With less than a month until the track and field season until section week, here’s a look back and a look at what to expect with May just around turn 4.
Edgewood wins again
The senior women’s team Mustangs marked their career with another win at the 13-team Park Tudor Showcase. Edgewood won the title in 2019 and only missed a few points in 2020, so it was a meeting where things went well for this group.
Edgewood won the 400m relay (Ashley Abram, Addison Goerges, Ella Hayden, Claire Sherfield) in 51.88; the 1600m relay (Sherfield, Zoe Powell, Piper Stephens, Emma Edwards) in 4:25.92 and was second in the Sprint Medley Relay (Abram, Sherfield, Edwards, Stephens) in 1:58.94. Emma Bitner finished second in the 800m (2:29.65) only ahead of potential state champion Gretchen Farley of Park Tudor.
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Trista Helms continued to be at the top of the record (she won at Park Tudor) and shot the most shot puts well each time, while not far from injury at the end of the season of basketball.
“I’m impressed with how quickly she was able to come back,” Evans said.
In the high jump, Emma Edwards hit 5-0 (the best in the region) and Addison Goerges 4-10.
Showcase of confrontations
A number of Bloomington North and South athletes have raced well against some of the state’s best in the Franklin Central Flashes Miracle Mile races.
North’s Nolan Bailey was 12th in the boys’ fast heat in 4:21.60 while Kyle Clark went down to the wire with Castle’s Andrew Magnum in the previous heat 3, taking second place by 0.71 in 4 : 22.00. South’s Zander West (Heat 2) and Jack Gildea (Heat 1) finished in the top 15 in their races.
On the girls’ side, Lily Myers of South finished 12th in the fast heat (3) in 5:12.44 in a race outrageously won by 17 seconds in 4:42.67 by Addy Wiley of Huntington North.
North’s Bea Cakmak was fourth in round 2 in 5:16.49 with South’s Emma Callahan ninth (5:18.76).
“Lily ran well in Franklin,” South coach Jill Rensink said. “And Emma is back to exactly where she was last year.”
North also saw Rachel Allison take second in Round 1 and Nola Somers Glenn sixth in Round 2.
“Bea, Rachel and Nola all played well up their sleeves,” North coach Justin Helmer said. “Bea converts in 5:14 1,600, so she’s about as fast as she was in first grade. They all gave themselves a chance to run fast.”
Next Friday is Carmel’s 3,200 showcase.
That field will include North and West’s Bailey and Jack Nelson, Gildea, Dante Valentino, Joe Zinkan and Suoming Zhang as well as four freshmen who showed Franklin well, led by a 4:56.41 from Roman Ross. Myers will compete in the women’s competition.
Replay to Ben Davis
Bailey and Clark had to turn around after establishing their career PR and jump on the Ben Davis trail the afternoon after their runs at Franklin Central.
Each was on the winning Giant Medley relay and also on the winning 3,200m relay. Bailey even added a heat for the 1600m relay (third in 3:31.40).
“It was only his second time in this race,” Helmer said. “We put him in our B team at Center Grove and had a 51.7 lead. So that just added another person to the depth chart for us.”
Not a bad thing with JaQualon Roberts not returning to the track team to focus on basketball ahead of his senior season as a well-regarded Division I rookie.
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North also saw Jarno Ksander-Hicks start his comeback after a hamstring injury. Reece Lozano is also looking to add to his workload as he revives. Meanwhile, Broc Murphy had fired on all cylinders in the hurdles (posting a sub-40 in the 300s at Center Grove), only to drop hard in the 300s and partially dislocate his shoulder at Ben Davis.
“It’s day to day,” Helmer said. “We’re lucky it’s not anything bigger.”
The Edgewood boys are getting better
Evans also saw positives in his boys’ team.
Zack Raake shared a low 51 on the 1600 relay in his third 400 of the night at Park Tudor after running 53.04 in the 400 open and running a leg for the sprint medley relay that finished second in 1:40 ,13.
Sophomore Chris Davis continues to shine in the shot put, going a career-best 49-9½ at Park Tudor.
“It’s a huge throw,” Evans said. “Having someone over 50 feet is something we don’t usually see. Our ring is only 52 feet.”
The young background team is also reaching important milestones. Jackson Klinger beat five minutes in the 1600m and Landon Beauchamp hit 2:10 in the 800m. The Mustangs are also under 10:20 at 3200m.
“They’re definitely going in the right direction,” Evans said.
kitty cats
Southern Girls’ coach Jill Rensink is fielding a team of 43 freshmen and sophomores, so the smell of the new car hasn’t gone away yet.
A few sprinters stood up.
Sophomore Carlie Pedersen, sister of former Panthers standout and current assistant coach Zach, is one of the early risers. Coming out of basketball season, Carlie started in the jumps, but Rensink made her run a 100 and now she’s an option in the sprints and for the 400 relay.
“She’s getting faster every week,” Rensink said.
Emilie Russo also shines in her first year as a track athlete.
The boys team also has its share of young stars with second Ivan Lynch hitting 144 on discus, and second D’Andre Black scorching the track in the 100 (11.51) with a PR of 15.03 in the 110 hurdles and go under 42 in the 300 already.
The sprinters, led by runner-up Adrian Rheam (who went 23.66 in the 200 open), ran under 45 for the first time this year in the 400 relay at a meet in Martinsville last Thursday. Zinkan, Zhang and Hunter Tabor, all sophs, went under 10:20 at 3200 in the same competition after beating five minutes at 1600.
Junior Sawyer Bailey continues to be the region’s top pole vaulter, with a career record of 13-6.
Edgewood Invitation
The Mustangs’ annual nine-team event takes place Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
The field includes North, South, Castle, Cloverdale, Decatur Central, Mooresville, Noblesville and Springs Valley.
This will be the first chance for many sprinters and hurdlers to go through a preliminary/final format.
But between the Carmel Races, North Ball, Sound of South, and more, locals won’t be lining up their “usual” queues. That said, with the weather expected to be sunny and close to 80 degrees, this may give a few athletes a great chance to have a blast.
Excellent Tieman
Eastern Greene’s Anna Tieman has had an impressive streak of results in a short time.
On April 14, in a meet with Bedford North Lawrence and Spring Valley (which Eastern won), Tieman won the 100 (12.98) and 200 (27.82) girls and finished second in the log jump (16-3).
The following night at the North Knox Invitational, Tieman helped lead the T-Birds to third place, breaking the 19-year-old meet record in the long jump (15-11½) by going 16-0½, winning the 100 (13.12) and 200 (27.04) and anchoring the 1600 relay at fifth (4:45.27).
Eastern will compete in the eight-team Linton Invitational on Friday. The host minors have several strong athletes on the boys’ and girls’ teams who are in line to make regionals and possibly state.
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow @JimGordillo on Twitter.