New Bloomfield boys capture 4x400-meter relay crown

Jak Kitchens of New Bloomfield takes the baton from Clayten Walker during the Class 2 boys 4x400-meter relay Saturday at Adkins Stadium.
Jak Kitchens of New Bloomfield takes the baton from Clayten Walker during the Class 2 boys 4x400-meter relay Saturday at Adkins Stadium.

Photo finishes are typically reserved for sprinting events, like the 100-meter dash or the 110-meter hurdles.

But a photo finish was necessary to determine the winner of the Class 2 boys 4x400-meter relay in the state track and field championships Saturday at Adkins Stadium.

New Bloomfield senior Payton Culwell narrowly beat Maplewood-Richmond Heights' Tyree King to the finish line to give the Wildcats their first track and field event title in program history. New Bloomfield posted a time of 3:28.06, edging Maplewood-Richmond Heights by one-hundredth of a second.

"I didn't know we won until (the officials) said it," Culwell said, as King's lean at the finish line wasn't quite enough.

"The only thing that goes through your mind is this is the last race you're going to run in your high-school career. You have to give whatever you have left."

Clayten Walker ran the first leg of the relay for New Bloomfield, followed by Jak Kitchens and then Bailey Crane, the lone junior running with three seniors.

Culwell said the relay had been working toward this goal since he started high school.

"We didn't get to win a district championship in basketball, but we won districts and sectionals (in the 4x400)," Kitchens said. "Then we get here and win state. It's amazing."

The 4x400 highlighted a fifth-place finish in the Class 2 boys standings for New Bloomfield, which posted 37 points. The Wildcats were two points shy of taking home a team trophy.

Cleveland NJROTC won the Class 2 championship with 75 points and four first-place finishes Saturday. Maplewood-Richmond Heights was second with 59 points, followed by Lathrop in third with 45. Monroe City took fourth place with 39 points.

"We didn't really expect to do very good this year, but we came out on top," Culwell said of New Bloomfield scoring points in eight of the 19 events at state.

The New Bloomfield boys competed in six events on the final day of state track and medaled in five. Walker competed in four of those events.

Walker opened the day with a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter finals, clocking a time of 11.40 seconds. He then joined Kitchens, Crane and Cole Hazelhorst for the 4x200-meter relay, where the Wildcats finished seventh in 1:33.41.

Walker had high expectations entering the 200-meter finals after posting the fastest time of the eight qualifiers in Friday's preliminaries. Positioned in the coveted lane 4, Walker took fourth place in the finals Saturday with a time of 22.72 seconds, less than four-tenths of a second behind the winner.

With the 4x400 still to go, Walker didn't dwell on the disappointment.

"I realized there are thousands of kids who would like to be in my shoes," he said. "I was just happy that I could get the chance of being on the podium in fourth place."

Culwell added a fifth-place finish for the Wildcats in the 400-meter finals, posting a time of 51.51 seconds and shaving a tenth of a second off his preliminary time.

New Bloomfield made a significant leap in its performance under the current senior class of boys, which accounted for six of the 12 state qualifiers. The Wildcats failed to score points at state in 2015 and '16, then surged to a 15th-place finish in the team standings last season.

Culwell said he gives the credit to New Bloomfield coach Jacob White.

"We never had a track coach push us like he has," Culwell said. "He just strives to train athletes to be better than he was when he was in high school."