Four area individuals who qualified for last year’s Girls Track and Field State Finals in five field events return this season and will look to medal in this year’s state meet. The season begins Saturday when Columbus East hosts Bloomington South.
Here is a look at those and other area girls track teams:
Columbus North
The Bull Dogs will look to improve on a fifth-place finish in Conference Indiana and a third in the Franklin Sectional.
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North could be led this season by junior pole vaulters Sami Heathcote and Adrienne Salemme. Heathcote tied for 20th at state last season, and Salemme was a regional qualifier and tied for fourth in the big-school division of Saturday’s Hoosier State Relays, the unofficial state indoor meet.
Heathcote, who also was a regional qualifier in the 100-meter hurdles and was The Republic Girls Track Athlete of the Year, is recovering from symptoms of a concussion that kept her out of gymnastics this winter.
“She’s been getting some work in with hurdles, and she’s been cleared to start pole vaulting again, so we’re slowly kind of working her back in,” North coach Lou Sipe said.
Junior Olivia Morlok finished fourth in the regional in the 3,200 last season, one spot away from making a second consecutive state appearance. She also ran on the regional-qualifying 4×800 relay team and leads a distance crew that includes regional qualifiers in sophomore Mackenzie Barnett (1,600) and senior Sydney Geckler (3,200).
Other returning regional qualifiers are sophomores Lamonica Smith (100 and 200) and Emily Herndon (shot put). Smith, junior Carley Finke and sophomore Helena Ho return from 4×100 relay team, and sophomore Erin Rawlins is back from 4×400 relay team that were regional qualifiers.
Other top returners include sophomore Aric Tong and seniors Abbey Landini and Emma Lawson in the distance events, junior Emma Wetherald in the discus and junior Sydney Wheeler in the pole vault.
“Obviously, we have some people coming back with experience, which is good,” Sipe said. “They’ve been working hard, and I’m excited to see all their hard work pay off and see where we’re at.”
Freshman Kylah Lawson was a Hoosier State Relays qualifier in the long jump and also will compete in the sprints. Also looking to make an impact are freshmen Charly Kleinhenz in the pole vault and high jump and Sasha Goodlow in the hurdles and high jump.
Columbus East
The Olympians have 20 freshmen among their team of 44 girls.
East finished sixth in the both the Hoosier Hills Conference and Franklin Sectional last season. Junior Elena Stoughton tied for 19th at state in the high jump.
Senior Yami Diaz was a regional qualifier in the 400. She also can run the 800.
“We’re looking for big things from her,” East coach Glen Brown said. “I think she’s really going to step up and be a great leader for us.”
Junior Whitney Poe was a regional qualifier in the high jump, and seniors Diaz and Maddy Ping were on the regional-qualifying 4×800 relay team. Senior Beyoncey Coleman-Turner, a state qualifier in the discus as a freshman and a regional qualifier in the shot and discus as a sophomore, returns after missing last season.
Other top returners include senior Olivia Williams and junior Emily Stiles in the the hurdles; junior Sydney Wilson, sophomore Alana Dwenger and senior Liz Hagan in the sprints; senior Isha Chevan in the 400 and junior Olivia Linnemann and senior Amanda Pottorff in the distance events.
Senior newcomer Taylor Gaskill, who was the Olympians’ top gymnast this season, could help in the throws. Freshman Koryn Greiwe, who was The Republic Girls Basketball Player of the Year, will help in the sprints.
“A lot of girls from the cross-country team are out, and that’s going to help our distance,” Brown said. “We have a lot of talented freshmen. That’s an unknown quantity really right now, but they’re going to help us be a better team.”
Hauser
The Jets, who finished second in the Mid-Hoosier Conference and seventh in the Franklin Sectional, return a regional 800 qualifier in sophomore Marnie Schwartzkopf.
Juniors Mel Hasler and Grace Isley are back in the sprints. Other top returners are sophomore Ashley Chambers in the jumps and middle distance, sophomore Tammy Essex in distance, junior Olivia Wright in middle distance and sophomore Adonah Riddle in the throws.
Sophomore newcomers Ninel Garcia and Addy Jones, who ran cross-country in the fall, will lead the distance crew. Also looking to make an impact will be senior Angel Gibson in the throws and sophomore Emily Harker in the throws and 4×800 relay.
Top freshmen include Carly Beeker in the hurdles and 4×100 relay, Callie Swegman and Paige Holoday in the sprints and Bailey Barker, Aydan Carnine and Abby Gibson in the throws.
“We have a lot of new kids,” Hauser coach April Dalton said. “A lot of the kids are enthusiastic and excited to be there. Kind of our goal this year is to still place as high as we can in the conference.”
Jennings County
The Panthers return two state qualifiers in three events.
Kayla Truesdell, a two-time state qualifier in both the shot and discus, finished ninth in the shot and 25th in the discus last season. Sophomore Sam Sproles took 24th at state in the long jump.
Junior Izzy Daugherty in the 400, junior Baylee Byford and senior Patricia Henney in the 800 and junior Emma Morrison in the 3,200 were regional qualifiers, as was senior high jumper Alana Daeger, who will miss the season after tearing an ACL in basketball this winter.
Seniors Henney and Ashley Heindel and juniors Byford and Morrison in the 4×800; Daugherty in the 4×100 and Byford and sophomores Heather Sea and Sproles in the 4×400 ran on regional-qualifying relay teams.
Also back from a team that finished third in the HHC and won the Seymour Sectional are juniors Elizabeth Wahlman in the distance events and high jump, juniors Halle Stearns and Mia Simms in the pole vault, senior Laremie Maschino in the sprints and senior Andrea Reitman in the hurdles. Top freshmen are Trea Davis in the high jump and Paris Sporleder in the sprints.
“We’re really young,” Jennings coach Leah McLeod said. “We have some returning sophomores that have made vast improvements and have started to be a little bit more aggressive. They are running faster than they did at the end of last season.”
Brown County
The Eagles will look to improve on a fourth-place finish in the Western Indiana Conference and a fifth in the Bloomington North Sectional.
Brown County looked to have all of its regional-qualifying 4×800 relay team back, but only sophomore Anna Fleetwood is running this season. Other top returners are seniors Evey Crimmins and Coralynne Robinson in the hurdles, junior Abigail Hollander in the sprints, junior Chloe Lee in the 400 and long jump and sophomore Natalie Suding and junior Bella Hobbs in the sprints and pole vault.
Junior Izzy Rygiel is back in the 400 and pole vault after sitting out last year. Monica Moreno, a junior exchange student from Spain, could contribute in the high jump and long jump.
Freshman Christy Sebastian was a Hoosier State Relays qualifier in the 60. She leads a group of freshmen that includes Addison Volbrecht in the sprints and pole vault, Kaylee Elkins in the sprints and long jump and Summer Romick in the sprints
“We have quite a few new girls on the team,” Brown County coach Jay Myers said. “Over half the girls on the team are first-year runners. We have five freshman this year that are mostly sprinters, and I expect them to make an impact this year.”
South Decatur
Sariina Kalli, who has been an assistant for the Cougars, takes over the head coaching job. South Decatur finished fifth in the MHC and 11th in the Franklin County Regional.
Sophomore Lana Bell was a regional qualifier in the high jump. Other top returners are senior Hannah Miller in the middle distance events; junior Sierra Kalli and sophomore Ali Boilanger in the distance events; junior Tanisha Bushhorn and sophomores Ivey Barnes, Kyra Johnson and Lily Barnes in the sprints and possibly hurdles; and junior Brianna Browder in the throws.
Freshman Megan Vanaman will add depth in the sprints and high jump. Sophomore newcomers Savannah Bushhorn, Emily Georgi and Joy Tryon also will look to contribute.
“We have several athletes who are out for the sport for the first time, or want to step out of their comfort zone to try hurdles or jumps,” Sariina Kalli said. “We will have some opportunity to move people around until we find the best fit for them and for the team.”
Edinburgh
First-year coach Alex Jackson has a team of only seven girls, all of which are freshmen.
The Lancers finished seventh in the MHC and 11th in the Franklin Sectional last season.
Most of this year’s team is centered around the throwing events with Malkia Willard, Elle Dayton and Tricia Kramp. Marsha Vandiver will compete in the throws and sprints.
“We’re just going to be looking at individual goals,” Jackson said. “We’ve been teaching them the form and going through the basics with them, but they’re picking it up pretty well. They have some natural ability there, so I’m pretty anxious to see what they can do.”
Trinity Lutheran
The Cougars finished 11th in last year’s Seymour Sectional.
Sophomore Sydney Jaynes in the throws and junior Emma Goecker in the distance events are the top returnees. Trinity added a pair of distance runners in freshman Sadie Nay and junior Mya Nay, who are transfers from Madison.
The Cougars have some other freshmen with potential in Paige McCammon and Mya Lindroth in the sprints, Stella Kleffman in the high jump, Ruthie Bingham in the 400 and Paige Lawrence, who could do a variety of events.
“The girls team is very young this year,” Trinity coach Caleb Tormohlen said. “I have five or six freshman girls that are going to be big contributors this year. The freshman girls are very athletic. There’s a lot of good potential.”
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Girls track schedules for Bartholomew County teams:
Columbus East
Saturday;Bloomington Southl10:30 a.m.
Tuesday;Seymour;5 p.m.
April 6;at Columbus North Invitational;11 a.m.
April 9;Shelbyville;5:30 p.m.
April 11;at Jennings County (with Brownstown Central);5 p.m.
April 16;at Bloomington North;5:30 p.m.
April 18;at Columbus North;5 p.m.
April 23;Madison;5:30 p.m.
April 20;at Brown County;5 p.m.
May 7;Hoosier Hills Conference;6 p.m.
Columbus North
Tuesday;at Bloomington South;6 p.m.
April 6;Columbus North Invitational;11 a.m.
April 9;at Seymour;5:30 p.m.
April 12;at Franklin Central Showcase;6 p.m.
April 13;Midwest Prep at Lawrence Central;11 a.m.
April 18;Columbus East;5 p.m.
April 20;at Brown County Talon Relays;10:45 a.m.
April 23;at East Central (with Shelbyville);5:30 p.m.
April 26;Conference Indiana at Bloomington Northl5 p.m.
May 3;at Martinsville Koontz Relays;6 p.m.
May 8;Franklin;5 p.m.
Hauser
Monday;at Trinity Lutheran (with Crothersville);4:45 p.m.
April 5;at Triton Central Invitational;5 p.m.
April 9;at Indianapolis Lutheran Invitational;5 p.m.
April 12;Indianapolis Scecina/Fortune Academy;5:30 p.m.
April 15;Waldron/Triton Central;5 p.m.
April 23;at Batesville (with North Decatur and Jac-Cen-Del);5 p.m.
April 25;at Eastern Hancock Invitational
April 30;Indy Genesis United;5:30 p.m.
May 2;at Indian Creek (with Brown County and Southwestern);5 p.m.
May 7;Mid-Hoosier Conference at Waldron;5 p.m.
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