INDIANA STATE MEET

Martin Barco Wins 800/1600 Double In Wet Conditions; Tyler Tarter Leads Fishers To Team Title

Story and Photo By David Woods for DyeStat

RESULTS/VIDEOS | INTERVIEWS

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It is not the travel making it hard for Martin Barco to become this state’s first sub-4-minute high school miler. It is the timing.

His Martinsville, Ind., home is merely 240 miles from St. Louis, where the HOKA Festival of Miles was run Thursday night. Except his state meet came two days later, and there was business here to address.

Barco is the Al Davis of Indiana track and field: Just win, baby.

On a rainy Saturday, he increased his haul of middle-distance state titles to three, or one less than the state record – a record that has stood since the 1920s.

“A win’s all that matters to me,” Barco said.

He was indomitable, powering to the finish first in the 1,600 and 800 meters. The University of Washington signee should feel at home in the Pacific Northwest, considering how he thrived on a wet track.

Barco became the first to win an 800/1,600 double since Olympian Cole Hocker of Cathedral did it in 2019. He is the first to repeat in the 1,600 since Fishers’ Drew Shields in 2009.

Barco took the 1,600 in 4:06.34 and 800 in a PB of 1:50.97. He suggested he could, in the right race, run sub-4:00 in the mile and sub-1:48 in the 800. There was little reason to dispute him.

“I think I’m in the best shape of my life,” he said.

Best track town in the Hoosier state turns out to be Fishers, Ind.

Fishers, led by hurdler Tyler Tarter, secured its first state championship by a 60-54 margin over crosstown rival Hamilton Southeastern. Fishers – after losing in indoor state, conference, county, sectional and regional meets – won the biggest trophy.

 Improbably, Fishers scored nearly as many points at state as it did at a regional (73).

“They almost ran a flawless meet,” coach Nathan Warnecke said, “and they’re going home state champs.”

Indoor state champion Bloomington North, featuring sprint double winner Jaidyn Johnson, was third with 40 points for its highest finish. Franklin Central was fourth with 26 and Carmel fifth with 25.

Barco is an intriguing figure because he is a soccer player who didn’t begin running track until little more than two years ago.

“I feel like I’ve just barely scratched the surface of what it’s possible for me to do,” he said.

At St. Louis, perhaps he could not have beaten Drew Griffith of Butler, Pa., who won in 3:57.72. But in a May 3 mile at New York, Barco decisively defeated Clay Shively of Wichita, Kan., who was second at HOKA in 4:00.02.

Barco is 10-0 outdoors, including that mile in which he clocked 4:02.94. He is aiming at the USATF U20 meet, set for June 12-13 at Eugene, Ore., in a bid to qualify in the 800 or 1,500 for August’s U20 World Championships at Lima, Peru.

In both state races, front-runners attempted to separate from Barco, who easily covered all moves.

“Tactical races, that’s kind of like my mojo,” he said. “I have a better chance of winning if they just make it tactical rather than go out super fast. So I was kind of hoping that would happen.”

In the 1,600, cross country state champion Cameron Todd of Brebeuf Jesuit ran the opening 800 in 2:02.74. That was not fast enough to drop Barco, who ran the final 400 in 59.47. Todd finished second in 4:08.53.

The 800 field was among the best ever assembled in Indiana, featuring six runners in the 1:52s.

Bloomington North’s Caleb Winders was second in 1:51.45, a sophomore state record. Franklin Central senior Joey Ashman was third in 1:52.52. HSE’s Mason Schmitz, who led through a 54.44 first lap, was fourth in 1:52.98 – just off Winders’ freshman state record of 1:52.68.

“I feel like lately I’ve been running other people’s races,” Schmitz said. “This meet, I wanted to just like, ‘OK, Mason, you need to be you.’  I always take it out. That’s the type of 800 runner I am.”

For the summer, the 15-year old set an ambitious goal of breaking the freshman national record of 1:49.12 set at RunningLane a week ago by Cooper Lutkenhaus of Justin, Texas.

Todd was also second in a 3,200-meter race surprisingly won by Tony Provenzano of Carmel.

The three fastest at 3,200 in state history are Floyd Central’s Will Conway, Carmel’s Kole Mathison and Todd. Conway and Todd have not won a state title in the 3,200 . . . and now Provenzano has.

He closed in 59.44 for a time of 8:51.40, just off the state meet record of 8:51.15 set by North Central’s Futsum Zienasellassie in 2012.

“Oh, it feels amazing,” Provenzano said. “All that hard work pays off.”

Conway led from first lap to eighth, when he was overtaken by Provenzano and ultimately by Todd. Times were 8:56.40 for Todd and 8:56.71 for Conway, who crumpled to the track afterward and lay there for several minutes.

For the Fishers Tigers, it took more sauce than Tarter.

Counting regional marks, they were seeded to score one point from the discus, 4x100 relay and 4x800 relay. Instead, they scored 24.

Discus thrower Joel Gates did not qualify for the final until his third attempt, then went on to finish second to HSE’s Josiah Bird.

“It just takes one,” Gates said.

Before the climactic 4x400 relay, Fishers had 56 points and HSE 49. If top-seeded HSE were to win for 10 points, Fishers needed to be sixth.

Tarter’s 49.1 leadoff put Fishers in front. HSE went on to finish fifth and Fishers sixth. That was it.

“It’s awesome. I can’t wait to get on the bus my with boys to celebrate,” Tarter said.

One year ago, the Indiana University recruit pulled a hamstring at the end of the 110 hurdles. He could barely move for a month, could not sprint for four months.

“I’ve been thinking about that every day for a year,” he said, “and it finally paid off.”

His rehab allowed him to make it a 3-for-3 hurdles sweep. After setting an indoor state record in the 60 hurdles, he won the 110 hurdles in 13.85 and 300 hurdles in 37.25.

The 300 hurdles was slower than the state record of 36.17 he set at regional – he is US#2 – but was anticlimactic. Given the slight headwind, cool temps and standing water, the time in the 110 hurdles was historic. Only once since 2007 had anyone run faster than 13.85 at state.

“Halfway through that race, I was like, ‘Oh, shoot, I’m cookin’. Let’s go,’ “ Tarter said.

Football receiver JonAnthony Hall, who was second in the long jump and ran on a third-place 4x100 relay team, achieved a different kind of double. He was on Fishers’ Class 4A champions in basketball, too.

Another two-sport champion was Ben Davis shot putter Nylan Brown, who broke a school record with 63 feet, 1.50 inches (19.24m). Brown, known as “Big Ocho” for wearing the No. 8 jersey, is a Kent State linebacker recruit who helped the Giants win a state football championship.

In the slick circle, defending state champion Luke Himes of Heritage Christian could manage only 56-10.75 (17.34m) for seventh, or 12 feet off his PB.

Johnson, because of a timing malfunction, nearly had to repeat a heat of the 100 meters. He was eventually advanced to the final, in which he clocked 10.52. The Louisville signee took the 200 in 21.77, becoming the first sprinter to double since Evansville Harrison’s Noah McBride in 2017.

“My coaches told me to block everything out of my mind and just go win,” Johnson said. “Going into the meet, I had to trust myself that I can do it. Just praying a lot and staying healthy.”

Because of the rain, jumps were moved inside Gladstein Fieldhouse. That was OK with two state champions -- Greenfield-Central high jumper Elliot Ryba (6-10/2.08m) and Hamilton Heights pole vaulter Peyton Quinn (16-3/4.95m) – who had already won state indoor titles.

Brownsburg, after finishing second, second and first in the past three state meets, finished 17th with 12 points. Brownsburg was last year’s DyeStat dual-meet national champion. The Bulldogs lost Dominic Calhoun, the 200 state champion in 2023, to a hamstring injury.

Fishers won this championship without injured Sam Quagliaroli, a junior who was third in the state in cross country. The Tigers were fourth in state track and field in 2023, 2022 and 2021, and they were coming off second place in cross-country.

After coming close so often, they closed it out.

“We’ve got a great team bond,” Tarter said, “and I’m just glad we’re finally on top.”

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.