INDIANAPOLIS — Although there was just one individual winner from Hancock County at the Warren Central Girls Track and Field Sectional Wednesday, it was still a strong showing by both Greenfield-Central and New Palestine.
With the top three spots in each event advancing to next week’s Shelbyville Regional, both the Dragons and Cougars made sure they were in one of those spots when they crossed the finish line or when the field events ended.
Out of the 16 events, the two county teams combined to advance 14 to the regional. Each team qualified seven events. Eleven of the 16 events had either one or both New Palestine and Greenfield-Central in the top three.
Warren Central had seven individual champions and won the team title with a score of 146, barely beating out Franklin Central who had six individual winners and a team score of 145.50. Greenfield-Central placed third with 91 points and New Palestine was fourth with 76 points.
“Our focus during sectional is how many athletes can we get onto the next level,” Greenfield-Central head coach Mike Foster said. “Points are great, but we’re focused on those qualifying spots.”
The lone champion came from New Palestine’s Rebecca Johnson in the pole vault.
She cleared the bar at 10-feet to take first place.
“Rebecca has been great this season. Not just great with the heights she’s getting to, but with the consistency every meet,” New Palestine head coach Eric Branch said. “She’s been fantastic as a senior and we need that in these big meets. Proud of her, and we know we’ll get big things from her in the regional.”
Both teams entered the night with athletes hoping to defend their titles from last season.
Greenfield Central’s Savannah Lake was looking to repeat in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, while New Palestine’s Rylee Hurst was eyeing a repeat in the 400-meter.
Both came up just short.
Lake was runner-up in both events, losing out to Warren Central’s Jila Vaden in both. In the 100-meter Lake’s time of 12.19 was .09 seconds off of Vaden’s 12.10, and in the 200-meter Lake ran a time of 25.44, just behind Vaden’s 25.04.
“That kind of ate her [Lake] up a bit today, but that’s something she’ll use as fuel going forward,” Foster said.
Hurst was runner-up to Franklin Central’s Breece Bass in the 400-meter with a time of 1:00.67 and also placed top three in the 100-meter dash. Her time of 12.74 was third behind Lake.
“It was a great meet for Rylee. She’s a workhorse for us, doing four events every meet. She didn’t take a step back and was fantastic tonight,” Branch said. “She’s primetime, so we know she’s going to bring something extra next week.”
In the 200-meter the Dragons had another runner place third just behind Lake. Abby Journay’s time of 25.62 seconds made her an individual regional qualifier in multiple events.
Along with the 200, she placed third in the high jump with a height of 5-feet, 2-inches.
In the last event of the evening, both Hurst and Journay capped off the day with another top-three placement. In the 4×400 relay, the pair, along with Courtney Study and Taylor Burke placed third.
In the 1600-meter, the Cougars and Dragons both had runners advance.
Greenfield-Central freshman Josie Kinnaman placed second with a time of 5:12.89 and was followed by Study (5:15.99).
“As a freshman, Josie comes in with a lot of expectations because of what she did in cross country, and she’s done really well,” Foster said. “She’s a hard worker, she’s dedicated, and she’s got that race mentality that a lot of people take time to develop.”
Study’s time in the 1600-meter was a personal record, and in the 4×800 relay where the Dragons placed fourth, she ran her fastest 800-meter time.
“Courtney ran big for us. She had the PR in the mile and then split her fastest 800 ever in the 4×800 relay to help that team,” Branch said. “We think we will get a callback thanks to her run there.”
Greenfield-Central’s final qualifiers came in the 300 hurdles, the discus, the pole vault and the 4×100 relay.
In the hurdles, Addison Buckley placed third, in the discus Gracie Spurling placed third, in the pole vault Madelyn Mies was third, and the relay team of Lake, Jalyn Smith, Madison Sonsini, and Rachel Baker placed third.
The Shelbyville Regional will take place on May 21, beginning at 6 p.m.
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2024 Warren Central Girls Track and Field Sectional Results
Team scores (champions): Warren Central 146 (7), Franklin Central 145.50 (6), Greenfield-Central 91, New Palestine 76 (1), Roncalli 73, Indianapolis Lutheran 36.50 (2), Shelbyville 25, Morristown 11, Beech Grove 10, Triton Central 4, Christel House 3.
Event: Winner, School (Time/Distance)
100-meter dash: Jila Vaden, Warren Central (12.10 seconds)
200-meter dash: Jila Vaden, Warren Central (25.04)
400-meter dash: Breece Bass, Franklin Central (57.42)
800-meter run: Savana Miller, Franklin Central (2:18.22)
1,600-meter run: Savana Miller, Franklin Central (4:57.10)
3,200-meter run: Kylie Cline, Franklin Central (11:11.06)
100-meter hurdles: Laila Smith, Warren Central (14.85)
300-meter hurdles: Laila Smith, Warren Central (43.53)
4×100-meter relay: Franklin Central – Dayauna Myers, Sabrina Jackson, Abigail Kirstein, Miriam Mappes (50.30)
4×400-meter relay: Warren Central – Kira Smith, Laila Smith, Samaya Smith, Jila Vaden (3:59.47)
4×800-meter relay: Franklin Central – Dakota Miller, Camryn Simons, Kylie Cline, Breece Bass (9:50.95)
Shot put: Hadleigh Filipovich, Indianapolis Lutheran (37-feet, 1-inch)
Discus: Hadleigh Filipovich, Indianapolis Lutheran (121-feet, 8-inches)
Long jump: Jila Vaden, Warren Central (20-feet, 1/2-inch)
High jump: Kira Smith, Warren Central (5-feet, 6-inches)
Pole vault: Rebecca Johnson, New Palestine (10-feet)
