by
Richie Hall
Sports Editor
Hamilton County Reporter
BLOOMINGTON – The list of threetime state champions at the IHSAA girls state track and field meet is relatively short, but two more athletes added their names to
that list on Saturday.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Kennedy Drish and Noblesville’s Shelby Tyler closed out
their fantastic high school careers with their third consecutive state title in their respective event at the state meet, which took place at Indiana University in Bloomington. Drish
finished first in the pole vault, while Tyler was the winner of the high jump.
Tyler’s winning jump was 5 feet, 9 inches, which she cleared on her first try.
“Obviously I didn’t jump my best, but I’m still happy with my performance,” said
Tyler. “Getting out to state and competing against these girls is a good experience.”
Tyler, a senior who has committed to the University of Georgia, became the first
three-time state champion in Noblesville history, and the first to win so many high
jump titles since Ellie Tidman of Batesville won four in a row from 2007 to 2010.
“It’s definitely a privilege,” said Tyler.
“It’s all that I could ask for.”
Drish cleared 12 feet, 9 inches in the pole vault, the highest she has ever vaulted at
state. The senior found herself in a battle with Center Grove sophomore Taylor
Jarosinski, who also got over 12-9, but Drish won the event because she had fewer misses.
It was a remarkable win for Drish, a Virginia Tech commit, since she had been
dealing with an injury that limited her practices. But as the great ones always do,
she came through at the big events.
“This one was probably the hardest one
for me,” said Drish of her three state wins. “Taylor definitely gave me a battle, but it was definitely worth it in the end.”
Drish’s performance helped Southeastern finish high in the team standings for the
third straight year. The Royals, who came into the meet as defending state champions,
placed third with a score of 48 points. North Central won the meet with 75 points, while
Warren Central was the runner-up by scoring 52 points.
“We did what I hoped in most places,” said Southeastern coach Julie Alano. “We
didn’t have breakthroughs in a couple of events. Everybody ran a PR, or close to their
PR, in every event. You can’t go wrong with that.”
The Royals were part of an incredibly fast 4×400 relay race. The team of junior
Olivia Burgess, senior Mya Hammons, senior Tierra Sydnor and freshman Regan
Wans placed second in a time of 3:45.72, which was over a second and a half under the old state record. North Central won the race in 3:43.99.
“That’s just crazy that we ran that fast,” said Alano. It was a total team effort –
“Every girl ran fast,” said Alano. “It wasn’t any certain one on that relay. Everybody ran
a PR. That last race was amazing.”
“It was so fast and I loved every single minute of it. It was amazing,” said Wans.
The freshman was happy with her performance: “I threw down a new PR in the 400
and I threw down a PR in the 4×4 as well for my split, so I’m really excited about how
things turned out today.”
While Wans is just beginning her career, senior Lulu Black finished hers up on a
strong note. Black started the meet by running on the 4×800 relay, joining senior
Maddie Mirro, sophomore Halle Hill and junior Ellie Pedersen in placing second in
that event.
Black said it was the first time she had run in more than one event at state. She has
committed to North Carolina State University.
“That was an amazing accomplishment, just considering I haven’t done that before,
haven’t doubled at state before and I got to do it with my best friends,” said Black. “And
we really just set high goals for ourselves this year and we achieved them. So I’m super
proud of us as a whole.”
Black would later go on to race in the 3200 run, where she placed fifth in another
outrageously fast race. Black’s fifth-place time was 10:39.01 – the top five girls all
went under 10:40.
“I think I ran pretty well,” said Black. “It’s crazy that it’s my last race here at IU
and for my team.”
Sydnor had another outstanding meet. In addition to the 4×400, she also joined Burgess, Hammons and sophomore Alyssa Barker in placing third in the 4×100 relay.
Sydnor came back a little while later and finished third in the 300 hurdles and also
placed seventh in the long jump.
Noblesville tied for 12th as a team by scoring 14 points. In addition to Tyler’s win,
the 4×800 relay team of senior Maria Anderson, sophomore Bella Sharples-Gordon,
senior Aubrie Deal and junior Anna Hazelrigg finished sixth.
Fishers tied for 20th by scoring 11 points. The Tigers had two fifth-place finishes, starting with the 4×800 relay team of junior Abby Carter, freshman Vera Schafer, junior Emma Gillespie and freshman Elizabeth Barrett.
While the 4×800 team was running, sophomore Alison Casey was vaulting her way to a fifth place finish in the pole vault. Fishers’ 4×100 relay team of freshman Ella
Scally, sophomore Myah Donaldson, junior Gabby Lewis and senior Grace May took
ninth place.
Carmel junior Phoebe Bates scored five points for the Greyhounds with a fifth-place
finish in the 1600 run.
Hamilton Heights sophomore Maria Mitchell picked up two medals for the Huskies, placing eighth in the 1600 run and ninth in the 800 run. Mitchell was the first Heights runner to medal at state since Sierra Brown in 2014.
Mitchell was part of an exceptionally fast 800 run, which saw Pike senior Elizabeth Stanhope win in a new meet record time of 2:06.62. But she held her own and earned
a medal.
“I knew I was running at the end with the seeds, so I was in the back of that pack,”
said Mitchell. “I was just like, ‘Well, we’ll start in the back and we’ll just start to pick
them off through the race.’ That’s what happened.”
Sheridan junior Rebecca Merritt competed in both throwing events, placing 11th
in the discus and 16th in the shot put.
Westfield senior Zoe Pentecost also competed in the discus, finishing 13th. Guerin
Catholic senior Ellie Schroeder placed 11th
in the 800 run.