Dragons win seven events en route to HHC titleFORTVILLE — If it wasn’t Jordan Reid crossing the finish line first, fellow New Palestine freshman Kaylin Casner did. Even when the Dragons weren’t winning an event Tuesday night at Mt. Vernon High School, they scored.
Where there was a point to be earned, the New Palestine girls track team seized it. It was their game plan from the start, and they ran away with the victory and the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship.
“This was a complete team effort,” New Palestine assistant track coach Chuck Myers remarked as the team huddle around their HHC team trophy to celebrate. “We scored in every event.”
For good measure, the Dragons won seven events overall with Reid and Casner combining for six first-place medals, including on two relay races.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThe Dragons amassed 151 team points, outpacing runner-up Yorktown at 115. Greenfield-Central, which was runner-up to New Palestine at the Hancock County Meet last week, was third with 86 points. Mt. Vernon was sixth with 54 points.
Reid, a freshman three-sport athlete, won the 100-meter dash in a blistering 12.56 seconds and set a new meet record in the 200 with a 25.60. The former mark was 25.62, established in 2003.
“I was trying to get record,” Reid said. “I came out in that 200 strong, and I was going to run the 4×400 (relay), but I got pulled out because I’m sick. Kaylin took over and they came out strong. It’s nice to know we have that support all around.”
Sidelined momentarily due to fatigue, Reid was on top of her game as the anchor on the 4×100 relay team, nearly toppling another meet mark. Partnered with Grace Shanahan, Kyle Dhonau and Olivia McKilligan, the Dragons were first at 50.64. The meet record stood at 50.60, set in 2009 by Pendleton Heights.
Casner pulled off her trifecta by winning the 800-meter run in 2:26.30 and the 1,600 in 5:24.77. Her third was with the 4×400 relay in 4:12.24. The team of Casner, Victoria Crowder, McKilligan and Sophia Taylor stayed ahead of Yorktown (4:12.59) to win. The Tigers four events en route to second-place overall.
“They did an outstanding job,” New Palestine head coach Kyle Ralph said. “As a team as a whole, we were placing two kids in almost every single event tonight. A lot of times those were high placers. When you’re double placing kids at meets like this it’s huge in the point totals. I don’t think there was an event tonight where we got shutout, which was a big, big deal.
“Two years ago, they took seventh. Last year, we jumped all the way to second, and we were really close. It was kind of an unfinished business thing. We really wanted to bring home the championship this year.”
Senior Lillie Cain brought home the team’s final individual championship in the shot put with a toss of 38 feet, 1 inch as the event was moved to the middle school due to flooded field conditions. Cain was second in the discuss at 116-08.50.
Crowder placed second in the 400 at 1:00.32 behind Yorktown’s Kelsey Morgan (59.42). Mt. Vernon’s Alexis Franklin was second in the 100 and third in the 200. Greenfield-Central’s Crystal Peterson, a freshman, was third in the 100-meter hurdles at 16.74. She was also second in the 300 hurdles at 47.00. Yorktown’s Hannah Rapp won the event with a meet record time of 45.70.
Crowder and Casner teamed with Shananhan and Grace Labanauskas to finish second in the 4×800 relay in 10:14.53 behind Yorktown at 10:06.95.
Lydia Jones added to the Dragons point total with a third-place finish in the high jump at 4-08, and Jaylin Calvert set a personal best in the long jump for third at 15-06.50.
“We all chipped in a lot. We did our parts and performed really well,” Casner said. “I felt in a groove and everyone ran hard.”
Greenfield-Central’s Peterson was second in the long jump at 16-05.00, missing out on first in a tiebreaker to Shelbyville’s Alexis Tackett. Cougars’ Jennifer Flora was second in the shot put at 37-02.50. Emily Jones was third in the pole vault with a height of 10-06. Shelbyville’s Erin Diemer won at 11-09. Greenfield-Central’s Mackenzie Polster was runner-up in the high jump at 5-00.
“We wanted this. There were eight teams and we came out on top. It’s fantastic. To come and show who we are and what we’re made of is great,” Reid said.
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2017 Hoosier Heritage Conference Meet
Team Scores: New Palestine 151, Yorktown 115, Greenfield-Central 86, Shelbyville 67, Pendleton Heights 64, Mt. Vernon 54, Delta 48, New Castle 39
Event Results
4×800: 1. Yorktown (10:06.95), 2. New Palestine (10:14.53), 3. Pendleton Heights (10:21.57), 4. Mt. Vernon (10:28.31), 5. Greenfield-Central (10:52.29)
100: 1. J. Reid, NP (12.56), 2. A. Franklin, MV (13.02), 3. E. Diemer, S (13.17), 4. T. Hart, NP (13.42), 5. A. Christenson, MV (13.50)
100 hurdles: 1. H. Rapp, YK (16.38), 2. A. McCrady, D (16.64), 3. C. Peterson, GC (16.74), 4. G. Shanahan, NP (17.17), 5. A. Lux, S (17.22)
1,600: 1. K. Casner, NP (5:24.77), 2. M. Aul, YK (5:33.29), 3. S. Scanameo, YK (5:34.26), 4. F. Baer, PH (5:36.90), 5. C. Brock, NC (5:37.65).
4×100: 1. New Palestine (50.64), 2. Shelbyville (51.68), 3. Delta (52.92), 4. Mt. Vernon (53.29), 5. Yorktown (54.12)
400: 1. K. Morgan, YK (59.42), 2. V. Crowder, NP (1:00.32), 3. I. Brown, YK (1:01.98), 4. S. Taylor, NP (1:02.46), 5. A. Hibbard, GC (1:03.11)
300 hurdles: 1. H. Rapp, YK (45.70), 2. C. Peterson, GC (47.00), 3. A. McCrady, D (49.40), 4. S. Moore, D (50.20), 5. G. Shanahan, NP (50.60).
800: 1. K. Casner, NP (2:26.30), 2. C. Magers, PH (2:28.30), 3. M. Schleter, MV (2:29.60), 4. R. Sexton, GC (2:32.20), 5. A. Sorensen, YK (2:32.50)
200: 1. J. Reid, NP (25.60), 2. K. Morgan, YK (26.70), 3. A. Franklin, MV (27.50), 4. I. Brown, YK (27.60), 5. E. Hurst, NP (27.70)
3,200: 1. F. Baer, PH (11:55.30), 2. D. Lubbe, S (12:06.90), 3. M. Aul, YK (12:09.20), 4. A. McCarty, PH (12:14.70), 5. S. Scanameo, YK (12:18.40)
4×400: 1. New Palestine (4:12.24), 2. Yorktown (4:12.59), 3. Greenfield-Central (4:22.77), 4. Pendleton Heights (4:32.84), 5. Shelbyville (4:37.56).
High jump: 1. M. Marshall, PH (5-02.00), 2. M. Polster, GC (5-00.00), 3. L. Jones, NP (4-08.00), 4. H. Rapp, YK (4-06.00), 5. J. Calvert, NP (4-06.00)
Long jump: 1. A. Tackett, S (16-05.00), 2. C. Peterson, GC (16-05.00), 3. J. Calvert, NP (15-06.50), 4. G. Thomas, MV (15-05.50), 5. E. Miller, YK (15-00.50)
Discus: 1. C. Warner, NC (122-06.75), 2. L. Cain, NP (116-08.50), 3. H. Burkhart, GC (116-05), 4. J. Flora, GC (109-09), 5. K. Kiphart, MV (94-06)
Shot put: 1. L. Cain, NP (38-01.00), 2. J. Flora, GC (37-02.5), 3. C. Warner, NC (35-09.00), 4. E. Jonas, NP (35-06.00), 5. S. East, D (33-06.00).
Pole vault: 1. E. Diemer, S (11-09.00), 2. G. Neu, D (10-09.00), 3. E. Jones, GC (10-06.00), 4. A. Lux, S (9-09.00), 5. K. McGreal, GC (8-00.00)
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