For The Daily Reporter
BLOOMINGTON — After setting three school records and medaling in three of their four events in Saturday’s Girls Track and Field State Finals, New Palestine girls co-head coach Eric Branch put his team’s performance in historical perspective.
“I would say this hands down is the biggest night in girls track history at New Pal,” Branch said. “The fact that we had these seven, we knew that we could put them in all sorts of different combinations, and the fact that they did this, we’re not surprised. We’re just very happy for them.”
The Dragons began the meet with the first of their three school records and point scorers in the 4×800-meter relay. Sophomore Brenna Shaw, seniors Sophia Taylor and Grace Voelz and junior Kaylin Casner finished ninth in 9 minutes, 26.90 seconds.
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“It’s amazing,” Shaw said. “I got injured early in the season. I didn’t know if I’d even be able to run at all this season. So going to state is so unexpected and amazing. I’m so grateful.”
Junior Jordan Reid ran a school-record 56.71 to place ninth in the 400.
“I was totally not expecting any of that,” Reid said. “I just came in here, and my coach was like, ‘Just run your race. Don’t worry anybody else. Relax,’ and that’s exactly what I did. I was dying at the end, but hard work pays off. I thank my teammates for pushing me at practice and helping me get to where I wanted to be.”
Shaw came back with a 23rd-place finish in the 800 in 2:23.44.
In the final event, the 4×400 relay, seniors Taylor, Maigan Williams and Victoria Crowder and Reid finished seventh in a school-record 3:56.30.
“I wasn’t expecting that again, but I’m so proud of the team and what we’ve done this year and how we’ve shown out,” Reid said. “It’s amazing to see us grow, and all these seniors, I’ll miss them dearly.”
Shaw had run the 4×400 relay at sectional and regional, but was replaced at state by Crowder, who had been injured for most of the season.
“I’m just happy that we got to do it together one last race,” Williams said. “Victoria was out for the majority of the season. She started with us, and then she didn’t get to run until now. So it’s nice to have our team back together.”
The five points scored by the Dragons put them in a tie for 43rd place. North Central won the team title with 75 points to 52 for runner-up Warren Central.
“We had a fantastic day,” New Palestine co-coach Chuck Myers said. “These ladies came out here and competed. We thought the could all medal, and they ended up doing just that. The 4×800 started the day off great. It was just a fantastic job out of these ladies.”
