The Westfield Boys track and field team competed at the Lafayette Jeff Regional Thursday night. The Shamrocks had a very strong showing, finishing 2nd with its best ever Regional team finish, just 5 points out of first place. More importantly, 8 individual athletes and 2 relays punched their tickets for the State Championships on June 6. There are three ways to qualify for state--finish in the top 3, run the state standard, or be one of the 6 next-best non-automatic qualifying performances in the state. The night began with the 4x800 of Nathan McKeever, Deagan Imel, Caleb Haney, and Carson Ackley both hitting the standard and finishing 2nd to make the state meet. Then, in the 100 dash, Olu Fapetu finished 2nd, and Cayden Gearhart finished 4th, but he hit the standard, sending both of them to state. In a sign of how good this meet was, in the 100 hurdles, Logan Tuck finished 6th--but still hit the standard and made state. The early meet heroics continued when Luke Moulder finished 3rd in the 1600 becoming only the 3rd ever Westfield boy to qualify in the event in school history. Not to be outdone, the 4x100 of Caleb Terril, Tuck, Gearhart, and Fapetu then ran a blazing 40.93--both a school record and the first time a Westfield team has ever run under 41 seconds--winning the event, and guaranteeing their spot at state. With two more individual runs to go, both Ryd Wallerstedt and Caleb Terril also advanced to state--Ryd by finishing 3rd in the 400, and Caleb by running the standard and automatically qualifying in the 200. Then there were some fireworks in the field events. Brady Lemieux went 14-0 in the pole vault to finish in 2nd place and Jack Eberhart, in something of an upset, finished in the 3rd automatic qualifying spot in shot put, assuring Westfield will also be represented in the field at state. Also scoring for the Shamrocks but not making the state roster were the 4x400 of Wallerstedt, Ackley, Donovan Ledford, and Terril; Jordan Gross in the discus; and Mason McCray in the 100. McCray, one of the best sprinters in the state this season, and an athlete who has held the 60, 100, 200, and 4x100 records at various points in the season, was injured in the sectional 100 m final. He heroically tried to get through his regional race despite the pain, but just fell short. The boys are back in action on June 6 at North Central HS in the IHSAA State Track and Field Championships.