Wawasee senior Clayton Cook is the top seed in the 110 hurdles for the State Finals set for Friday in Bloomington.

SYRACUSE –  Both Clayton Cook and JJ Gilmer know what it’s like to stand on the awards podium at the biggest track and field meet of the season.

The pair of Wawasee standouts hope their final climb on that podium come Friday takes them a little higher up than in years past.

The duo of senior stars, both of whom are capable of ascending to the very top of the podium, will look to end stellar high school careers with a bang at the IHSAA State Finals set to play out at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington.

Cook, who will move on to Ball State University to play football, is the top seed in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.39. Cook, who won his specialty at the South Bend St. Joseph Regional last Thursday night, was fifth in the event in Bloomington in 2014. He also competed in the prelims of the hurdles in 2013.

“I feel pretty confident going to State, especially in the hurdles,” said Cook following his outstanding performance at the regional.

Cook will be a busy man come Friday. He is also seeded fifth in the 200 (21.86) after a second-place finish in the regional. Cook also runs the anchor leg on the Wawasee 4 X 100 relay team that earned a State Finals berth after placing second in the regional.

Gilmer, who is headed to Grace College to compete in track, returns for his third straight trip to State to compete in the high jump. He is tied for the third seed heading into the meet with a height of 6-6 after winning the regional title last week at St. Joe. Gilmer placed 12th at State a year ago with a jump of 6-4 and was fourth in 2013 after clearing 6-6.

“I’d like to place in the top three at State this year,” said Gilmer after the regional. “Who know what will happen. But I’m going to go down there and try my best and have a good day.”

The Warriors will also have their 4 X 100 relay team in the mix. The foursome of Cook, Gilmer, senior Tyler Courter and sophomore Cole VanLue was second at the regional to become the first 400 relay team in program history to earn a spot at State. The quartet broke their own school record at the regional with a time of 42.76 and is seeded 17th at State.

“Clayton and JJ have been down to Bloomington before and each have won medals so the whole experience for them is not going to affect them,” said Wawasee coach Scott Lancaster. “Both are in the mix to medal and that is exactly where they need to be in order to have a great shot to get on the podium.

“Clayton has just gotten to the point this season where he is running clean. When championships are won and lost by 1 and 2 one hundredths of a second, that means a lot. He is certainly capable of finishing at the top of the podium. He just has to put his race together and see where that puts him. My only expectation is that he goes out and executes over the hurdles and gives himself a chance to get on the podium.

“JJ can certainly jump higher. I have seen him over 7 feet on a 6-8 jump he barely clicked off with his heels. He is capable of finishing at the top of the podium if he finds himself in a groove and he gets excited about the competition. My expectation for him is to go out and five the type of effort that will give him a chance to get on the podium, not an easy thing to do in Indiana no matter how talented you are.”

“Our 4 X 100 is unique for us in that traditionally we do not have a lot of fast guys at Wawasee. JJ and Clayton will be valuable to our efforts just by being able to lead Cole and Tyler through the spectacle of the State Finals and keeping them focused on the task at hand. Cole and Tyler have done an outstanding job of getting better each meet and contributing in a huge way to our 4 X 100 team getting to Bloomington for the first time in school history. We drew lane 8 of the middle heat, which is a great opportunity for us to improve on our 17th seed and run even faster.”

Action at the State Finals begins at 3 p.m. Friday with the pole vault, long jump and discus events. The high jump and shot put are set to start at 3:30. The 3,200 relay finals will be contested at 4:15, followed by the 100 trials (5:00), 110 hurdles trials (5:15), 200 trials (5:40), Opening Ceremonies (6:00), 110 hurdles (6:15), 100 (6:25), 1,600 (6:35), 400 relay (6:45), 400 (7:05), 300 hurdles (7:20), 800 (7:45), 200 (8:05), 3,200 (8:15) and 1,600 relay (8:30).