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The girls track and field season continued its race towards the finish line on Tuesday evening, with 39 area athletes from all seven local schools competing at the IHSAA Regional 2 at Goshen. It was a largely successful night, with eight of those athletes punching their ticket to the state finals.
Here’s how each local school fared:
WARSAW
Warsaw, fresh off of yet another sectional championship last week, was one of the most well-represented teams in the field. It didn’t take long for the Lady Tigers to send their first athletes to state, as the team of Annie Scholl, Darline Nelson, Claire Walters and Lucy Andrew finished in second place in the 4x100M relay to advance.
Eden Metz led for a good chunk of the 800M run, and while she was eventually caught by Bremen’s Kate Kincaid, her time of 2:15.85 was less than a second behind first place and over three in front of third as she became Warsaw’s first solo competitor to qualify for the state meet.
Cassie Jackson was the Lady Tigers’ lone qualifier from the field events, as her throw of 128’ in the discus was good enough for her to clinch third place by a little over three feet. Bayleigh Sleeth was the only other Lady Tiger competing in field events, going on to finish eleventh with a throw of 34’9”.
Other athletes competing in events that did not qualify included the 4x800M relay team of Hannah Schini, Sammi Rastrelli, Dani Rastrelli and Gracie Boren, which finished in fourth. Dani Rastrelli went on to place eighth in the 1600M run, while Sammi just missed out on qualifying with a fourth place finish in the 3200M with a time of 11:24.41. Also competing in that race was Matilda Granger, who set a personal best (11:58.21) en route to finishing ninth.
Melayna Howett won her heat of the 300M hurdles, but finished seventh overall. Gracie Boren added a ninth place finish in the 800M run, while the team of Nelson, Boren, Finley Hummitch and Metz finished the 4x400M relay in tenth.
Two athletes from Warsaw competed in the track prelims, Bailee Krieger in the 100M hurdles and Claire Walters in the 200M dash. Both finished outside of the top 10, ending their nights.
As a team, Warsaw finished the meet in fifth with a score of 35 points. Penn won the event with 70.
WAWASEE
Senior Mia Hodgson, fresh off of winning the 1600M run at the Warsaw sectional, set a new PR in the race this time around, finishing with a time of 5:08.83. She needed every bit of it too, as she narrowly edged out Plymouth’s Vivy Miller by less than half a second to finish the race in third place and clinch a spot in the state finals.
“I was just telling myself that I have to do whatever it takes,” Hodgson said after the race. “I’m so excited. I was injured last track season and coming back has been tough so it means a lot being able to go next week and compete.”
Wawasee senior Mia Hadgson (right) and Warsaw freshman Dani Rastrelli round the first turn during the 1600 Meter Run...Nieter
Freshman Sophie Hunter also represented the Lady Warriors in her first ever regional, finishing the 800M run in eleventh place with a time of 2:27.90.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY
Tippecanoe Valley senior Betty Shepherd was a story at the Bremen sectional last week, qualifying for three different events to be the Lady Vikings’ lone representative at the regional.
She began her night with a bang by finishing fourth in the 100M hurdle prelims with a time of 15.77. She’d go on to place fifth in the finals.
Her night wasn’t done there though. She would go on to qualify for the discus finals as well with a personal-best throw of 111 feet. In the finals, she’d go on to match that throw to earn a ninth place finish.
She saved her best for last though, as she set a new PR in the 300M hurdles with a time of 45.67 to finish in third place and continue on representing Tippecanoe Valley at next weekend’s state finals
MANCHESTER
Manchester had two athletes competing in the regional track events, Raimi Vawter in the 100M dash, and Peyton Ream in the 100M hurdles. Both competitors’ nights ended in the prelims for their respective events, but each Lady Squire made it awfully close. Ream finished just 0.27 seconds behind Concord’s Evie Mashala, who took eighth place for the final qualifying spot. Vawter finished in 10th place, but missed out on the finals by an even smaller margin. A total of 0.08 seconds separated sixth and eleventh place, with Vawters time of 12.79 missing the cut by less than a tenth of a second.
Sophomore Raimi Vawter of Manchester (middle) takes flight during the 100 Meter Dash with East Noble's Rya Montoya (L) and Soiuth Bend Adams' DiMayah Marsh (R)...Nieter
Manchester was also represented by Kaylee Fetters in the high jump, as well as the team of Ream, Olivia Stevens, Ava Simcoe and Vawter in the 4x100M relay. Fetters finished tied for 12th with a jump of 4’10”, while the relay team finished 13th.
WHITKO
Whitko began the night by sending out the team of Willow Osborn, Jayma Stonebraker, Reese Stonebraker and Hazel Leffers for the 4x800M relay. The team started the race by hanging near the top of the field, but eventually had to settle for a 13th place finish with a time of 10:19.02. The foursome also went on to compete in the final race of the night, the 4x400M relay. They’d go on to finish that race in fourth place (4:03.56), missing out on state by just two heartbreaking seconds.
Whitko senior Kira Sordelet stretches her jump out during the finals of the long jump competition...Nieter
Kira Sordelet was the fifth Lady ‘Cat competing, and the only one not doing so in a relay race. She’d finish 16th in the 300M hurdles with a time of 50.74. She also qualified for the long jump finals with a jump of 16’5”, finishing in ninth.
TRITON
Like Valley, Triton was represented by just one athlete on Thursday night. Senior Rilee Bemish competed in the pole vault, but was unable to clear the minimum height of 9’6”.
LAKELAND CHRISTIAN
Sophomore Olivia Hawks held her own in an absolutely loaded shot put field, qualifying for the finals with a throw of 38’6.50”. However, she was unable to improve on that mark in the final round, and ended up finishing her season with a seventh place finish.
Samantha Bloomfield was LCA’s other competitor, and she concluded her season with a 12th place finish in the 300M hurdles with a time of 49.49.
The IHSAA girls track and field state finals will be held at North Central High School in Indianapolis on Friday, June 5.
