Boys Track: Gardner's finishing kick lifts Lew Wallace to fifth

BLOOMINGTON -- In the end, all it took to lift Robert Gardner's spirits was 46.38 seconds.

That was his blazing split time in the anchor leg of Lew Wallace's state champion 1,600-meter relay Saturday at the 105th annual Boys Track and Field State Finals held at Indiana University's Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex.

It was Lew Wallace's second state championship of the meet, with Gardner's repeat win in the 400 meters being the other in a time of 47.72 seconds. Yet, that one didn't exactly excite Gardner since he'd held hopes of breaking the state record of 46.99 held by former Merrillville star Reggie Neville.

"When I was running the 400, it was like my body was so drained (from running the 200 prelims in the heat)," Gardner said. "I didn't run the time I wanted, so I was down and depressed and hurt. I didn't come close to the state record or nothing. So, I just told myself that if we take gold in the 4-by-4, I wasn't going to worry about the 400. I was just going to be happy."

And that's exactly how it happened.

Lew Wallace also scored 27 team points to finish tied for fifth overall, four spots behind team champion Ben Davis -- the team that led the Hornets in the 1,600 relay after Gardner took the baton from teammate Emmanuel Dixon.

Gardner trailed the Ben Davis runner all through the back stretch, then made his move around the fourth turn and turned on the afterburner for the last 100 meters -- winning easily for a time of 3:16.37.

His teammates, DeShannon Fryerson, Dixon and Jerel Flournoy each ran great splits, as well, to cap a memorable day for the Hornets -- who also won the 1,600 relay state title in the indoor season.

"I am totally thrilled, really, about the whole thing," Lew Wallace coach Charles Jones said. "The championships, as well as the performance of the entire team. I can't begin to tell you how blessed we are. I can't say any more than that, other than it's been a great day for us."

For Gardner and Flournoy, it would've been tough to guess that it was a great day until the 1,600 relay was over. That's because neither got the times they were hoping for in the 400 and were disappointed despite Gardner winning and Flournoy finishing third in 48.21 seconds. Gardner, who was involved in 20 team points by himself, said the first 300 meters of the 400 were like running in sand.

Then he had to dig deep to overcome a solid field of competitors down the last 100 to win it. Gardner was also in the 200, but didn't advanced out of the prelims and Flournoy didn't advance out of the 100 dash prelims. Both said the heat took something out of them until that last relay.

"I felt good for the first 300 of the 400," Flournoy said. "But then, Robert just came up and got me on the last 100. I was hoping for 47 (seconds), but I just didn't get it."

No other region athletes won state titles, but Northwest Indiana was represented well on the medal stand.

Bishop Noll senior Terrell Franklin, in particular, also had a day to remember. He came up big on a busy afternoon -- running back and forth between the long jump finals and the prelims for the 100 and 200 dashes in the heat.

Franklin wound up finishing second in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 23-1�2, and finished fifth in the 100 dash after winning his prelim heat -- a race that saw Ben Davis' Matthew Terrell, one of the state's fastest, get disqualified. Franklin also got a personal-best time of 22.10 seconds in the 200 despite not advancing to the finals.

"I'm tired," he said. "I'm dead tired. I'm real happy, though. I had a lot of doubters who didn't think I was good enough, so I came down here to prove something."

Portage's Jakob Engel also had a high finish in the shot put, coming in second with a throw of 62-23�4. He was briefly in the lead with that throw, overtaking Lawrence North's Brandon Pounds. But Pounds then threw the state-title winning distance of 63-9 on his next attempt.

"I was holding out some hope for a little bit," Engel said. "But I knew that whenever you push somebody, they're going to push back. This feels really good. Last year I choked and didn't make the finals. Now I'm second, so it's a good improvement."

Merrillville's two relays both scored points for the Pirates, with the 3,200 team of Dan Caruana, Quinn Roberts, Ronald Crosby-Greene and Gabriel Pirtle coming in seventh after winning the second heat in 7:58.32 -- their best time. And the 1,600 team of Crosby-Greene, Harold Turner, Elijah Samuels and Pirtle finished fifth in 3:19.76.

Merrillville hurdler Ronneal Williams had a disappointing day, as he was unable to advance out of his heat in the 110 highs. Portage's Myles Tolliver finished his high school career on a high note by finishing seventh in the 300 hurdles. Crown Point's Logan Koch grabbed eighth in the 1,600. And Andrean's Garret Bonk finished eighth overall in the 800 by running a 1:56.62 to finish his high school career.

Contact Brian Hedger at 648-3122 or bhedger@post-trib.com