By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
The conditions were just right for some good running at the Hamilton Southeastern girls track and field sectional Tuesday, and the athletes delivered.
The Royals defended their team championship in another typically close battle with Carmel. Southeastern scored 141 team points to the Greyhounds’ 135, with Fishers in the mix as well. The Tigers placed third with 112 points.
Noblesville finished fourth, but tied with HSE for the most individual event wins; both schools claimed blue ribbons in five events. If that wasn’t enough, there were four new sectional records set during the event.
“The competition came out. It was a great, great night,” said Royals coach Julie Alano. “Lots of sectional records.”
Alano noted that Southeastern also had a new school record in the pole vault: Kennedy Drish topped 11-8 in the vault, one of HSE’s five victories.
“And we had some other good PRs in sprint events,” said Alano.
Two of the Royals’ blue ribbons went to Camille Christopher, who triumphed in the 100 and 200 dashes. The junior Christopher finished ahead of Fishers freshman Tamia Perryman in both events, and both will advance to next Tuesday’s regional at Lafayette Jeff, along with all the other top three finishers in each event.
“Camille looked really good in winning the 1 and the 2,” said Alano. “That was huge.”
Another big win was in the discus, where Valerie Obear triumphed with a throw of 115-8. And then there was Mia Mackenzie, who set a new sectional record in the 300 hurdles. Her time of 45.33 lowered the longtime standard of Mary Steffel (1999, 45.40 seconds) by 0.07 seconds.
“I thought it was overall a good meet,” said Mackenzie. “I’ve been working on a lot of stuff this week, and I think I accomplished most of it.”
Carmel had one event win, the 3200 run, where freshman Phoebe Bates clocked in at 10:55.65. Bates led a 1-2 finish, with senior Christina Geisler taking second. The Greyhounds used their famous depth to keep themselves close to the Royals, and advanced several athletes to the regional as well.
“It’s the goal to survive and move on, and push as many as we can through to regionals,” said Carmel coach Aaron McRill. “I think for the most part everyone ran well or performed well. We had a few PRs. Marie Kress had a PR in the shot (put). She finished fourth, so we’re hoping she’ll get a callback.”
In addition to the top three finishers in each event, the next best four times from all the sectionals that feed into the Lafayette Jeff regional also get to move on.
Fishers had two event wins. First up, the 4×100 relay team of Amaya Poole, Danielle Harrison, Kayla Crose and Perryman won that event in a new sectional record time of 47.61.
“It’s honestly crazy,” said Crose, a senior. “I’ve grown up being an alternate freshman year, and being able to actually improve and get better. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to come out and do this. We work hard at practice for this.”
Kamya Lapsley, a junior, joined the Tigers’ relay team in the winner’s circle with a first-place finish in the 800 run.
After that comes the Millers, and their five event wins. Noblesville started the meet with a win in the 4×800 relay, then Shelby Tyler took off – literally.
Tyler set a new record in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 8-1/4 inches. The sophomore bested a 25-year old record – Liz Shannon’s jump of 5-8 had been the mark to beat since 1992. Tyler beat it with room to spare.
“That’s been a big goal of mine for a while, and my coaches keep pushing me with it,” said Tyler, “and it really helps to have their support.”
Abi Little took the 1600 run, while Maria Anderson triumphed in the 400 dash. Both Millers also ran on the 4×8 with Susanna Sharples-Gordon and Kat Dombroski
Little and Anderson ended the meet how they began it – with a win in the 4×400 relay. The two joined Anna Hazelrigg and Lillian Walter to give Noblesville blue ribbon No. 5.
Westfield took home two events. Emily Robertson edged out Mackenzie by .01 seconds – 14.86 to 14.87 – to take home the 100 hurdle race. Jada Caldwell finished first in the shot put with an impressive throw of 41-0.75.
Sheridan’s Brittany Welch also got in on the record fun. Welch set a new mark in the long jump, leaping 18 feet, 1-1/2 inches to run away with the blue ribbon.
“Last year I went to the regionals and I go
t 18 and a quarter, so this is definitely my longest jump,” said Welch. “I did really well. In the trials, I kept improving by an inch, and my last trial run I improved by two inches.”
Guerin Catholic senior Megan Slamkowski finished second in the 1600 and will move on to the regional, as will Hamilton Heights freshman Markaela Pugh, who placed third in the 200 dash. Both the Golden Eagles and the Huskies have a handful of potential callback times as well.
Team scores: Hamilton Southeastern 141, Carmel 135, Fishers 112, Noblesville 86, Westfield 52, Guerin Catholic 30, Lebanon 24, Hamilton Heights 23, Sheridan 19, University 1, Western Boone 1.
4×800 relay: 1. Noblesville (Maria Anderson, Susanna Sharples-Gordon, Abi Little, Kat Dombroski) 9:20.09, 2. Carmel (Anna Morozov, Sydney Haines, Izza Khurram, Phoebe Bates) 9:36.74, 3. Westfield (Lauren Bailey, Hannah Fife, Gabrielle Brown, Gabrielle Dilick) 9:46.84, 4. Fishers (Lilia Bodnar, Elinor Carmona, Abigail Celentano, Corinne Yorkman) 9:53.60, 5. Southeastern (Caroline Shumaker, Madealine Mirro, Kayleigh Witt, Katie Murhling) 9:59.85, 6. Heights (Abby Christiansen, Abigail Roth, Kat Williams, Alex Lopez) 10:16.63.
100 dash: 1. Camille Christopher (HSE) 12.33, 2. Tamia Perryman (F) 12.59, 3. Danielle Harrison (F) 12.61, 4. Elle Hawkins (C) 12.85, 5. Olivia Burgess (HSE) 13.38, 6. Brittany Welch (S) 13.39, 7. Michael Anderson (C) 13.40, 8. Erianna Ballard (W) 13.62.
100 hurdles: 1. Emily Robertson (W) 14.86, 2. Mia Mackenzie (HSE) 14.87, 3. Meghann Cullen (HSE) 15.81, 4. Claire Vahary (F) 16.11, 6. Peyton Thompson (F) 16.62, 7. Bailey Haworth (HH) 17.02, 8. Macey Policka (HH) 17.09.
200 dash: 1. Christopher (HSE) 25.58, 2. Perryman (F) 25.93, 3. Markaela Pugh (HH) 26.49, 4. Carly Markley (C) 26.76, 5. Burgess (HSE) 27.16, 6. Anderson (C) 27.59, 7. Welch (S) 27.79, 8. Amaya Poole (F) 27.96.
1600 run: 1. Little (N) 5:01.86, 2. Megan Slamkowski (GC) 5:04.51, 3. Maddie Dalton (C) 5:05.33, 4. Rachel Anderson (C) 5:06.32, 5. Ellie Pedersen (HSE) 5:17.87, 6. Abigail Carter (F) 5:21.71, 7. Johanna Strueder (F) 5:23.93, 8. Lauren Bailey (W) 5:35.28.
4×100 relay: 1. Fishers (Poole, Harrison, Kayla Crose, Perryman) 47.61, new sectional record, 2. Southeastern (Burgess, Tierra Sydnor, Amani Dickenson, Christopher) 47.79, under old sectional record, 3. Carmel (Josie Upton, Reagan Hune, Hawkins, Markley) 48.82, 4. Westfield (Ava Henson, Fife, Sydney Spears, Alison Bullock) 50.43, 5. Noblesville (Grace Brisco, Lillian Walter, Titilayo Adeniyan, Kailyn Ely) 51.68, 6. Heights (Lily McCormick, Policka, Pugh, Whitney King) 51.73, 8. University (Kelsey Miller, Hallie Harrison, Tessa Hudson, Jordan Palmer) 53.87.
400 dash: 1. Anderson (N) 58.01, 2. Hune (C) 58.86, 3. Sydnor (HSE) 59.81, 4. Alex Waples (C) 1:00.81, 5. Christiansen (HH) 1:01.43, 6. Grace May (F) 1:01.82, 7. Lillian Walter (N) 1:02.37, 8. Kieya McClung-Ware (F) 1:02.65.
300 hurdles: 1. Mackenzie (HSE) 45.33, new sectional record, 2. Arianna Noble (F) 46.23, 3. Robertson (W) 47.10, 4. Olivia Elkin (C) 47.82, 5. Kara Deady (C) 48.10, 6. Tayah Irvin (HSE) 48.12, 7. Kathryn Folta (F) 48.77.
800 run: 1. Kamya Lapsley (F) 2:17.47, 2. Sharples-Gordon (N) 2:18.66, 3. Dalton (C) 2:19.65, 4. Ellie Schroeder (GC) 2:20.30, 5. Pedersen (HSE) 2:20.65, 6. Emma Gillespie (F) 2:20.71, 7. Dilick (W) 2:22.56, 8. Morozov (C) 2:26.54.
3200 run: 1. Bates (C) 10:55.65, 2. Christian Geisler (C) 11:00.07, 3. Miya Wai (F) 11:04.27, 4. Lulu Black (HSE) 11:23.33, 5. Schemanske (GC) 11:37.36, 6. Slamkowski (GC) 11:44.49, 7. Abbie Klinker (N) 11:48.23, 8. Lillian Cummins (HSE) 11:55.16.
4×400 relay: 1. Noblesville (Little, Anna Hazelrigg, Anderson, Walter) 3:58.27, 2. Fishers (Lapsley, May, Noble, Crose) 3:59.61, 3. Carmel (Waples, Markley, Nevian Brown, Hune) 4:00.69, 4. Westfield (Robertson, Fife, Brown, Spears) 4:00.75, 5. Guerin Catholic (Claire Sherfick, Lily Hess, Grace Gjerde, Schroeder) 4:10.83, 6. Southeastern (Lauren Johnson, Caroline Shumaker, Pedersen, Sydnor) 4:11.64, 7. Heights (Tiffany Williams, Policka, Pugh, Christiansen) 4:13.33.
High jump: 1. Shelby Tyler (N) 5-8.25, new sectional record, 2. Amiyah James (C) 5-4.25, 3. Ellie Clark (C) 5-3, 4. Sydney Encinias (HSE) 5-2, 5. Irvin (HSE) 5-2, 6. Sydney Street (F) 5-0, 7. Al. Bullock (W) 4-10, 8. Lily Wilhelm (N) 4-10.
Pole vault: 1. Kennedy Drish (HSE) 11-8, 2. Deady (C) 11-4, 3. Tyler (N) 10-8, 4. Jessica Bray (HSE) 10-4, 5. Erika Knieper (N) 10-4, 6. Audrey Bullock (W) 10-0, 7. Claire Fletchall (F) 9-6, 8. Reagan Ney (GC) 9-6.
Long jump: 1. Welch (S) 18-1.5, new sectional record, 2. Sydnor (HSE) 17-3.75, 3. Encinias (HSE) 17-3, 4. Gjerde (GC) 17-1.5, 5. Anderson (N) 16-7, 6. Walter (N) 16-2.75, 7. McCormick (HH) 16-1.25, 8. Kiara Gill (C) 15-10.
Discus: 1. Valerie Obear (HSE) 115-8, 2. Natalie Cotherman (C) 109-10, 4. Rae Winkle (F) 97-9, 5. Dana Reed (C) 96-0, 6. Becca Merritt (S) 92-3, 7. Drewe Palmer (N) 92-3, 8. Michaela Grimes (W) 91-9.
Shot put: 1. Jada Caldwell (W) 41-0.75, 3. Tierra Polk (F) 36-8.5, 4. Marie Kress (C) 36-0, 5. Olivia Willman (F) 34-9.5, 6. Erikka Ededuwa (HSE) 33-8.5, 7. Cotherman (C) 32-3, 8. Merritt (S) 30-11.5.
Westfield’s Emily Robertson (right) leans out Hamilton Southeastern’s Mia Mackenzie by .01 seconds to win the 100 hurdles. (Kent Graham)
The Hamilton Southeastern girls track and field team defended its sectional championship Tuesday. (Richie Hall)
RIGHT: Sheridan’s Brittany Welch won the long jump with a new record of 18 feet, 1-½ inches. (Kent Graham)
Fishers’ Kamya Lapsley (left) won the 800 run, with Noblesville’s Susanna Sharples-Gordon placing second. (Kent Graham)
Fishers’ Miya Wai (left), Carmel’s Phoebe Bates (center) and Carmel’s Christina Geisler finished in the top three in the 3200 run and qualified for next week’s Lafayette Jeff regional. Bates won, with Geisler second and Wai third. (Kent Graham)