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Surburg wins inaugural Porter Quarter race

  • Marion senior Tim Surburg approaches the finish line in the inaugural Porter Quarter race at the Roger Minton Early Indoor Invitational on Saturday.

    Marion senior Tim Surburg approaches the finish line in the inaugural Porter Quarter race at the Roger Minton Early Indoor Invitational on Saturday.
    All photos by Justin Walker

















 
By Justin Walker
updated: 2/24/2019 4:10 PM

MARION -- It was perfectly fitting that an athlete wearing gold won the inaugural Porter Quarter.
Marion senior Tim Surburg won the 400-meter dash ran for the first time in honor of former Wildcat standout Aaron Porter on Saturday at the Roger Minton Early Indoor Invitational boys track and field meet held at Marion's Health Education Center.
The 400-meter run, which is roughly a quarter of a mile, was the signature event for Porter, who was killed in a car accident late this past September. Porter was a member of the Indiana Tech track team when he died.
"Going into it I was telling myself, 'I have to win,'" Surburg said. "I've been thinking about this race a lot. When I was a freshman AP was a senior and he treated me right and taught me the basics of the 400. I've been striving to use his lessons."
Marion track coach Eli Baker announced in October at a memorial for Porter that the first 400 would be ran in his memory each season from now on.
And as if it came directly from a Hollywood script, it was a Marion Wildcat who won the race Saturday in a time of 53.62 seconds, beating out Marshall County's Cade Flatt (54.46) in the fastest of seven heats.
"The last stretch I was worried someone might be sneaking up," Surburg said. "But I knew I couldn't let that happen."
"From the gun," Baker said, "he showed everybody else in that race that he was going to win."
Surburg was presented a special plaque in Porter's honor from Marion assistant coach Mitchell Jordan. Porter's family wanted to attend and present the award but were attending Jaidyn Porter's collegiate meet. Jaidyn, the younger sister of Aaron, is currently setting her own records as a sprinter on the Illinois College track team.
Baker was proud to see one of his own take home the first Porter Quarter trophy.
"It means a lot because Aaron was his mentor and kind of his hero that he looked up to," Baker said. "He wanted to be him. So for him to get that first one and to win it -- he wanted it so badly; he talked about it all week -- it was just perfect. I couldn't have planned it better."
Surburg also finished second in the 600 with a time of 1:25.97 just behind Alton's Cassius Havis (1:24.61).
As for the rest of the meet, Marion placed third with 96 points behind Alton and Mascoutah, who tied with 110 each.
Steven Kosco placed third in the 800 (2:10.37) and Hamzah Baker was seventh in the 60 dash (7.42) for the Wildcats.
In the relays, Marion took third in the 4x800 (9:01.96) and fifth in the 4x400 (3:52.19).
In the field events, Dyson Roye placed second in the pole vault (12-0) with Clayton Tanner third (11-0). In the shot put, Kane Carter was third and James Gunn was fourth with marks of 45-2.5 and 44-11.
Braxton Wright was fifth in the triple jump (37-4) and Josh Patula took fourth in the high jump (5-8) and seventh in the long jump (18-5.5). Zach Oates was fifth in high jump also at 5-8.

 
 
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