Devin Throw heads into today’s regional meet at Valparaiso riding the wave of the fastest 200-meter sprint of his life, one that earned him the sectional title with a time of 22.03

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Just when nobody could be blamed for wondering whatever happened to the once promising Chesterton sprinter Devin Throw, the graduating senior answered that question emphatically at the Portage sectional meet last week.
He’s back and better than ever, that’s what happened.
Throw suffered an ankle injury that delayed his preseason training. Later in the season, his outrageous academic schedule prevented him from giving track the attention it needed for him to show his speed. Junior Weston Moore was the team’s best hope and not only in the 100 meters, but the 200 as well.
Then Throw tore down the track and won the 200 at the Portage sectional race last Thursday in 22.03.
So the question in a way remains the same but with an entirely different context: What happened?
“My best was a 22.07 last season, but then I sprained my ankle and I didn’t get to run any in the preseason and I had some mental struggles at school, just trying to figure out what I was doing with my life,” Throw explained after the race. “I was balancing so many things and now that all those things are over, I’ve been able to focus solely on track the past two weeks.”
Throw participated in Ivy Tech graduation ceremonies after receiving his Associate’s Degree via dual credit classes offered at Chesterton. And he and classmate Isabel Durkin served on the town of Porter’s environmental sustainability commission.
But those weren’t the primary sources of drawing time and focus away from track.
“I was taking seven AP classes,” Throw said.
Woa!
If Throw did that well at the sectional with his focus trained on track for two weeks, he might be able to do even better today at the Valparaiso regional, running on a fast track three weeks after his last AP final.
All he needs to do is run the same time as at the sectional and that will meet the state standard, known in track as “3-Participant Standard.”
The top three finishers in the regional meet and athletes who meet or beat the state standard time (22.15 in the 200) at the regional advance to state.
Throw had a suspicion his 200 final would be a good one: “Once I saw my time in the preliminary (22.29) and I didn’t even try very hard, I knew it was going to be a good day.”
Chesterton qualified at least one athlete in 15 of the 16 events, the 110 high hurdles being the lone exception. The qualifiers and their seeds:
100: 4. Weston Moore 10.77; 7. Cal Wisniewski 10.93; 1600: 1. Spencer Martin 4:29.57; 200: 7. Throw 22.03; 300: 2. Louis Raffin 40.19; 6. Nate Vaughan; 3200: 2. Ryan Nix 9:42.48; 6. Nick Jakel 9:55.44; 400: 7. Ben Phillips 51.89; 8. Patrick Mochen 51.94; 4x100: 1. 41.92; 4x400: 2. Chesterton 3:27.25; 4x800: 1. Chesterton 8:11.36; 800 meters: 7. Zarek Sierazy 2:03.54; 13. Will Roberson 2:05.61; Discus: 10. 131-3.0; High jump: 14. Nolan Huley 5-10; Long jump: 3. Vaughan 22-4.5; 11. Wisniewski 21-2.75; Pole vault: 10. Bryan Huseman 12-6; 16. Maddox McKinney 10-6; Shot put: 5. Carlos Leon 50-8; 11. Tyler Nevious 56-2.5.