By Mike Deak May 29, 2025 With all the expectations placed upon everyone else, Dustin Richardson went out and even surprised himself. As the onlookers at the Goshen Boys Track Regional awaited one of the best high jumpers in the country - Jordan Randall of Warsaw - to begin his work, Richardson was already exceeding expectations. Richardson realized after Angola’s Keithyn Duncan had missed on his third jump at 6-5 that he was going to state, all the pressure was off. Richardson had already made 6-5, securing at least second place, then succeeded in jumps of 6-6, then 6-7, even gaining a reaction from the Warsaw camp as now Richardson and Randall were matching each other jump for jump. Richardson’s playful disbelief in his achievements eventually leveled off as he didn’t hit another jump, and Randall showed why he’s the top contender for a high jump state championship by clearing 6-9, then 6-11, then 7-1 before calling it quits. Richardson’s 6-7 was a personal best as he will head to Bloomington next weekend to compete in the IHSAA State Finals. West Noble had six other events represented, but none had automatic qualifiers after Thursday’s regional. The 4x100 relay had to best finish of the three relays to run for the Chargers, finishing sixth at 43.46, represented by Fernando Macias, Xavier Yates, Richardson and Jaylun Shaffer. The 4x400 relay team of Richardson, Shaffer, Brayden Knepper and Anthony Castillo were 14th at 3:30.89, and the 4x800 team of Nathan Troxel, Caleb Petersen, Devon Bartlett and Graysen Ruch were 15th at 8:44.40. Shaffer was fifth in the 200 (22.24) with a potential callback to state, and was 10th in the 100 (11.52), while Ruch was 12th in the 3,200 run (10:00.05).