Kats when John Alsup Jr. won the long jump state title last season, is excited about his current crew.

“I feel like both of them have a great chance to go down and do very well,” he said.

Killings medaled at state last year in the 110 hurdles, taking ninth in a time of 14.93. The top two runners from each heat, plus the next three best times, will contest the final. Killings’ qualifying time of 19.95 is mid pack, but his best time could see him reach the finals.

“[His state experience] is going to help him a lot,” Byrnes said. “He didn’t have a great regional meet, but fortunately it was good enough that he got in there. He’s run 14.50 and change earlier this year so we’re quite confident he can go down there and make the finals, and then who knows what can happen? I think it’s going to take a 14.30 to probably win it. You just never know. Guys get down there and get banging and hitting hurdles and things like that can change real quick.

“He has to run good, fast and clean, not hitting a lot of hurdles, and make the finals, then find out what happens.”

Price, a Michigan State football recruit, is making his first trip to state as a senior.

“I’m pretty excited,” he said. “Track isn’t my main sport. I put most of my work in football, and basketball, and then track is the last one, but it’s a super rewarding, awesome experience to go down to state this weekend. And I’m glad Grant Cole is going with me. We get to go through it together.”

Price is seeded eighth in the shot put with a qualifying distance of 55 feet, 8.5 inches.

“He has some more to give in terms of what he can do beyond his best, which is 56-8,” Eastern coach Paul Nicholson said. “I’m thinking, if he can have a good day beyond what he threw at regional, I think he’ll have a good chance of moving up in the medals.”

Price hopes to peak at the right time.

“I’m shooting for a top-six placing,” he said. “I’d really like to PR down there [set a personal record] because if I PR and get eighth, I’d be happy. If I PR and get 10th, I’d be happy. In track, that’s what you work with. I’ll just do my best and whatever that places me, I’ll be happy with.”

Price has already pushed his distance out a lot further than last season. He said due to some injuries he’s a little less strong than he was last year, but that his technique has improved a lot.

“He was out around 48-10, 49 [last season] so you can do the math, it’s been from that 49 to 56-8,” Nicholson said of Price’s improvement. “That’s a pretty good jump. Coach [Keith] Saul’s been good at bringing him around, doing little things, working on height and getting his legs into it. It’s amazing the little things that an analytical coach can see.”

The results show up on the measuring tape, and Price can feel a change too.

“I definitely feel a lot more comfortable than I’ve ever felt before, and it just comes with experience,” he said. “When I get in there, I feel confident I’m going to get a good toss.”

Cole is seeded ninth in the long jump. It’s remarkable considering he wasn’t even jumping at the beginning of the season and hadn’t been a long jumper previously. The Comet coaches tried him out on long jump on a lark just six weeks ago.

“We almost put him on the 4x1 [relay] because we thought he’d sure run that backstretch nice,” Nicholson recalled. “I think [assistant] coach [Austin] Roark was standing nearby and said ‘I’m not sure I want to use him there because we have strong sprinters and we need to use Grant Cole where he can do the most damage.’ We had several long jumpers at the time. We agreed let’s give him a try. I got interested in doing something else in the practice, so coach Roark had him jump and he was around 20 feet on his first jump.”

Cole qualified for state with a leap of 20-2.5.

Nicholson is retiring as a teacher and coach at Eastern this year, so this marks his final meet.

“He’s done so much for our program the last couple years, and so much in my life as a mentor,” said Price, who said the Comet coach has been very helpful about working around his football commitments and new MSU workout plan. “I’m super happy he gets to go down there and watch two of us compete for his final meet.”

Western’s Grider is also making his first appearance at state. The sophomore has been making waves as a runner since his middle school days and will run the 3,200 today after qualifying in a time of 9:40.25.