Oak Hill High School

Another championship caliber season came to an end Saturday for the OHTF Golden Eagles with 3 impressive Top 20 Finishes at the IHSAA State Track & Field Finals held at North Central. Juniors Kyle Brower and Jalen Scott along with the 4x800 Meter Relay of Senior Corban Tippey, Senior Wyatt Hart, Junior Wyatt Hart, and Sophomore Christian Smiley all competed at a very high level for OHTF. The group of Golden Eagles collectively managed to post 3 Top 20 Finishes overall for just the 3rd time in Program History (3+ different Top 20 finishes in the same State Finals) and the 1st time since 2019. The event was delayed multiple times for inclement weather / lightning. In all the finals saw 5 NEW State Meet Records and Bloomington North winning the team State Title. Each event featured 30+ of the State and Nation's best athletes. OHTF's best finish came from Junior Kyle Brower who just missed a Top 9 All State Medal finishing 11th in the event with a clearance of 14-3. Kyle was the 2nd best "small school" finisher on the day. Kyle's spring included a New Indoor Program record, an All State 3rd Place Indoor State Finals Finish in the Pole Vault, a Sectional Title, and a Regional Runner Up finish. He became just the 2nd Golden Eagle in program history to qualify for the State Finals in the Pole Vault multiple times. He could become the 1st 3 time State Qualifier next spring. Kyle's 11th place finish is the best "field event" finish at the State Finals by a Golden Eagle since Sammy Sommers 5th Place Finish in the Long Jump in 2019. It is the best finish in the Pole Vault ever by a Golden Eagle. Classmate Jalen Scott was also within a short reach of the podium as the Golden Eagle sprinter just missed making the the Top 10 final in the 100 Meter Dash posting a 12th Place Finish. Jalen ran a 10.84 in trials but had the misfortune of being in the fastest heat where only the Top 2 auto advance. He would have advanced from at least 1 of the 4 heats automatically and been the 3rd fastest in the other 2 but his heat featured 3 10.5 runs and a 10.6. Jalen's 12th place finish is the best by a Golden Eagle in a Sprint event since Tahj Johnson's 6th Place Finish in the 400 Meter Dash in 2019. It is the best by a Golden Eagle in the 100 Meter Dash since Damon Pyle's 6th Place Finish in 1976. Jalen's season included a New Indoor 60 Meter Program Record, a 3rd Place Indoor State Meet Finish in the 60 Meter, an individual Championship in the 100 Meter Dash at the Grant 4, Conference, and Sectional, a Regional Runner Up Finish, along with matching Pyle's Outdoor 100 Meter Program record of 10.6. Jalen was the Top "small school" finisher in the event. Jalen became just the 2nd Golden Eagle to qualify for the State Finals in the 100 Meters multiple times in Program History joining Delmar Terry, he could become the 1st 3 time State Finals Qualifier in the event next Spring. The 4x8 Relay of Tippey, Myers, Hart, and Smiley started the night off with a highly respectable 19th Place Finish. The group of Golden Eagles battled to a 5th Place finish in their heat behind some of the biggest schools in the State - Hamilton Southeastern, Crown Point, Penn, and North Central. In fact all 18 teams that beat the Golden Eagles are 4A+ sized schools with the average enrollment pushing up over 2,000 making them by far the best finishing "small school" in the event. Wyatt Hart matched his personal best splitting a 1:59 lead off. Caden Myers and Christian Smiley kept them in the mix posting splits of 2:00 and 2:03 both just a second off their personal bests, while Corban Tippey anchored them home passing athletes from Fort Wayne Carroll and Chesterton down the stretch to post a 1:58 - his 2nd best split ever. Their time of 8:02 is a Top 5 Program All Time mark and the 3rd best all time in Program History at the State Finals. The relay over the spring managed to earn All State Medals at the Indoor State Finals, go undefeated through the Sectional posting Championship wins at the Grant 4, Conference, and Sectional, along with becoming just the 4th 4x8 in Program History to break 8 minutes. Scott, Brower, and Tippey now all wait possible Indiana All Star Selections. The trio of athletes could possibly be selected to compete in the 52nd Annual Midwest Meet of Champions held next Saturday June 13th at HSE. The event features the Top Juniors versus the Top Seniors in the State. The OHTF spring season included 6 State Qualifiers, 2 Regional Runner Ups, 6 Sectional Champions, their 6th Sectional team title in 7 seasons, and a Runner Up Finish at both the Grant 4 and Central Indiana Conference by a combined 4 points.