HN’s Bame has high goals at state meet

DOLA — Hardin Northern’s Nick Bame will be making his third and final appearance at the Division III state track and field meet when he competes in the 1,600 and 800 runs on Saturday morning in Columbus.

While a return to the podium would be nice, Bame, who was third in the 1,600 and fifth in the 800 in 2016, has his sights set on reaching the highest spot on the medal stand.

Bame enters the 800 with the second fastest time in the 16-runner field after clocking a 1:54.59 to win the regional. His qualifying time is .11 seconds slower than Mount Gilead’s Austin Hallabrin (1:54.48).

The Polar Bear senior and Hallabrin are the only two competitors in the field to run under 1:55.00 in regional competition.

Bame’s 1,600 time of 4:22.68 is just over a second slower than the top time of 4:21.29 by Ottoville’s Brendan Siefker.

“I think this is my best shot to place high, so that’s exciting,” Bame said. “The biggest thing is I feel like I’m peaking right now and my times have been dropping. That’s what you always want to do at state.

“That (a state championship) would be awesome,” he added. “It is a goal, but the biggest goal for me is to know that I ran my best race that I can. If that means a state championship, I’ll be really happy with that.”

HN coach Travis Rettig said he wants Bame to worry about running his best and the placing will take care of itself.

“Looking at times, we’re pretty happy with where he’s sitting. He’ll go out and try to PR and see where he’s at from there,” Rettig said. “We’re just kind of doing the same things we did last year to prepare. It’s kind of nice with him having all that experience at the state level. The goal is state championship, but I think he’s got to think PR first and go from there and see where it plays out.”

Last year Bame ran a PR of 4:19.56 to place third in the 1,600 run and was with the leaders going into the final turn of the 800 run before fading into sixth with a time of 1:56.87.

Many runners that compete at state in multiple distance events scratch from one event to focus on the one they feel they are stronger in. Bame plans to compete in both events again this year.

“As long as I’m feeling good, I don’t think there is any reason I shouldn’t be able to give it my best in both races and have two PRs,” he said. “I train throughout the winter and have myself in good shape, so I feel like I can give myself a good shot in both races. I don’t want to miss out on that by trying to push one race aside. I always like the opportunity to run both.”

The Hardin Northern senior said he learned a lot during his first two years competing in Columbus.

“I have noticed in the mile, some guys will try and go out really fast. They have all that adrenaline and everything,” he said. “You have to remember to run your own race and not change things up too much because that can make it so you don’t run the race you want to run. The last two years, I’ve been able to do that and I’ve run really well down at state and PR’d both times.”

Bame, who has been in front of the competition most of the year, said he really doesn’t pay too much attention to the rest of the field from that position, noting at the regional meet he was unaware there was someone relatively close to him for the first two laps.

“Unless someone tells me there is someone behind me I have no idea what is going on behind me,” he said. “Unless I’m sitting back in second or third, it’s just all on my race and how I run the race. I hear the splits, coming around each lap, so I know about where I’m at. At the state meet, there might be some guys out in front, so then that might make it a little bit different.”

He noted that the fact there are only 45 minutes between the end of the 1,600 and the beginning of the 800 doesn’t affect him much.

“I just make sure I don’t sit down too much and that I drink some water,” he said. “I get done with the mile and just focus and know I have to run the 800 next. I make sure not to think about the 800 until I’m done with the mile.”

Bame competes in the mile at 10:05 a.m. Saturday and the 800 run at 10:55 a.m.

By KENDRICK JESIONOWSKI
Times sports editor