BLOOMINGTON
Cameron Tidd is 6-foot-4, 265-pound billboard promoting laid-back.
The Center Grove junior found himself forced to stray from his comfort zone after winning the discus competition at Friday’s Boys State Track and Field Meet.
“(Laid-back) is pretty difficult right now because I wasn’t seeded as the No. 1 thrower coming in and ended up winning,” said Tidd, whose third and final toss in the preliminaries measured 190 feet, 4 inches and held up for the championship medal.
“When I let it go it didn’t feel like it went that far, but this feels great. It’s kind of unbelievable. It started sinking in when I found out I was going to be the one at the top of the (award’s) podium. It was surreal.”
Tidd’s throw also shattered the school record by more than five feet.
The meet was halted at 4:56 p.m. due to an incoming storm, though competition was able to resume at 6:05 p.m.
By then, Tidd had flexed his superiority in his specialty and becoming the ninth state champion in program history (first in a field event).
Overall, the Trojan team finished fourth in the state meet. Center Grove finished third in the 1,600-meter relay, the final event of the night.
Early in the meet, Center Grove’s 400-meter relay of Grant Mason, Zak Smith, Zach Hart and Derek Grimmer produced a third-place effort in a school-record time of 41.59 seconds.
“I’ve been asking to run it for about a month now. Whenever I got pulled out of the 400 after sectionals I asked, but (coaches) were afraid of my hamstring,” Hart said.
“I found out Wednesday I was going to be running. I replaced Titus (McCoy), but he had a little leg mishap, too.”
Grimmer also made his final track meet a memorable one from an individual standpoint, coming in fourth in the 200-meter dash in a personal-best of 21.72 seconds.
The senior posted a 21.94 finishing third in the first trial, but was even better later in the meet. Grimmer ran in Lane 8 in the trials and Lane 7 in the final.
“I felt I ran a very good heat. Usually I don’t like Lane 8, but on this track with the wide lanes I liked it more, actually,” Grimmer said upon qualifying for the final. “My goal is to make the final and see what I can do from there.”
Junior Jackson Hohlt came in seventh in the 400-meter dash in 49.25 seconds for the Trojans, while senior Grant Stapleton and junior Nathan Fill took 12th (1:55.45) and 18th (1:56.76), respectively, in the 800.
Senior Griffin Miller closed the book on his prep career with a 13th-place performance in the 3,200-meter run in a time of 9:24.10.
Indian Creek senior Logan Cobb glanced the final hurdle in the trials of the 110-meter event, which, unfortunately, took away a shot at the award’s podium.
Cobb placed 10th overall in a time of 14.85 seconds, while the ninth and final spot went to a runner posting a time of 14.82.
He was that close. And afterward, that disappointed.
Whiteland sophomore Ryder Emberton placed 11th in the discus with a best toss of 154-1, while Franklin Community senior Tyler Hendricks was 20th in shot put (49-3¼).
Franklin senior Blaine Conners took 26th in the 1,600-meter run in 4:30.63.
Center Grove’s 3,200-meter relay effort of Christopher Jones, Noah Rhoten, Zane Libke and Zach Ellis posted a time of 8:22.51 to place 26th.
Libke and Ellis were late additions, subbing for senior 800-meter finalists Grant Stapleton and Nathan Fill.
“We lost two of our four runners, so we had to pick up two. We still ran better than we expected ourselves to run,” said Rhoten, a sophomore.
“We lost Grant and Nathan who both qualified for the open 800. They dropped us because they wanted to do the best in their event, but we were OK with that. I know all the guys I ran with today and we’re pretty solid with our hand-offs and everything.”
