By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
It was a beautiful night for the Hamilton County track and field meet Friday at Carmel Stadium, and it turned to be a historic night as well, as seven new records were set – including two that broke old records that had stood for decades.
Ladies first: The Carmel girls edged out Hamilton Southeastern 173-165, an eight point margin between two teams that could arguably be the two best in the state. The ‘Hounds and the Royals won all but one of the events, including a tie for first in the pole vault. Carmel’s Kara Deady and Southeastern’s Jessica Bray both finished with vaults of 12 feet, 6 inches.
The Greyhounds were led by Phoebe Bates, who proved to be the iron woman of the meet. The sophomore swept the 800, 1600 and 3200 runs – that’s a total of 14 laps around the track, or three and a half-miles. Bates took the 1600 run by seven and a half seconds, set a new meet record of 2:15.34 to win the 800. Bates bested the 25-year old record of Carmel’s Amy Morris, who ran the race in 2:15.40 back in 1993. Minutes later, Bates cruised to a 25-second victory in the 3200.
Bates scored 30 points for Carmel at the meet, giving her the award for the highest girls point-scorer.
“I just took it race by race,” said Bates. “The mile, I thought ‘four laps,’ then the 800, I was like ‘Okay, this is only two laps,’ and then the two-mile I just had eight more laps to get done.”
Beverley Thompson and Olivia Elkin made a 1-2 sweep of the 300 hurdles, while Marie Kress took the shot put. Carmel also won the 4×800 relay to begin the meet, then finished the meet with a 4×400 relay victory; Reagan Hune pulled away at the end to seal the win.
“I think as a whole team, we did great,” said ‘Hounds coach Aaron McRill. “We knew HSE was a really, really good team. We just wanted to see how we would compare to them, and I think we stack up pretty good. So it’s going to be a good tournament.”
Southeastern was led by the great Camille Christopher, who was part of three new records in the meet. In doing so, the senior broke through time barriers in each of those events.
First in the 100 dash, Christopher delivered the county meet’s first under-12 second time, winning that race in 11.95 seconds. Later, she placed first in the 200 dash in 24.96 seconds, the first sub-25 second result. In both cases, she broke her own record.
In between, Christopher teamed up with Olivia Burgess, Tierra Sydnor and Alyssa Barker to win the 4×100 relay in new record time of 47.72 – the first meet time under 48 seconds.
“It feels great,” said Christopher. “It feels like I’m back in the mix and ready for state.”
“I just haven’t even processed the whole thing yet, honestly,” said Barker, a freshman.
“I think we ran pretty good,” said Sydnor, a junior. “We had little bobbles with the handoff and stuff, but we worked it out and we kept going. That’s the best part about it.”
Sydnor was a double winner, finishing first in the 400 dash and the long jump. Tayah Irvin triumphed in the 100 hurdles and Valerie Obear cruised to a win in the discus.
Noblesville’s Shelby Tyler broke through the Carmel-HSE dominance to take the high jump. Tyler easily cleared 5 feet, 9 inches, breaking the old record set by another Miller, Rachel Mather, by one inch.
“It feels really good,” said Tyler. “I’ve been training really hard for it and have gotten a lot of support from both parents, coaches, teammates. Everyone’s been super helpful and that makes it fun and it makes it motivating.”
In the boys meet, Carmel used its depth to win by a solid margin. The Greyhounds scored 158 points, with Fishers totaling 130 and HSE scoring 123.
The depth was necessary, as individual wins were hard to come by. All six participating schools scored at least one individual event victory.
Carmel began the meet by winning the 4×800 relay, then got 1-2 finishes in two events. Trey Harris placed first in the 1600 run with Eli Konow second, then Graham Hatfield won the discus, followed by Jon Williams.
“I thought the boys competed very well,” said Greyhounds coach Ken Browner. “On paper, Fishers and HSE and us were separated by about three points. I was a little concerned, because I knew we weren’t running some of our better kids today. But I knew with that, once we got into the competition, we had some really great performances from the young kids that never really get a chance to run in this kind of environment.”
Southeastern won the most individual events, with six first-place finishes. That included a photo finish between the Royals’ Noah Malone and the Tigers’ HL Lewis in the 100 dash. Malone edged out Lewis by .01 seconds – 11.72 to 11.73. Both runners were under the old 100 dash record of 11.80, and it was indeed an old record: It was set by Carmel’s Bill Davis back in 1982.
Malone also won the 200 dash, and was part of the Royals’ winning 4×100 relay. As a result, he earned the trophy for the boys highest point scorer of the meet.
“It was tough,” said Malone. “This is the most competition I’ve had all season. I had a PR in the 100 and overall it was a good meet.”
Madison Norris cruised to victory in the 110 hurdles, also in a new meet record time of 14.22 seconds. That lowered the standard of HSE’s Jeremiah Wright by one-tenth of a second. Nathan Smith took the 300 hurdle race, while Chase Maxey finished first in the long jump.
Fishers got two victories: DiSean Graham paced the 400 dash and Luke Martin won the shot put. Fourth-place Noblesville had three wins: Drew Herman took the high jump, freshman Andrew Anderson was first in the 800 run, and the Millers’ 4×400 relay team edged out Carmel for a win in that event. Noblesville coach Jay Taylor said that his team “had some guys pull through big time” to win that race.
“Really pleased with how Andrew ran,” said Noblesville coach Jay Taylor about the 800. “I’ll tell you that Nick Dombroski was in that race as well, and he pulled through just as well as Andrew did, relative to himself.”
Westfield’s Peyton Haack finished first in the pole vault, while Guerin Catholic’s Quinn Gallagher won the 3200 run, his first time as a county champion.
“It’s pretty neat, because last year I got outkicked and then this year, it was really fun and I was ready for it,” said Gallagher.
GIRLS MEET
Team scores: Carmel 173, Hamilton Southeastern 165, Fishers 125, Noblesville 78, Westfield 53, Guerin Catholic 21.
4×800 relay: 1. Carmel (Sydney Haines, Annie Christie, Anna Morozov, Mahalet Zereuesenay) 9:45.90, 2. Southeastern (Sammie Alphin, Annice McFarland, Maddie Mirro, Ellie Pedersen) 9:55.30, 3. Fishers (Lilia Bodnar, Liz Rogers, Emma Gillespie, Johanna Strueder) 10:02.20, 4. Westfield (Sydney Clifford, ChristyAnn Delahunty, Sarah Coates, Julia Clark) 10:06.40, 5. Noblesville (Taylor Gregory, Sophie Stahl, Brynn Eaton, Anna Hazelrigg) 10:21.10, 6. Guerin Catholic (Delaney Klee, Amanda Schafer, Hope Museck, Kinley Callahan) 11:13.70.
100 dash: 1. Camille Christopher (HSE) 11.95, new meet record, 2. Danielle Harrison (F) 12.30, 3. Tamia Perryman (F) 12.36, 4. Alyssa Baker (HSE) 12.60, 5. Carly Markley (C) 12.85, 6. Riley Pennington (C) 13.12, 7. Anna Hallett (GC) 13.18, 8. Kailyn Ely (N) 13.21.
100 hurdles: 1. Tayah Irvin (HSE) 15.80, 2. Jaanvi Bisariya (C) 16.27, 3. Madi Tester (C) 16.40, 4. Ava Henson (C) 16.69, 5. Lindsey Wormuth (N) 16.70, 6. Elika Mayes (F) 17.10, 7. Lauren Hege (F) 17.67, 8. Ella Mackenzie (HSE) 17.69.
200 dash: 1. Christopher (HSE) 24.96, new meet record, 2. Perryman (F) 25.71, 3. Olivia Burgess (HSE) 25.90, 4. Markley (C) 26.47, 5. Toni Grace (F) 26.87, 6. DeLaney Boles (N) 26.99, 7. Alex Waples (C) 27.13, 8. Ely (N) 27.27.
1600 run: 1. Phoebe Bates (C) 5:01.60, 2. Gabby Dilick (W) 5:09.07, 3. Abi Little (N) 5:12.39, 4. Corinne O’Leary (F) 5:16.25, 5. Aubrie Deal (N) 5:19.03, 6. Brooke Ratliff (HSE) 5:21.72, 7. Corinne Yorkman (F) 5:23.79, 8. Sophie Porter (W) 5:26.93.
4×100 relay: 1. Southeastern (Burgess, Tierra Sydnor, Baker, Christopher) 47.72, new meet record, 2. Fishers (Harrison, Grace, Grace May, Perryman) 48.31, 3. Carmel (Kiara Gill, Markley, Josie Upton, Reagan Hune) 49.18, 4. Noblesville (Ely, Grace Brisco, Shelby Tyler, Boles) 51.03, 5. Westfield (Kierstyn Ballard, Hannah Fife, Alison Bullock, Erianna Ballard) 51.33.
400 dash: 1. Sydnor (HSE) 58.40, 2. Hune (C) 58.47, 3. Sydney Spears (W) 59.35, 4. Alexis Waples (C) 1:00.19, 5. Mya Hammons (HSE) 1:01.15, 6. Keiya McClung (F) 1:01.86, 7. Hazelrigg (N) 1:03.22, 8. Chloe Schroeder (F) 1:03.31.
300 hurdles: 1. Beverley Thompson (C) 46.77, 2. Olivia Elkin (C) 48.17, 3. Katie Folta (F) 50.34, 4. Haley Boehm (W) 50.57, 5. Arianna Kelley 50.97, 6. Mackenzie (HSE) 51.01, 7. Tayah Irvin (HSE) 51.54, 8. Jayden Hammes (W) 51.72.
800 run: 1. Bates (C) 2:15.34, new meet record, 2. Kamya Lapsley (F) 2:18.90, 3. Little (N) 2:19.19, 4. Pedersen (HSE) 2:19.61, 5. Haines (C) 2:20.19, 6. Bella Sharples-Gordon (N) 2:20.82, 7. Mirro (HSE) 2:22.73, 8. Brynn Urban (F) 2:27.76.
3200 run: 1. Bates (C) 10:49.90, 2. Lulu Black (HSE) 11:14.74, 3. Lilly Cummins (HSE) 11:21.66, 4. Debbie Shera (F) 11:28.46, 5. Lily McAndrews (C) 11:36.28, 6. Izzy Museck (GC) 11:36.95, 7. Aubrey Swart (N) 11:37.35, 8. Strueder (F) 11:37.74.
4×400 relay: 1. Carmel (Thompson, Abbey Grogan, Waples, Hune) 3:58.04, 2. Fishers (Grace, Lapsley, May, Harrison) 3:58.80, 3. Southeastern (Burgess, Hammons, McFarland, Sydnor) 3:58.86, 4. Noblesville (Hazelrigg, Sharples-Gordon, Brisco, Little) 4:11.68, 5. Guerin Catholic (Claire Sherfick, Grace Gjerde, Emily Zlatniski, Ellie Schroeder) 4:15.05, 6. Westfield (Emma Luedke, Fife, Sophie Porter, Spears) 4:17.23.
High jump: 1. Tyler (N) 5-9, new meet record, 2. Amiyah James (C) 5-4, 3. Irvin (HSE) 5-2, 4. Alex Miller (F) 5-1, 5. Ellie Clark (C) 5-0, 6. Emily Monson (F) 5-0, 7. Lili Wilhelm (N) 4-10, 8. Boehm (W) 4-6.
Discus: 1. Valerie Obear (HSE) 125-2, 2. Olivia Willman (F) 107-8, 3. Anna Kiser (N) 106-11, 4. Dana Reed (C) 101-0, 5. Rae Winkle (F) 100-2, 6. Leah Roebuck (C) 98-11, 7. Erin Waite (W) 96-7, 8. Jada Edson (HSE) 91-6.
Shot put: 1. Marie Kress (C) 35-8, 2. Erikka Ededuwa (HSE) 35-5.5, 3. Willman (F) 34-10, 4. Anna Kmec (C) 34-7, 5. Obear (HSE) 34-2.5, 6. Kiser (N) 32-6, 7. Devyn Palmer (N) 32-3.5, 8. Sydney Beechboard (GC) 30-7.
Long jump: 1. Sydnor (HSE) 17-7.5, 2. Spears (W) 17-5.5, 3. Gill (C) 16-8.5, 4. Folta (F) 16-8.5, 5. Sydney Black (W) 16-8, 6. Gjerde (GC) 16-7.5, 7. Hammons (HSE) 16-5.5, 8. Kenedi London (F) 16-4.
Pole vault: T1. Kara Deady (C) 12-6; Jessica Bray (HSE) 12-6, both tie meet record, 3. Kennedy Drish (HSE) 12-0, 4. Tyler (N) 11-6, 5. Erika Kneiper (N) 10-0, 6. Claire Fletchall (F) 9-6, 7. Reagan Ney (F) 9-6, 8. Alison Casey (F) 9-0.
BOYS MEET
Team scores: Carmel 158, Fishers 130, Hamilton Southeastern 123, Noblesville 85, Westfield 74, Guerin Catholic 45.
4×800 relay: 1. Carmel (Thomas Gastineau, Robert Kinney, Ben Miller, Keelan Grant) 8:07.60, 2. Fishers (Drew Smith, Ethan Meyer, Jack Kinsel, Sam Kuhn) 8:08.10, 3. Noblesville (Bryce Gatewood, Nick Dombroski, Jack Commeville, Blake Hipkiss) 8:24.40, 4. Westfield (Max Gutwein, David Mannella, Jacob Beene, Noah Douthit) 8:25.10, 5. Guerin Catholic (JP Spoonmore, Quinn Gallagher, Matthew Fletcher, Andrew Hall) 8:38.00, 6. Southeastern (Brandon Barrientos, Declan Golden, Brady Southern, Jack Struss) 8:40.70.
100 dash: 1. Noah Malone (HSE) 10.72, new meet record, 2. HL Lewis (F) 10.73, under old meet record, 3. Adam Saleh (C) 11.22, 4. Jack Boyd (HSE) 11.34, 5. Sam Rogers (C) 11.36, 6. Dylan Crossen (GC) 11.53, 7. Alex Kukura (W) 11.60, 8. Mac Smith (N) 11.68.
110 hurdles: 1. Madison Norris (HSE) 14.22, new meet record, 2. Peyton Haack (W) 14.40, 3. Jakob Pearson (C) 14.85, 4. Nathan Smith (HSE) 15.19, 5. Cooper Boehm (W) 15.51, 6. Sean Mullen (C) 15.53, 7. Sam Grocki (GC) 16.70, 8. Tyler Backlund (GC) 16.77.
200 dash: 1. Malone (HSE) 21.82, 2. Lewis (F) 21.99, 3. Isaiah Baxter (C) 22.29, 4. Alexander Brown-Baez (C) 22.89, 5. Gage Pratt (HSE) 23.15, 6. Crossen (GC) 23.71, 7. Owen McGraw (W) 23.84, 8. Kukura (W) 23.85.
1600 run: 1. Trey Harris (C) 4:29.74, 2. Eli Konow (C) 4:30.08, 3. Zach Freeman (N) 4:31.17, 4. Brady Jarosinski (HSE) 4:32.38, 5. Will Clark (F) 4:32.41, 6. Grant Wilson (HSE) 4:35.37, 7. Justin Amburgy (N) 4:36.39, 8. Alex Meyer (F) 4:36.59.
4×100 relay: 1. Southeastern (Chase Maxey, Norris, Boyd, Malone) 42.43, 2. Fishers (Trenton Mabry, Lewis, Jason Lassic, Cole Carrithers) 42.80, 3. Sam Rogers (Baxter, Saleh, Brown-Baez) 43.40, 4. Noblesville (Anthony Reel, Shawn Kinslow, Trenton Reeves, M. Smith) 45.12, 5. Guerin Catholic (Max Horrigan, Crossen, Cameron Murray, Patrick Hagel) 45.36, 6. Westfield (Haack, Boehm, Kukura, Dainon Wray) 45.93.
400 dash: 1. DiSean Graham (F) 51.09, 2. Carrithers (F) 51.04, 3. Devontez Cox (N) 51.33, 4. Jackson Sweeney (HSE) 51.63, 5. Mannella (W) 52.37, 6. Mahamet Djour (W) 52.49, 7. Clark Cummings (C) 53.07, 8. Matt Moon (C) 53.18.
300 hurdles: 1. Smith (HSE) 38.93, 2. Pearson (C) 39.38, 3. Calvin Grenda (W) 41.60, 4. Billy Freudenthal (GC) 41.76, 5. Nick Bostock (HSE) 41.83, 6. Colton Parker (C) 42.06, 7. Shomari Rogers-Walton (N) 43.97, 8. Grocki (GC) 44.16.
800 run: 1. Andrew Anderson (N) 1:59.17, 2. Nick Leahy (W) 1:59.76, 3. D. Smith (F) 2:00.77, 4. Jimmy Snyder (C) 2:01.43, 5. Hall (GC) 2:03.71, 6. Dylan Arive (F) 2:04.35, 7. Dombroski (N) 2:05.21, 8. Ian Salmon (C) 2:05.43.
3200 run: 1. Gallagher (GC) 9:20.01, 2. Grant (C) 9:23.29, 3. Ethan Meyer (F) 9:24.34, 4. Colin Murphy (C) 9:24.65, 5. Gabe Fendel (HSE) 9:31.74, 6. Kuhn (F) 9:34.98, 7. Blake Hipkiss (N) 9:36.92, 8. Sam Novak (W) 9:56.51.
4×400 relay: 1. Noblesville (Gatewood, Mitch Conard, Cox, Kinslow) 3:25.43, 2. Carmel (Konow, Brown-Baez, Owen Schaefer, Trey Harris) 3:25.56, 3. Fishers (Carrithers, Lewis, Graham, Hunter Kaiser) 3:26.63, 4. Southeastern (Sweeney, Bostock, Nick Bowman, N. Smith) 3:26.95, 5. Westfield (Max Gutwein, Grenda, Djour, Leahy) 3:28.54, 6. Guerin Catholic (Hall, John Young, Freudenthal, Jacob Mueller) 3:39.27.
High jump: 1. Drew Herman (N) 6-2, 2. Jackson Dunn (F) 6-0, 3. Anthony Campbell (F) 6-0, 4. Isaac Abeo (HSE) 5-10, 5. Stuart Anker (C) 5-8, T6. Braden Scheidler (GC) 5-6; Cameron Harris (HSE) 5-6; Jacob Koone (C) 5-6, 9. Matthew Fletcher (GC) 5-6.
Discus: 1. Graham Hatfield (C) 141-11, 2. Jon Williams (C) 140-0, 3. Hayden Tobias (F) 139-8, 4. Johnny May (HSE) 137-5.5, 5. Wyatt Puff (F) 134-5.5, 6. Dalton Davis (N) 131-0, 7. Jacob Netral (W) 127-6.5, 8. Colin Caldwell (W) 125-10.
Shot put: 1. Luke Martin (F) 52-3.5, 2. Vance Roudebush (C) 50-3.5, 3. Caldwell (W) 50-1.5, 4. Tobias (F) 49-5.5, 5. Andrew Pazdernik (W) 48-10.5, 6. Cameron Knight (N) 40-11.25, 7. Davis (N) 40-0, 8. Evan Lantz (HSE) 39-11.25.
Long jump: 1. Maxey (HSE) 23-0, 2. Rogers-Walton (N) 22-0, 3. Campbell (F) 21-5, 4. Boyd (HSE) 21-4.75, 5. Scott Cundiff (C) 21-4.75, 6. Atticus Clouse (C) 21-4, 7. Jaden Wills (N) 21-0, 8. Peyton Forbes (F) 20-1.
Pole vault: 1. Haack (W) 15-4, 2. Alexander Audia (C) 15-0, 3. Logan Sandlin (C) 13-0, 4. Conard (N) 12-6, 5. Jackson Dunn (F) 11-6, 6. Murray (GC) 11-0, 7. Clark Collins (HSE) 11-0, 8. Zach Witmer (F) 10-6.
(Kent Graham)
Hamilton Southeastern’s Noah Malone (top) and Carmel’s Phoebe Bates (above, with Carmel athletic director Jim Inskeep) were the high point-scorers at Friday’s Hamilton County track and field meet. (Kent Graham)