Girls track sectional: Carmel wins team title, HSE sets three new records

By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com

FISHERS – The Carmel girls track & field team broke a decade-long sectional drought on Tuesday.

The Greyhounds claimed their first sectional championship since 2015 at the Hamilton Southeastern sectional. Carmel totaled 171 points, won eight events and qualified several student-athletes to next Tuesday’s regional at Lafayette Jefferson.

Greyhounds coach Aaron McRill said it was “a great day for us.” Not only did Carmel win, but the ‘Hounds were also thinking about their long-term goals as well.

“We were just looking to get everyone through, which is what you always do the first round,” said McRill. “We did what we came to do. I don’t think we really lacked in any place as far as getting the girls through, so we feel good about regionals.”

Carmel qualified 16 for the regional and will likely get a few more on to Lafayette as callbacks. (There are four at-large spots available in each event, which will be determined by the results of the four feeder sectionals into the regional.) The Greyhounds began with eight event victories.

Emily Norris was a triple winner, claiming the 200 dash and long jump, as well as running on the 4×100 relay with Rebecca Berlanger, Olivia Cebalo and Gabriela Grande Rosas. Berlanger was first in the 100 dash.

Sadie Foley won the 1600 run, while Annabel Pollert paced the 3200 run and Larkin Taylor was first in the 800 run. All three joined Anna Yoon to win the 4×800 relay.

New records for Royals

Southeastern finished second as a team, scoring 138.5 points. It was a successful day for the Royals, as they won four events, including three by new sectional record times, and qualified 11 to the regional.

Anissa Lammie was part of two of those new record times. She won the 400 dash, finishing in a time of 55.51 seconds. At the end of the meet, Lammie joined Ciara Kepner, Chloe Senefeld and Ava Kashani to win the 4×400 record, establishing a new mark of 3 minutes, 50.85 seconds.

Elia Blackmore blasted through the 300 hurdles event, finishing in a record time of 43.24 seconds. Chloe Senefeld took second; her time of 44.19 seconds was under the old record. Blackmore also won the 100 hurdles for a sweep in those races.

“I felt like I ran a pretty decent time, because normally I stutter-step on the last hurdle and this time I just went over with my other leg, and I was like, ‘Okay, that had to get rid of a few milliseconds,” said Blackmore. “I did not think it was going to get me to the school record, so I’m really happy about that.”

Noblesville was third in the team standings with 91.5 points. The Millers qualified eight to Lafayette; including runner-up finishes from Mya Baker in the 100 dash and long jump, Brinkley Cooper in the 800 run and Nyla Young in the discus.

Fishers was a close fourth as a team, totaling 86 points and sending five to the regional. The Tigers swept the throwing events: Mia Tobias was first in the discus and Macey Miller won the shot put.

Westfield had four regional qualifiers; Gracie Czubik placed second in the high jump to lead the Shamrocks. Hamilton Heights had three regional qualifiers, including two in the high jump: Waverly Woolever won the event, while Macie Smith was third.

Guerin Catholic’s Amelia Smith won the pole vault, advancing her to the regional. Smith became the Golden Eagles’ first sectional champion since Bridget Gallagher in the 1600 and 3200 runs in 2022.