By RICHIE HALL
BLOOMINGTON – The list of three-time state champions at the IHSAA girls state track and field meet is relatively short, but two more athletes added their names to that list on Saturday.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Kennedy Drish and Noblesville’s Shelby Tyler closed out their fantastic high school careers with their third consecutive state title in their respective event at the state meet, which took place at Indiana University in Bloomington. Drish finished first in the pole vault, while Tyler was the winner of the high jump.
Tyler’s winning jump was 5 feet, 9 inches, which she cleared on her first try.
“Obviously I didn’t jump my best, but I’m still happy with my performance,” said Tyler. “Getting out to state and competing against these girls is a good experience.”
Tyler, a senior who has committed to the University of Georgia, became the first three-time state champion in Noblesville history, and the first to win so many high jump titles since Ellie Tidman of Batesville won four in a row from 2007 to 2010.
“It’s definitely a privilege,” said Tyler. “It’s all that I could ask for.”
Drish cleared 12 feet, 9 inches in the pole vault, the highest she has ever vaulted at state. The senior found herself in a battle with Center Grove sophomore Taylor Jarosinski, who also got over 12-9, but Drish won the event because she had fewer misses.
It was a remarkable win for Drish, a Virginia Tech commit, since she had been dealing with an injury that limited her practices. But as the great ones always do, she came through at the big events.
“This one was probably the hardest one for me,” said Drish of her three state wins. “Taylor definitely gave me a battle, but it was definitely worth it in the end.”
Drish’s performance helped Southeastern finish high in the team standings for the third straight year. The Royals, who came into the meet as defending state champions, placed third with a score of 48 points. North Central won the meet with 75 points, while Warren Central was the runner-up by scoring 52 points.
“We did what I hoped in most places,” said Southeastern coach Julie Alano. “We didn’t have breakthroughs in a couple of events. Everybody ran a PR, or close to their PR, in every event. You can’t go wrong with that.”
The Royals were part of an incredibly fast 4×400 relay race. The team of junior Olivia Burgess, senior Mya Hammons, senior Tierra Sydnor and freshman Regan Wans placed second in a time of 3:45.72, which was over a second and a half under the old state record. North Central won the race in 3:43.99.
“That’s just crazy that we ran that fast,” said Alano. It was a total team effort – “Every girl ran fast,” said Alano. “It wasn’t any certain one on that relay. Everybody ran a PR. That last race was amazing.”
“It was so fast and I loved every single minute of it. It was amazing,” said Wans. The freshman was happy with her performance: “I threw down a new PR in the 400 and I threw down a PR in the 4×4 as well for my split, so I’m really excited about how things turned out today.”
While Wans is just beginning her career, senior Lulu Black finished hers up on a strong note. Black started the meet by running on the 4×800 relay, joining senior Maddie Mirro, sophomore Halle Hill and junior Ellie Pedersen in placing second in that event.
Black said it was the first time she had run in more than one event at state. She has committed to North Carolina State University.
“That was an amazing accomplishment, just considering I haven’t done that before, haven’t doubled at state before and I got to do it with my best friends,” said Black. “And we really just set high goals for ourselves this year and we achieved them. So I’m super proud of us as a whole.”
Black would later go on to race in the 3200 run, where she placed fifth in another outrageously fast race. Black’s fifth-place time was 10:39.01 – the top five girls all went under 10:40.
“I think I ran pretty well,” said Black. “It’s crazy that it’s my last race here at IU and for my team.”
Sydnor had another outstanding meet. In addition to the 4×400, she also joined Burgess, Hammons and sophomore Alyssa Barker in placing third in the 4×100 relay. Sydnor came back a little while later and finished third in the 300 hurdles and also placed seventh in the long jump.
Noblesville tied for 12th as a team by scoring 14 points. In addition to Tyler’s win, the 4×800 relay team of senior Maria Anderson, sophomore Bella Sharples-Gordon, senior Aubrie Deal and junior Anna Hazelrigg finished sixth.
Fishers tied for 20th by scoring 11 points. The Tigers had two fifth-place finishes, starting with the 4×800 relay team of junior Abby Carter, freshman Vera Schafer, junior Emma Gillespie and freshman Elizabeth Barrett.
While the 4×800 team was running, sophomore Alison Casey was vaulting her way to a fifth place finish in the pole vault. Fishers’ 4×100 relay team of freshman Ella Scally, sophomore Myah Donaldson, junior Gabby Lewis and senior Grace May took ninth place.
Carmel junior Phoebe Bates scored five points for the Greyhounds with a fifth-place finish in the 1600 run.
Hamilton Heights sophomore Maria Mitchell picked up two medals for the Huskies, placing eighth in the 1600 run and ninth in the 800 run. Mitchell was the first Heights runner to medal at state since Sierra Brown in 2014.
Mitchell was part of an exceptionally fast 800 run, which saw Pike senior Elizabeth Stanhope win in a new meet record time of 2:06.62. But she held her own and earned a medal.
“I knew I was running at the end with the seeds, so I was in the back of that pack,” said Mitchell. “I was just like, ‘Well, we’ll start in the back and we’ll just start to pick them off through the race.’ That’s what happened.”
Sheridan junior Rebecca Merritt competed in both throwing events, placing 11th in the discus and 16th in the shot put. Westfield senior Zoe Pentecost also competed in the discus, finishing 13th. Guerin Catholic senior Ellie Schroeder placed 11th in the 800 run.
Team scores (Top 10 and all county): 1. North Central 75, 2. Warren Central 52, 3. Hamilton Southeastern 48, 4. West Lafayette 42, 5. Zionsville 30, 6. Fort Wayne Northrop 26, 7. Brebeuf Jesuit 23, 8. Lake Central 22, 9. Center Grove 21, 10. Pike 20, T12. Noblesville 14, T20. Fishers 11, T43. Carmel 5, T53. Hamilton Heights 3.
4×800 relay: 1. West Lafayette 9:03.37, 2. Southeastern (Maddie Mirro, Halle Hill, Ellie Pedersen, Lulu Black) 9:16.44, 5. Fishers (Abby Carter, Vera Schafer, Emma Gillespie, Elizabeth Barrett), 6. Noblesville (Maria Anderson, Bella Sharples-Gordon, Aubrie Deal, Anna Hazelrigg) 9:22.67, 12. Carmel (Emily Hand, Annie Christie, Martha Hunter, Sydney Haines) 9:33.68.
100 dash – Finals: 1. Semira Killebrew (BJ) 11.63. Preliminaries: 20. Ella Scally (F) 12.44.
100 hurdles – Finals: 1. Chanler Robinson (NC) 14.25.
200 dash – Finals: 1. Ramiah Elliott (NC) 23.67. Preliminaries: 12. Alyssa Barker (HSE) 25.09, 16. Scally (F) 25.36.
1600 run: 1. Addison Wiley (Huntington North) 4:46.93, 5. Phoebe Bates (C) 4:59.96, 8. Maria Mitchell (HH) 5:00.48, 11. Hill (HSE) 5:03.85.
4×100 relay: 1. North Central 45.77, 3. Southeastern (Olivia Burgess, Mya Hammons, Tierra Sydnor, Barker) 47.41, 9. Fishers (Scally, Myah Donaldson, Gabby Lewis, Grace May) 48.40.
400 dash: 1. Elliott (NC) 53.30, 10. Regan Wans (HSE) 56.71, 11. Anderson (N) 57.31.
300 hurdles: 1. Ella Robinson (Z) 42.05, 3. Sydnor (HSE) 43.93.
800 run: 1. Elizabeth Stanhope (Pike) 2:06.62, new state record, 9. Mitchell (HH) 2:14.67, 11. Ellie Schroeder (Guerin Catholic) 2:16.17, 16. Schafer (F) 2:18.05, 17. Mirro (HSE) 2:18.72.
3200 run: 1. Meagan Hathaway (Fort Wayne Carroll) 10:30.84, 5. Black (HSE) 10:39.01, 24. Bates (C) 11:35.98.
4×400 relay: 1. North Central 3:43.99, new state record, 2. Southeastern (Burgess, Hammons, Sydnor, Wans) 3:45.72, under old state record, 16. Noblesville (Anderson, DeLaney Boles, Sharples-Gordon, Hazelrigg) 4:01.68.
High jump: 1. Shelby Tyler (N) 5-9.
Long jump: 1. Prommyse Hoosier (WC) 19-9.75, 7. Sydnor (HSE) 18-1.75, 17. Kiana Siefert (N) 16-11.5, 24. Scally (F) 16-6.5.
Discus: 1. Hannah Redlin (Rensselaer Central) 143-3, 11. Rebecca Merritt (Sheridan) 128-3, 13. Zoe Pentecost (Westfield) 127-0.
Shot put: 1. Erikka Hill (Shenandoah) 44-2, 16. Merritt (S) 38-4.5.
Pole vault: 1. Kennedy Drish (HSE) 12-9, 5. Alison Casey (F) 11-9, 12. Ella Wilhelm (HSE) 11-3, 15. Tyler (N) 11-3.
Noblesville’s Shelby Tyler won her third consecutive state championship in the high jump at Saturday’s IHSAA girls state track and field finals at Indiana University. Tyler’s winning jump was 5 feet, 9 inches. (Kent Graham)
Hamilton Southeastern’s Kennedy Drish won her third state championship in the pole vault. Drish cleared 12 feet, 9 inches, her best performance at the state meet. (Kent Graham)