FORTVILLE — All four schools had individual champions, but it was the depth of Mt. Vernon that stood above the rest Wednesday.
With 89 points, the Marauders topped New Palestine (77), Greenfield-Central (63), and Eastern Hancock (15) to grab the Hancock County Girls Track and Field Championship at Mt. Vernon High School.
“It’s a pretty cool thing. We’ve run against Greenfield a couple of times this year, and they’ve beaten us by a point or two here and there,” Mt. Vernon head coach Brian Williams said. “It was one of those things tonight where it could’ve gone any way, and you’re always hoping you’re on the good side of that, but you never know.”
The distance events helped catapult Mt. Vernon to the first-place finish.
Emma Gasiorek won the 800-meter, Hannah Hauser won the 1600, and the pair, along with Emma Gale and Kenydi Russell, won the 3200 relay.
“It’s something, based on our cross-country season, that we knew we could do really well in,” Williams said. “We were able to come through with what we needed to do in about all the distance races.”
Riley Nielsen was the other Mt. Vernon winner with a height of 10-feet, 6-inches in the pole vault. Her winning height was over a foot higher than second place.
The Marauders four individual champions were tied for second with New Palestine, and three behind Greenfield-Central’s meet-leading seven, but in the events they didn’t win, the Marauders’ depth earned them much needed points.
With the top five spots in each event earning points, the Marauders goal was to get as many people as possible in those positions, and they did just that.
In nearly every event, even the ones they didn’t win, Mt. Vernon grabbed multiple top five finishes to push their team score above the others.
In the 800-meter, 1600 and long jump they grabbed three top-five spots.
“It played a big role,” Williams said of his team’s depth. “I talked to several different groups because we have some depth in the jumps and distance races, and I just told them how important it was for them to really make sure to pass some people and beat whoever they could. It really comes down to that. You need one point here, or one point there.”
While Mt. Vernon’s depth shined, Greenfield-Central took nearly half of the individual championships.
Savannah Lake led the way, winning both of her individual races, and the 400 relay on the way to being named the athlete of the meet.
She started things off on a high note in one of the first events of the night. In the 100, she set a new meet record with a time of 12.13 seconds. She followed that up with a 25.80 and first-place in the 200 dash.
The Cougars swept the hurdles, with Reagan Crouch winning the 100, and Addison Buckley grabbing the 300. Crouch finished second to Buckley in the 300.
Lexie Copeland broke up the Mt. Vernon distance success with a win in the 3200, Juliann Jones won the long jump, and the Cougars crossed the finish line first in the 400 relay.
New Palestine dominated the throwing events, with Sydney Miller winning discus and Quin Lumbley winning shot put. Rylee Hurst won the 400, and the Dragons took home the win in the 1600 relay.
Second-place finishes in eight of the 16 events helped the Dragons finish second as a team above Greenfield-Central.
Eastern Hancock’s lone winner was Ellie Meyer in the high jump.
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2023 Hancock County Girls Track and Field Championships
Team Scores (champions): Mt. Vernon 89 (4), New Palestine 77 (4), Greenfield-Central 63 (7), Eastern Hancock 15 (1)
100-meter dash: Savannah Lake, Greenfield-Central (12.13 seconds)*
200-meter dash: Savannah Lake, Greenfield-Central (25.80 seconds)
400-meter dash: Rylee Hurst, New Palestine (1:01.73)
800-meter run: Emma Gasiorek, Mt. Vernon (2:33.17)
1600-meter run: Hannah Hauser, Mt. Vernon (5:35.09)
3200-meter run: Lexie Copeland, Greenfield-Central (12:09.93)
100-meter hurdles: Reagan Crouch, Greenfield-Central (16.52 seconds)
300-meter hurdles: Addison Buckley, Greenfield-Central (48.53 seconds)
400-meter relay: Greenfield-Central — Jalyn Smith, Rachel Baker, Lauren Pechin, Savannah Lake, (52.67 seconds)
1600-meter relay: New Palestine — Rylee Hurst, Olivia Frank, Tylar Whitaker, Abby Journay (4:13.66)
3200-meter relay: Mt. Vernon —Hannah Hauser, Emma Gale, Kenydi Russell, Emma Gasiorek (10:40.06)
Shot put: Quin Lumbley, New Palestine (41-feet, 8-inches)
Discus: Sydney Miller, New Palestine (128-feet)
High jump: Ellie Meyer, Eastern Hancock (5-feet, 1-inch)
Long jump: Juliann Jones, Greenfield-Central (15-feet, 3 3/4 inches)
Pole vault: Riley Nielsen, Mt. Vernon (10-feet, 6-inches)
*meet record
