FORTVILLE — You don’t have to win the most races to get the big prize.
It’s a formula that has worked before and Mt. Vernon used it again to win its second straight Hoosier Heritage Conference girls track and field title Wednesday at Mt. Vernon High School.
“I told the girls that if we did not come in and everybody do their part we would not win,” Mt. Vernon head coach Lydgia Palmer said. “They [did their part] and they were awesome. We had the depth and the stars are aligning and they are exactly where they need to be as far as times and distances. Everybody is steadily getting better each week.”
Mt. Vernon had two champions and won the meet with 125 points. New Palestine was second with 110.5. Greenfield-Central finished third with 107 and Delta placed fourth with 99. New Palestine, Greenfield-Central and Delta each had four winners.
A year ago, Mt. Vernon had just two champions, scored in every event, and finished with 124.5 points, 3.5 points better than runner-up New Palestine.
They scored in every event Wednesday and had two scorers in six of eight running events and two of five field events.
Fitting for a victory led by a total team effort, the two Mt. Vernon victories came in relay races.
Mt. Vernon defended its title in the meet’s opening race, in fact, it was the third straight year the Marauders have won the 4×800-meter relay.
Emma Gasiorek, Emma Gale, Makenna Laffey and Hannah Hauser won in 10:02.05, 12.6 seconds faster than in last week’s victorious run in the Hancock County meet.
Gasiorek has been on all three of the championship teams. Gale and Hauser were also on last year’s winning quartet.
The Marauders went 2-for-2 in relay races when they won the 4×100.
A week ago, a bobbled final exchange cost them while in the lead during the county meet, a race won by Greenfield-Central. Mt. Vernon was second.
There were no bobbles between Londyn Floyd, Ani’ya Williams, Marissa Miner and Molly Worth and they set a new meet and school record in their win by finishing in 49.81 seconds.
“We worked on it every day, probably three times more [than usual],” Miner, the team’s third runner, said on practicing the baton exchanges.
“At practice we fixed the hand off and got it solid and it worked out,” Worth, the relay anchor leg, said. “Winning today [and getting the record] was pretty big for us. Even last year we were pretty close to [the record] toward the end of the season. This year that was one of our main goals to get it. To get it [Wednesday] was pretty exciting.”
The 4×100 relay record was one of four conference records.
“We’ve worked so hard for it,” Williams added. “Every meet we’ve decreased our time.”
Mt. Vernon added runner-up finishes from Ayana Moore in the shot put, Laurel Hoeppner in the high jump and Miner in both hurdle races. Miner was also third in the long jump and Moore was third in the discus. Elaina Moore picked up a third-place finish in the pole vault as did Julia Iserloth in the 3200.
“Last week at county it was a disappointment,” Palmer added, on her team finishing third to county champ Greenfield-Central and runner-up New Palestine. “We had some good individual performances last week and it was close, but we ended up losing.
“This week we talked about, if we can have our two people in each event really do what they need to that’s what’s going to win it. It’s OK if we’re not winning every event, but everybody needed to place. Our big thing is TCB — Take Care of Business — and we did that. I’m really proud.”
Greenfield-Central’s Savannah Lake had one of the other records. The senior sprinter, for the second straight year, swept the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. It was her third win in the 100 (12.31 seconds). Her 200 time of 25.06 seconds was an HHC record.
Greenfield-Central picked up two more individual victories. Addison Buckley won the 300 hurdles in 46.86 seconds. Josie Kinnaman was victorious in the 3200 with a time of 11:45.58.
The G-C 4×400 and 4×100 relay teams also finished second. Maddie Mies was a runner-up in the pole vault.
The Cougars got third-place finishes from Madison Sonsini (high jump), Buckley (100 hurdles) and Kinnaman (1600).
For New Palestine, Abby Journay and Rylee Hurst were part of two victories each. Both won an individual race and were part of the team’s win in the final race of the night, the 4×400 relay.
Journay won the high jump at 5-feet, 2-inches. She was runner-up to Hurst in the 400.
Journay won Heat 1 of the 400 and Hurst won Heat 2. A timed final, it would have been close to a photo-finish had they been in the same heat. Hurst won in 1:00.32. Journay crossed in 1:00.45. It was the third time Hurst, a junior, has won the HHC 400.
Journay was also runner-up to Lake in the 200. Hurst was second in the long jump and third in the 100.
Journey and Hurst teamed with Courtney Study — who like Journey and Hurst competed and scored in four events — and Taylor Burke in the 4×4, finishing in 4:10.65. New Palestine picked up third-place points in the 4×800.
New Palestine’s first winner of the night was senior Rebecca Johnson in the pole vault. She won last week’s county meet by clearing 10-feet, that height was good enough to win an HHC title, too.
“We asked a lot of some of our girls, Rylee, Abby and Courtney, all competed at a high level in every event and got us a lot of points. The rest of the girls rallied behind them. We gave it our best shot, but Mt. Vernon had a great night.”
The two other meet records came from Delta’s distance running standout Nicki Southerland. She had record-setting runs in the 800 (2:07.64) and 1600 (4:42.65).
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2024 Hoosier Heritage Conference Girls Track and Field Results
Team scores (champions): Mt. Vernon (2) 125, New Palestine (4) 110.5, Greenfield-Central (4) 107, Delta (4) 99, New Castle (2) 64.5, Yorktown 48.5, Pendleton Heights 44, Shelbyville 25.5
Event: Winner, School;Time/Distance
100-meter dash: Savannah Lake, Greenfield-Central (12.31 seconds)
200-meter dash: Savannah Lake, Greenfield-Central (25.06 seconds)*
400-meter dash: Rylee Hurst, New Palestine (1:00.32)
800-meter run: Nicki Southerland, Delta (2:07.64)*
1600-meter run: Nicki Southerland, Delta (4:42.65)*
3200-meter run: Josie Kinnaman, Greenfield-Central (11:45.58)
100-meter hurdles: Jillian Barr, Delta (16.40 seconds)
300-meter hurdles: Addison Buckley, Greenfield-Central (46.86 seconds)
400-meter relay: Mt. Vernon — Londyn Floyd, Ani’ya Williams, Marissa Miner, Molly Worth, (49.81 seconds)*
1600-meter relay: New Palestine — Courtney Study, Taylor Burke, Rylee Hurst, Abby Journay (4:10.65)
3200-meter relay: Mt. Vernon —Emma Gasiorek, Emma Gale, Makenna Laffey, Hannah Hauser (10:02.05)
Shot put: Laura Fischer, New Castle (36-feet, 3-inches)
Discus: Alaina Bowman, New Castle (113-feet, 9-inches)
High jump: Abby Journay, New Palestine (5-feet, 2-inches)
Long jump: Jillian Barr, Delta (16-feet, 5.25-inches)
Pole vault: Rebecca Johnson, New Palestine (10-feet)
*meet record
