FORTVILLE — Savannah Lake had won her share of individual races at the Hancock County Girls Track and Field Championships.
On Wednesday at Mt. Vernon High School, the Greenfield-Central senior added her third title each in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. In the 200, she set a new meet record of 25.17 seconds. She set the 100 record of 12.13 seconds as a junior.
Lake also anchored the team’s winning 4×100 and 4×400 relays, the latter the deciding race in getting Greenfield-Central its first county title since 2016.
New Palestine had a 1.5-point lead over the Cougars and a three-point lead over Mt. Vernon heading into the final race of the day.
Mt. Vernon had a race-lead and .5 team-lead going into the final lap of the relay.
Lake caught and passed Mt. Vernon on the final lap to give G-C the win. The Cougars finished with 74 points. New Palestine edged Mt. Vernon for second, 71.5 to 70.5.
“We knew going in it was going to be a very close race between us, Mt. Vernon and New Pal,” Greenfield-Central coach Mike Foster said. “All the pieces had to fall … and it came down to that last race.”
Lake anchored the Cougars’ first-place 4×100-meter relay team. Mt. Vernon had led much of the race, but had a bad exchange on the last handoff. It was enough of an error for the county’s fastest runner to get the Cougars the victory.
In the 1600-meter run, New Palestine’s Courtney Study led most of the race, but Greenfield-Central frosh Josie Kinnaman caught and passed Study right before the finish line in another key Cougar victory.
With the two sprints and two relays, Lake was part of four of G-C’s five wins, but she was most pleased to take the bus ride home with the team trophy.
“It’s always been, I win, I win, but the team [winning] hasn’t been there,” Lake said. “Tonight before we got out to the meet I stood up on the bus and gave everyone a speech, ‘We can do this! At the end of the day track and field is a team sport and if we all do our best we can win.’”
“I wanted this for all of us,” she added. “It’s fun to win individually, but when you win a team title and you have something to bring back home other than just what you did, it just shows how much our program works for us.”
In recent years the girls’ county meet has been very close. Last year, Mt. Vernon beat New Palestine by 12 points and Greenfield-Central was third, even though the Cougars had the most individual winners with seven.
In 2022, New Palestine beat Mt. Vernon by just seven points and, again, G-C was third, though it equaled New Pal with the most champions with six.
On Wednesday, both G-C and New Palestine won a meet-best five events. This time the Cougars had more depth, which included six runner-up finishes.
“It was definitely a group effort,” Foster said. “We always have first places, but we can never quite pull off the win. We had more depth this year, a few more girls that decided they’re not going to take second place. All of them had to do the right things tonight and that’s what they did.”
Kinnaman’s win was the closest race of the night. She won in 5:18.30. Study crossed in 5:18.43.
“I zoned out the second and third lap, I heard the Mt. Vernon girls behind me and I saw Courtney was a pretty good distance in front of me,” Kinnaman said. “When it came to the last lap I had to push it. I have very short legs so I had to start my kick early. Around 300 meters to go I saw her back and, according to my teammates, when I lock in I just put my head down and start driving my arms. I was trying to get her at (the last corner). When we were 100 meters (from the finish) I knew if I really drove my arms, really drove, I could get her.
“I went in Lane 2 and just put my head down and just sprinted as hard as I could. I don’t think I ever had a race that close, so it was kind of stressful, especially during the second and third laps. I was like, ‘I’ve got to go, because if I don’t go now, I’m not going to get her.’ [Study] ran a very strategic race, I could have ran better, strategically, She ran a really good race.”
Kinnaman also gave a lot of credit to the pep talk from her team’s talented senior.
“[She told us] everyone on this team is an asset and we all have to do our best today,” Kinnaman recalled. “That’s what we did, especially our 4×4, that was a really good race. …I think it’s really important to have good team culture. We’re good friends, we cheer each other on whether we’re sprinters or distance runners, we all cheer each other on. That’s important and that’s what Savannah really wanted us to do, she’s a really good leader.”
Study bounced back to win the 800, leading from start to finish with a time of 2:29.49. Last year’s champion, Mt. Vernon’s Emma Gasiorek, finished second. It was one of five titles for the Dragons.
Rylee Hurst, a junior, won the 400-meter dash for the third straight year. She beat teammate Abby Journay by less than one second. Hurst crossed at 1:00.27. Journay’s time was 1:00.98.
In a battle of two indoor state-qualifying high jumpers, Journay won and Eastern Hancock junior Ellie Meyer placed second. Both cleared 5-feet, 3-inches, but neither cleared 5-feet, 4-inches. Journay was declared the winner with fewer misses throughout the competition. Meyer was the two-time defending champion in the event.
Hurst added a second win in the long jump (16-feet) and Rebecca Johnson won the pole vault (10-feet).
Eastern Hancock freshman Bella Sotelo swept the hurdles. She won the 100 hurdles with a meet-record time of 15.29 seconds and the 300 hurdles, ahead of last year’s champion Addison Buckley of Greenfield-Central, in 45.67. Buckley finished in 47.57, better than her 48.53 of 2023.
Sotelo was runner-up to Lake in the 100 and earned co-athlete of the meet honors with Lake.
Two of Mt. Vernon’s four titles came from Ayana Moore in the throws. She won the shot at 34-feet, 11-inches and the discus at 97-feet, 7-inches.
Emma Gasiorek, Emma Gale, Makenna Laffey and Hannah Hauser won the meet-opening 4×800 relay in 10:14.68. Gale added a victory in the 3200 (12:19.5).
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2024 Hancock County Girls Track and Field Championships
Team Scores (champions): Greenfield-Central 74 (5), New Palestine 71.5 (5), Mt. Vernon 70.5 (4), Eastern Hancock 28 (2)
100-meter dash: Savannah Lake, Greenfield-Central (12.36 seconds)
200-meter dash: Savannah Lake, Greenfield-Central (25.17 seconds)*
400-meter dash: Rylee Hurst, New Palestine (1:00.27)
800-meter run: Courtney Study, New Palestine (2:29.49)
1600-meter run: Josie Kinnaman, Greenfield-Central (5:18.30)
3200-meter run: Emma Gale, Mt. Vernon (12:19.5)
100-meter hurdles: Bella Sotelo, Eastern Hancock (15.29 seconds)*
300-meter hurdles: Bella Sotelo, Eastern Hancock (45.67 seconds)
400-meter relay: Greenfield-Central — Jalyn Smith, Madison Sonsini, Rachel Baker, Savannah Lake, (50.08 seconds)
1600-meter relay: Greenfield-Central — Brooklyn McConnell, Madelyn Bowman, Addison Buckley, Savannah Lake (4:07.11)
3200-meter relay: Mt. Vernon —Emma Gasiorek, Emma Gale, Makenna Laffey, Hannah Hauser (10:14.68)
Shot put: Ayana Moore, Mt. Vernon (34-feet, 11-inches)
Discus: Ayana Moore, Mt. Vernon (97-feet)
High jump: Abby Journay, New Palestine (5-feet, 3-inches)
Long jump: Rylee Hurst, New Palestine (16-feet)
Pole vault: Rebecca Johnson, New Palestine (10-feet)
*meet record
