By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – The training plan for Bedford North Lawrence speed demon Zane Thompson, a state contender in the low hurdles, involved building up strength and endurance. Wear him out, build him up, turn him loose.
Seems to be working. Thompson won three events and anchored a victorious relay as the Stars settled for second in a four-way meet with Springs Valley, Eastern Greene and Mitchell on Thursday night.
With Thompson responsible for the bulk of the blue ribbons, BNL scored 74 team points to finish behind the Blackhawks (98) in the boys meet, while the Thunderbirds (41) and Bluejackets (28) drifted back in the pack.
In the girls meet, Valley won with 77 points, followed by BNL (60), Eastern Greene (59) and Mitchell (42).
Thompson had a busy schedule but was ready for the workload. He won the 100-meter dash (11.36), 200 (22.75) and 300 hurdles (39.89). His most impressive performance came in the final leg of the 400 relay. When he took the baton from teammate Maddex McFarland in the final curve, he was three steps behind. That’s when competitive adrenaline surged, propelling him to a scintillating comeback victory.
“I’m going to do the best I can to run them all,” Thompson said. “My endurance is good. I’ve been working on my speed. Once I get toward the tournament, I’m going to ramp up the form training and fine-tune everything.”
BNL’s other win in the boys meet came from Brayden Patterson, who cleared 6-2 to claim the high jump.
“He jumped well,” BNL coach Brett Deckard said, “considering he didn’t start until the end of the meet.”
Deckard was encouraged by his distance corps. They just had the misfortune of chasing Valley’s Alan Marshall, who was a double winner in the 800 (2:01.49) and 1600 (5:02.82).
“We’re starting to back them off,” Deckard said. “Our distance kids have run every race, we were going run them into shape in the meets. Now we’re staring to pull them back so they can get stronger in their main events. Valley is strong, good competition.”
Valley’s Larron Childers was a double winner in the shot put (41-10) and discus (157-5).
In the girls meet, BNL’s Mary Batz had strong performances in the 400 (winning in 1:04.16) and the anchor leg of the 1600 relay (the Stars won in 4:43.95). BNL’s Kaylin Ritz was the other winner, taking the pole vault (7-0).
“Mary did a good job of racing,” BNL coach Jason Webb said. “We’re trying a lot of kids in a lot of things. We’re mixing it around, trying different stuff, see where we can get the most out of people toward the end of the year.”
Mitchell’a Zoey Smith was a double winner in the 100 (13.78) and 800 (2:43.68).
BNL will compete at Edgewood on Tuesday.
