BLOOMINGTON — Kayla Truesdell didn’t have one of her better performance in the discus Friday afternoon, but fortunately for her, she still had the shot put.
The Jennings County junior was up to the challenge in the shot. She finished ninth with a throw of 40 feet, 10 ½ inches to earn a spot on the medals podium at the Girls Track and Field State Finals.
“Shot put was OK,” Truesdell said. “Discus was not good. I didn’t have that great a week of practicing at discus, and shot put has been decent. Since I came here in both, I had something to lean back on.”
Truesdell finished 25th in the discus with a throw of 113-7. Last year, she finished 10th at state in the discus and 16th in the shot.
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Although she was a little under her personal-best of 43-8 ¼ from last week’s regional competition in the shot, Truesdell improved on her 23rd-place finish as a freshman and her 16th last year.
“It’s a lot better, but I still have a lot of work to do,” Truesdell said. “I’d rather spin in shot put, rather than gliding, and I just need to work on small things in the discus.”
Meanwhile, a pair of sophomores from Columbus were making their first appearances in the state track meet.
Columbus East’s Elena Stoughton tied for 19 in the high jump with a leap of 5-2. She made 5-0 on her first attempt and 5-2 on her second try before missing three times at 5-4.
“It was a good experience,” Stoughton said. “It was really nice. It’s an honor to be here.”
Columbus North’s Sami Heathcote tied for 20th in the pole vault at 10-0. She had made 10-2 in the sectional and regional.
Friday, Heathcote made 9-6 and 10-0 on her first attempts before missing three times at 10-6.
“I made the height that I was supposed to be able to make, and I did three good vaults at 10-6, so I felt pretty good about that,” Heathcote said. “I am very happy.”
Heathcote had been part of the Bull Dogs’ state-qualifying gymnastics teams each of the past two years.
”It’s a lot bigger than gymnastics state meet, so it’s very cool to be here,” Heathcote said. “I would say I’m more relaxed here because you have three attempts at a height, whereas in gymnastics you just have one (at each event).”
Jennings freshman Sam Sproles finished 24th in the long jump with a leap of 15-10 ¼.
Edinburgh junior Taylor Tatlock finished 27th in the discus at 112-0. She had thrown a school-record 125-11 in the regional.
Brown County senior Vivien Crimmins took 25th in the preliminaries of the 100-meter hurdles in 16.47 seconds. She had tied the school record at 15.48 in the regional.
“I’m really happy that I got this opportunity, but it just didn’t go the way that I planned it to,” Crimmins said. “It’s a totally different experience. I was all by myself. I didn’t have other teammates to root me on or warm up with. It was just a different experience, and I’m glad I got to experience it to see how it was.”
