SHELBYVILLE — With automatic advancements into next week’s Franklin Regional on the line, the Greenfield-Central and New Palestine girls track and field teams left nothing to chance.
Instead, they came out ready to contend, and the two Hancock County programs netted a combined six first-place finishes during the Shelbyville Sectional on Tuesday night.
Warren Central won the sectional team title with 149.5 points, followed by Franklin Central in second with 118. New Palestine was third with 90.5 points and Greenfield-Central was fourth at 83.
The New Palestine Dragons had a trio of champions led by their field-event throwing duo of senior Faith Hensel, who won the shot put, and sophomore Sydney Miller, who was first in the discus. Miller was also runner-up in the shot put.
The top-three finishers in each event at every sectional site earns an automatic berth into their respective regional, while those placing lower than third at sectional can also qualify if they meet the participant standard in their respective event.
Hensel secured her regional spot with a winning throw of 37 feet, 3 inches in the shot put, ahead of Miller at 34-06.50. Miller’s winning toss in the discus traveled 116-09.00.
The Dragons’ third champion went to senior Brenna Shaw in the 800-meter run, which she won in 2 minutes, 23.13 seconds.
Kendall Mann earned an automatic regional spot in the 3,200-meter run, finishing second in 11:53.59.
New Palestine’s 3,200-meter relay team of Courtney Study, Mann, Alexis Baynes and Shaw also qualified for regional with a runner-up finish in 9:55.42.
Dragons’ pole vaulter Anna Ackerman was third at 8-06.00 to advance to regional.
The Cougars had three sectional champions, including Kayana Maroska, who won a pair of individual first-place ribbons.
Maroska finished first in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.02, and she won the 400-meter dash in 1:01.23. Maroska was also second in the 200 with a time of 27.13.
Senior Audrey Brinkruff claimed the Cougars’ third championship in the 1,600-meter run, topping the field with a time of 5:26.01. Brinkruff added a third-place run in the 3,200 with a time of 12:06.31.
Savannah Lake was third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.89.
