Ben Hickman earns MVP of Milan Invitational

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The Switzerland County Pacer boys track team earned third place at the Milan Invitational last Thursday night with a score of 76. South Decatur finished first with 126; and Milan had 125, taking second. Southwestern came in fourth with 68; North Decatur had 36; and Jac-Cen-Del finished with 30.

Switzerland County Pacer Ben Hickman was the top performer at the meet, and earned the MVP award. Ben Hickman acquired 24 points during the track meet. He placed first in the long jump; second in the 200-meter dash; fourth place in the 100-meter dash; and fifth place in discus.

In the high jump, Brandon Otter took first place and Kyle Green earned second place.

T.J. Sefton earned second place in the 100-meter dash.

Fourth place winners were: Matt Johnson in the 800-meter run; Jim Abbott in the 3200-meter run; and T.J. Sefton in the long jump. In the 400-meter relay the team of Brandon Otter, Nathan Hickman, Kyle Green and Josh Wegman came in fourth place. The team of Josh Snow, Jim Abbott, Matt Johnson and Chad Robinson came in fourth place in the 3200-meter relay.

Fifth place winners were: B.J. Shelton in shot put and Nathan Hickman in the 300-meter hurdles.

Kyle Green came in sixth place in the 110-meter hurdles.

“At this meet last year we finished last, so we are definitely improving. I was hoping for a better result tonight but was very happy with several individuals and their performances,” coach Sean McGarvey said. “Congratulations to Ben Hickman for the being MVP of the meet.”

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The Pacers also participated in the Madison Invitational meet on Saturday, April 15th, earning third place with a score of 59 1/2. Indian Creek was first with 178; Madison second with 98; South Ripley had 55; South Dearborn had 52 /12; Pekin Eastern had 22; Jac-Cen-Del had 18; and Christian Academy finished with five.

Top performers with first places were: Ben Hickman in the long jump with 20’ 3 1/2”; B.J. Shelton in shot put with 43’ 8 1/2”, and Brandon Otter tied for first in the high jump with 5’ 10”.

The team of Ben Hickman, Nathan Hickman, Kyle Green and Matt Wegman came in second place in the 400-meter relay.

Jim Abbott placed third in the 3,200-meter run.

Nathan Hickman placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles and the 300 hurdles.

Fifth place winners were: Brandon Otter in the long jump and Kyle Green tied in the high jump. In the 1,600-meter relay Matt Johnson, Chad Robinson, Nathan Hickman and Jim Abbott came in fifth. The 3,200-meter relay team of Matt Johnson, Jim Abbott, Chad Robinson and Matt Wegman also came in fifth.

“I was very happy with our performance, a third place finish at this meet shows the progress we are making as a team”, coach Sean McGarvey said. “We had several guys who did a great job and I hope we continue to make this kind of effort as the year goes on.”