The Chesterton boys track team has had a great season thus far, but recently one relay has stood out from the rest. This relay team is, of course, the shuttle hurdle relay. This group competes in one of the most unique events that is usually only run at select meets. Typically, the shuttle hurdle relay is only run at ‘Relays’ meets, such as Chesterton’s Garry Nallenwag relays or the Kelley Relays (last Friday). After all of the ‘Relays’ meets have been run this year, this event has been won handily every time by Chesterton’s group.
The crew is made up of sophomores Cal Wisniewski and Nate Vaughan, junior Kieran Barnewall, and senior Brody Mehling. Barnewall has been a household name in Chesterton track for the past couple of years, making it to the state and national championships over his decorated 2.5 years.
The shuttle hurdle crew has been demolishing the competition this season, starting at the aforementioned Gary Nallenweg Chesterton Relays. There, they broke the meet and school records with a time of 56.32 in the 100m shuttle hurdles, beating the previous record of 57.84 which was set last year. The group then went on to run at West Lafayette, where they ran a time of 1:03.5, this time in the 110m shuttle hurdles. This time was good, but the boys had their eyes focused on something bigger. These boys dreamt of a time that at one point this season, they thought was impossible. They wanted to qualify for the New Balance Nationals meet, where they could compete against the best shuttle hurdle teams in the country.
With only one more meet to qualify, the crew made it their goal to perfect every little thing they could. In order to qualify, they needed to drop a full second off their time, down to 1:02.5, in order to make the cut. Luckily, their hard work paid off, and when Barnewall crossed the finish line, the timer read 1:01.00.
With this time, the shuttle hurdle relay team qualified for the New Balance Nationals invitational on June 15 in Philadelphia. If you see any members of this relay team around, be sure to congratulate them on their accomplishment and wish them good luck in Philly!
