Munster senior Matt Marcus said he was intrigued by the challenge of the 400 meters.
“It’s not over in 100 or 200 meters,” he said. “There’s a lot more to it. It’s more than just a full-out sprint. Getting a race like that, which is difficult to run and not everyone can do, it feels good to get to a point where you’re one of the better 400 runners.”
Marcus displayed that ability in Friday’s Ed Woodrick Invitational at Munster, winning the 400 in 51.19 seconds, not far from the time of 49.83 that earned him a 10th-place finish at the 2016 state meet.
“It was an OK race,” he said on the cold April night. “It could’ve been better. There’s still a lot of room to improve on this season.”
Marcus has his sights set on breaking the 49-second mark in the 400, the level he needs to reach to be accepted as a walk-on by the Indiana University track program following his conversations with the coach.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of work over the last three years,” Marcus said. “I definitely don’t want to slack off now in my senior year.”
Marcus was all smiles after his win in the 400 on Friday, but classmate Eric Salzeider did not have the same reaction following the 300 hurdles. Salzeider finished third with a 43.40 as a late hurdle caused him to stumble.
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“It was the second-to-last hurdle,” he said. “My steps were off, I stuttered and I went over it with the wrong foot.”
That mistake cost Salzeider a chance to sweep the hurdles events after he’d won the 110 hurdles in 15.45.
“The 110 hurdles usually isn’t my main event, the 300 is,” he said. “That’s why I was kind of mad about that. I pondered about it for a little bit and then got on to the next race.”
The points scored by Salzeider and Marcus in those events helped the Mustangs to a sizable 137.5-115.5 lead over Hanover Central with 12 of the 16 events scored. Final results were not available at press time.
The Wildcats scored big points in the sprint events, with seniors Tavaris Quinn and Will Gregory leading the way. Quinn finished second with an 11.51 and Gregory took third with an 11.60 in the 100, and they also teamed with D.J. Moran and D.J. Fezzler to win the 400 relay in 44.68.
“We definitely want to get that time lower,” Quinn said of the relay team, which set a program record Friday. “We had a few iffy handoffs, but we’re going to try and pull it all out at sectionals, maybe get into the 43-second range.”
Quinn and Gregory said they never hold back when competing head-to-head in a race like they did in the 100. But the competition is always friendly between the classmates.
“We’re always trying to finish one and two to get the most points we can for our team,” Gregory said.
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.