SHELBYVILLE — Sami Heathcote has been a part of two regional champion gymnastics teams.
Now, Heathcote is a regional champion in track and field as an individual.
The Columbus North sophomore won the pole vault Tuesday in the girls Shelbyville Regional. She was the only Bartholomew County girl to earn an automatic bid to the June 1 state finals.
“It feels quite a bit different because with the team making it, it’s more collective, and if I mess up on one event, then someone else can pick it up,” Heathcote said. “But this one is individual.”
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Heathcote cleared 10 feet, 2 inches on her third and final try. That tied the personal record she set last week in winning the Franklin Sectional.
Heathcote then tried, but couldn’t clear 10-6.
“It feels pretty great,” Heathcote said. “I am very happy that I was able to do as well as I did last week and that allowed me to win, but I’m a little bit disappointed that I didn’t (break my) PR. I was getting a bit tired by the end. That was very adrenaline filled, but overall, it was very good.”
Outside of that, it was a day of near-misses for North and Columbus East. The Bull Dogs had three fourth-place finishes, while the Olympians had one.
Only the top three in each event from each of the state’s eight regional and others meeting the state standard advance. If those numbers don’t add up to 27 in an event, the next-best performances in those events are awarded call-backs to fill the field. Those were to be finalized late Tuesday night or this morning.
North’s Olivia Morlok, Emma Smith, Kirsten Ballard and Aric Tong finished fourth in the 4×800-meter relay in 10 minutes, 4.57 seconds. Arig Tong took fourth in the 1,600 (5:29.77), and Morlok was fourth in the 3,200 (11:42.88).
The Bull Dogs finished ninth as a team with 28 points. Warren Central won with 121 points to 77 for runner-up Center Grove.
“Obviously, there is some good competition here,” North coach Lou Sipe said. “Center Grove is a great program. Franklin Central is good and Warren Central — those are really good programs. You want to make it to the state meet, but I’m so proud of how hard they worked this year, and I’m just proud of their performances tonight, as well.”
One other local girl did qualify for state out of the Shelbyville Regional. Edinburgh junior Taylor Tatlock finished fourth in the discus with a state-standard and school-record throw of 125-11.
Meanwhile, Columbus East’s Elena Stoughton just missed qualifying in the high jump after finishing fourth at 5-3. Stoughton was in line to finish third before Whiteland’s Isabella Jackson cleared 5-3 on her third and final attempt.
“(Stoughton) did well,” East coach Glen Brown said. “She was jumping well today. She was feeling it, even having to stop and wait for all the girls to come back, it still was a good day for her. If this happens to be her last jump this year, she ended on a good note.”
East’s McKenna Downey tied for sixth in the pole vault at 9-6.
Hauser had a trio of sixth-place finishes. Grace Hasler took sixth in both the 100 hurdles (16.62) and 300 hurdles (46.32), and Marnie Schwarzkopf was sixth in the 800 (2:25.68).
