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Hackleman, Byrd, Mowery-Shields to tackle state’s best at IHSAA Track and Field State Finals
Friday and Saturday mark the final days of the track season as the IHSAA Track and Field State Finals take place at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex at Indiana University.
Skyler Byrd will represent Greencastle at the Girls’ State Finals Friday in the pole vault while North Putnam’s Nolan Hackleman makes a return trip to the finals in long jump and South Putnam freshman Keenan Mowery-Shields makes his debut at shot put.
Hackleman won the long jump at the Bloomington North Regional last week with a distance of 21’9.5”. Mowery-Shields was runner-up at shot put with a school-record throw of 54’11 while Byrd finished third at pole vault with a clearance of 10’.
“I didn’t think I was going to win to be honest,” Hackleman said about the regional round. “I knew I could if things went right but I hadn’t jumped 21’ since the first meet of the year.”
“I came in at 8’6”, cleared that, 9’, 9’6” and 10’ on the first attempt,” Byrd said. “It was going well until 10’3”, where I missed all three attempts.
“It was a good meet until then. I was surprised I hit 10’ on the first try as I had zero expectations of clearing that height.
“Right before I went to 10’, I knew I would be in the top-four and I cleared the height first before others did, so I had an idea that I was going to be in the top-three,” Byrd added on when she knew she was likely going to the state finals.
“The regional started off really good,” Mowery-Shields said. “I hit 53’5” to start, then got to 54’ and put it all into the last throw and got the school record with 54’11”.
“In the finals, I was too focused on beating the guy in front of me instead of beating myself. I got in my head a little bit and scratched the last three, one of them being around 55’ or 56’ but it wasn’t meant to happen.
“I had confidence that I could place in the top-three all season,” Mowery-Shields added. “After county, which was a really bad day where I threw 45’, I bounced back at conference and had confidence I could make it out of regionals.”
Hackleman’s second go-round at the finals has followed a path that was far from ideal thanks to a pair of injuries suffered during the course of the season.
“It’s been weird more than anything,” Hackleman said about having to work around the injuries all year. “It’s been a challenge to stay completely positive about everything; more uneasy than anything because you don’t know who fast it’s going to heal.
“I pulled my hamstring in my third jump of the first meet of the year. I didn’t know who long it would take to heal. I thought it might be two weeks but I didn’t compete again until the county meet.
“Even then, there’s still a lot of the season left but I pulled it again at county,” Hackleman added. “There was a moment where I thought that might be it.
“It’s a weird feeling not knowing anything like whether or not you’d get another chance to compete.”
Had his leg not been healthy enough to compete, Hackleman said he would have been disappointed but also saw a positive in everything,.
“It’s nice to know that I did it all last year,” Hackleman said. “That was comforting as if my leg didn’t hold up, I wouldn’t be in a spot where I didn’t get to experience the finals at all.
For Byrd, the lead up into the finals has been complicated by adding in new equipment to the mix, something that would have been more viable at the start of the year.
“It’s been difficult and a little scary because I had to get a new pole,” Byrd said. “I’ve never used it before; it’s a lot longer, heavier and harder to use.
“This week at practice, we’ve really broken things down and done a lot of technique work to make sure I have the best form possible to clear the most height I can.”
While Hackleman and Byrd are both seniors, Mowery-Shields will be the only freshman thrower at the finals, a rare sight with the rest of the field having an extra year of weight training and practice under their belts, though the Eagle standout wasn’t too concerned about the detail.
“I never really think about being the only freshman out there,” Mowery-Shields said. “I see everyone as competitors and I want to go out there, do the best I can and better myself.
“I always want to win, so I’m going to try and win the first heet. Much as I want to, I know I’m not going to beat any of the guys throwing 59’, 60’ because I’m not up there yet and they have a lot of experience on me.
“I want to beat the kids that are around me and winning the first heat is the goal,” Mowery-Shields added.
Competing at IU is a challenge in and of itself with the complex able to house around 6,000 attendees, a factor Byrd said would need to be overcome.
“The biggest thing that the coaches have talked to me about is that there are going to be a bunch of people around,” Byrd said. “I don’t like it when there’s a lot of people around but there are going to be a lot of fans right behind the pole vault pit.
“(Greencastle head coach Kevin) Kendall said you have to make uncomfortable comfortable, so it’s something I need to be able to do.”
Hackleman said it did take some getting used to but having seen it once before, he felt he could better handle the situation at hand.
“I’ll definitely be more comfortable Saturday,” Hackleman noted. “Last year, I was a little starstruck. I was excited, not scared, but my nerves were more out of whack than they needed to be.
“I’ll be more comfortable down there this time so I can stay in rhythm better. Though, there’s no telling how things will go until I get there.”
All three athletes had varying goals for the weekend with Mowery-Shields seeded 21st at shot put and Hackleman and Byrd seeded 25th at long jump and pole vault, but all three agreed they would need their best efforts to attain what they were looking for.
“I really want to clear 10’6” because that would break our school record,” Byrd said. “Mainly, I want to go down there and have fun.
“It’s an experience to even go in the first place.”
“My goal is to break my PR, get up into the 55’, 56’, 57’ range and win that first flight,” Mowery-Shields added. “It will be good to have the experience down, know what to expect out of it and the energy there as I want to get there three more times.”
“I really want to podium,” Hackleman said. “It will be tough.
“There are a lot of people that are pretty close together in distance. If I jump well, it’s manageable, but it’ll have to be a really good day.”