Evan Williams Beats Rylan Hainje, Goes No. 5 All-Time 7.57 To Win 60 Hurdles

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photos by David Woods/Will Nelson (NBNI)

INDIANAPOLIS – Advocates for Indiana track and field have long contended the state is underrated. There is some evidence.

For instance, of five Americans winning distance medals at this month’s World Indoor Championships, two were Hoosiers: Cathedral’s Cole Hocker, silver at 3,000 meters, and Huntington North’s Addy Wiley, bronze at 800.

Perhaps more telling:

Indiana boys swept the 800 (Caleb Winders), mile (Noah Bontrager) and 2-mile (Calvin Seitz) at New Balance nationals two weeks ago. Indiana produced three other national champions and two runners-up.

And no one was slowing down Saturday in the Hoosier State Relays, the indoor state meet, at Fall Creek Pavilion:

>> Evan Williams of Lawrence Central won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.57 seconds for No. 5 on the all-time high school list. Fifteen minutes later, he set a large-school meet record of 6.71 in the 60 dash.

>> Winders, of Bloomington North, ran anchor of the 4x800 relay in 1:50.37. He then ran the leadoff 1,200 of the distance medley in 3:06,  and he came from behind in the 4x400 with a 48.28 anchor. He won the 800 at New Balance in 1:48.83.

>> Bontrager, of Westview, ran the closing 800 of the small-school 3,200 in 1:59.33 to hold off Western’s Preston Raab. Bontrager’s time was 9:08.35 to Raab’s 9:09.03. Eighty minutes later, Bontrager ran a 1:50.88 anchor to bring Westview from ninth to fourth in the 4x800 relay. Finally, his 1,600 anchor delivered victory in the distance medley relay.

>> Mallory Weller of Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran became the second Indiana girl to run a sub-10-minute time for 3,200 meters. Her 9:55.66 was 21 seconds faster than the meet record set by Park Tudor’s Sophia Kennedy in 2023. Weller broke her own state indoor record of 10:02.05. Only Indiana girl faster is Kennedy – who was third in the NCAA 5,000 for Stanford last June – with a converted outdoor 9:53.63 in 2023.

>> Weston Ott of Churubusco won the small-school shot put with a distance of 67-7.25. That ranks No. 4 on the all-time state list and is US#4 this year.

Recap by divisions:

Large-school boys: Williams outduels Hainje

Williams’ hurdles time is US#2 behind the 7.44 by Zacchaeus Brocks of Novi, Mich.

Williams was third behind Brocks at New Balance. Their rivalry will continue in the Big Ten because Brocks is headed to Ohio State and Williams to Indiana University.

Meanwhile, the most epic hurdles rivalry in Indiana history persists. Williams beat Franklin Central’s Rylan Hainje, who won the 110- and 300-meter hurdles at state last June and set a 60 hurdles state record of 7.58 on March 11. In this race, the two were even through three hurdles before Williams gained separation over the last two.

Hainje was second in 7.72. He limped through the end of his 60-meter heat and withdrew from the 4x400 relay.  He said a hamstring injury might keep him sidelined until the sectional May 21.

“That’s my guy. Love the guy so much,” Williams said. “Just racing him, it’s an ethereal feeling. Just having him next to you is one of the best things that could ever happen.”

Hainje led off the 4x200 relay for Franklin Central, which set a state indoor record of 1:26.56, or US#6.  That represented Hainje’s eighth state record in a 53-week span.

In team standings, Bloomington North won a third straight state title, scoring all of its 60 points with wins in the 4x400, 4x800 and DMR. Bloomington North finished second in DyeStat’s 2025 national dual-meet tournament.

Franklin Central was second with 46 and Brownsburg third with 35.

In the DMR, Bloomington North anchor Caelan D’Onofrio held off Noblesville’s Banner Barnes, who dove at the finish in an attempt to be a double champion.

Barnes sprinted the closing 200 in 27.17 to win the 3,200 in 9:08.29. Warsaw’s Jackson Gackenheimer was second in 9:08.74.

Elsewhere, meet records were set by Warsaw high jumper Jordan Randall (7-0.50) and Kokomo long jumper Jerome Young (23-11.50). Randall won at Nike nationals.

Seitz, of Springs Valley, skipped the Hoosier State Relays.

Large-school girls: Brownsburg sprinter, Carmel dominate

When you are breaking a state record held by an Olympic gold medalist, it is worth listening to that gold medalist.

Brownsburg sophomore Nife Ogunyele blasted to a time of 7.36 in the 60 meters. She bettered  the 7.42 set in 2016 by Pike’s Lynna Irby, who went on to win two relay medals at Tokyo 2021.

Ogunyele recently met Irby, who spoke at a Brownsburg track clinic.

“She just told us that we need to continue to put in work, on and off track season,” Ogunyele said. “And that recovery is a really important part of it as well.”

Ogunyele was third at state in the 100 last June behind Fort Wayne Carroll’s Nadia Ford, who was second in the 60 in 7.44.

Carmel won a fourth straight state title, prompting its athletes to hold up four fingers on the award stand.

Carmel scored 63.5 points to 50 for runner-up Bloomington South. North Central was third with 40 and Whiteland fourth with 30.

Carmel scored 36 in two distance relays but didn’t stop there.

“We don’t want to be known just as a distance school any more for track,” said coach Aaron McRill, whose Greyhounds won outdoor state last June. “We want to be known as an all-around program.”

Carmel won the 4x800 with Annabel Pollert, Sadie Foley, Kaitlyn Oshimura and Larkin Taylor (2:11.64). Pollert had finished second in the 3,200 in 10:28.63.

Elsewhere, state indoor records were set by New Albany sophomore Jada Harper, 8.37 in the 60 hurdles (US#10), and North Central’s 4x200 relay team of Athena Dixon, Emmerson Williams, Gabrielle Moore, Kourtney Taylor, 1:39.32.

Warren Central junior Kira Smith, a New Balance  champion and under-18 world leader, won the high jump at 5-10.

Whiteland had two champions: shot putter Carly VonDielingen, 44-6, and long jumper Elnora Stevenson, 19-3.50.

Small-school boys: Bontrager keeps going after sub-4:00

Bontrager, a Notre Dame recruit, said he didn’t allow himself to keep his head in the clouds after a 3:59.42 mile at New Balance.

“I’ve tried to force myself off of it,” he said. “Coming out here, it’s not guaranteed. There’s a guy on my butt with a lap to go.”

Bontrager was part of 40 points by Westview, which scored 46 and was second to Bishop Chatard’s 59. Guerin Catholic and Lakewood Park Christian tied for third with 36.

Chatard’s state title was its fifth in a row

Zach Gantz ran a 1:52.60 anchor to help Chatard win the 4x800 . . . and ran for the second-place 4x200 relay team. Don’t often see a half-miler/sprinter. Neither do you see a pole vaulter – that’s Cohen Betz – in the 4x200. Then there was freshman Tanner Sparks, who turned an ankle at mid-week but recovered enough to run 4x200 and 4x400 relays.

Final two legs of Chatard’s winning 4x400 team were by Gantz (48.92) and Phoenix Boyer (48.47). Getting Boyer back from a minor injury “was big,” coach Sean McGinley said.

Small-school girls: Weller 2nd Indiana girl sub-10

In the 3,200, Weller was so dominant that she lapped state cross country champion Libby Dowty of Indian Creek. Dowty was second in 10:34.90.

Weller, a North Carolina State recruit, missed last fall’s state cross country meet after winning as a junior. She was sidelined by a stress reaction in her tibia, and she said she tried to retain fitness via cross-training. She said she has been pain-free for a month.

“I was trying to get my redemption today,” she said.

“Taking the time off really reordered my mental state. I’m definitely more motivated than ever.”

Weller went on to run anchor legs for Concordia Lutheran’s winning teams in the 4x800 and DMR. The time of 12:02.56 in the DMR was a meet record.

Chatard won two relays and was second in two, scoring 72 of a possible 80 points.

Chatard piled up 97 points to 69 for runner-up Hamilton Heights. Concordia Lutheran was third with 54.

For Chatard, Mary Kate Felts, Teja Bentley, Caroline Gries and Ruth McHugh won the 4x200 in 1:42.95. Felts, Gries, McHugh and Grace Leppert took the 4x400 in 3:57.58.

Contact David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com.