RIO GRANDE — Eaton High School grad Seth Reynolds won the league Newcomer of the Year awards to highlight the day for the Indiana University East track and field teams at the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meet on April 30, at the University of Rio Grande.
Reynolds, a freshman, was second in the 400 meter hurdles in a school-record time of 57.97 and third in the 110 meter hurdles in a school-record time of 15.49. He knocked a half-second off of his previous-best 110 hurdles time and five seconds off of his previous best 400 meter hurdles time. He also earned a top-three finish in the triple jump. He topped it off by jumping in as a last-second substitute and running a leg on IU East’s winning 4×400 meter relay.
“I started the day off slow with a no height in high jump. That was extremely frustrating, because I have cleared heights before that would have won the meet,” Reynolds said.
“After that I had around an hour until triple jump began. I knew I had to forget about high jump and focus on my next event. I got one jump in before I had to go to hurdles. I knew I could run with the top runners there, and all the warmups from triple jump kept me loose for the 110 hurdles. I went out and ran a clean race to place third. After that I finished my triple jump prelims.
“Going into finals I was fourth and I really wanted to get all-conference (top-three finish). I focused on what coach was telling me to do, and once I landed on my second-to-last jump I walked past coach and said, ‘there was my third place jump.’ It ended up being enough for third, and I was on to what I thought was my last event, the 400 hurdles. Going into the meet I hadn’t run great times for the 400 hurdles, but I knew I had it in me. Going over the seventh hurdle, I knew I had some kick left and I was able to PR and place second.
“Once I was done with (the 400 meter hurdles) I was watching the 200 meter dash and saw my teammate, Levi Dunahee, go down,” Reynolds said. “Before I could even get to over to help him, coach told me I was gonna take his spot in the 4×400 meter relay. Levi is a terrific 4×4 runner so I knew I would really have to step up for is to be able to win.
“When the gun sounded, I took off sprinting for what seemed to be the whole time. At about 125 meters I started to feel my body hurting, but there was no way I was going to let down Levi and the rest of the team in the 4×400. After I handed off to Kyle , he did amazing and was able to keep the lead, and I ran towards the end of the track to cheer on Sage. He did a great job keeping the race close and giving it to Clint. Once Clint had the baton and took the lead, there wasn’t anyone who was going to be able to catch him.
“All in all, it was great to have a PR in three events with a great team victory in the 4×4.”
Reynolds was an all-state track and field honoree at Eaton and a two-time qualifier for the Ohio state track and field meet in the 110 meter hurdles, including a seventh-place finish as a senior. He is the son of Allan and Beth Reynolds.
