TRACK: Youth is served in sectional

Kokomo Tribune - Wednesday, May 19, 2016

RUSSIAVILLE — One thing became clear during the distance events at the Western girls track and field sectional on Tuesday: the future is now.

Lewis Cass freshman Miah Martin led the youth movement, winning the 1,600- and 3,200-meter events. And she did so in convincing fashion.

Spectators and athletes huddled under umbrellas during the meet. Most wore some sort of coat and lamented the damp conditions.

Martin wanted nothing else.

“I love running in rainy weather,” she said, noting she set a personal-best during the Cass County Meet that was held in similar conditions.

In the team standings, a pair of schools were looking to make history. Pioneer won the first sectional title in program history with 99 points. Maconaquah, looking for its first sectional championship since 1993, finished second with 91 points. Kokomo and Tipton tied for fourth with 56 apiece.

That’s the second consecutive year of heartbreak for Maconaquah, which finished third in the team standings last year by just 3.5 points.

“We worked toward it and the girls knew we had a chance,” Maconaquah coach Brent Wagoner said. “The girls wanted to go for a sectional title, instead of looking to place people in different events to get them out. That’s what we did, but we may just come up a little bit short.”

Maconaquah’s 1,600 relay team of Bailey Hays, Kate White, Rebekah Shinn, and Haley Wimmer placed first in 4:21.95. Bailey Hays (400 dash) and Raygan Plothgow (long jump and 800 run), and the Braves’ 400 and 3,200 relay teams had second-place finishes.

“I’m extremely proud of the team,” Wagoner said. “Overall they did good. They’ve worked all year and I’m really proud of the effort of all of them.”

Peru’s Brooklyne Ward won the 300 hurdles in :50.17, while Kokomo’s Jayda Andrews won the 200 dash in :27.65.

Kokomo won two field events to go with Andrews’ win. Deju Miller won the high jump by clearing, 5-feet-2. She was followed by teammate Lana Pham, who cleared 5-feet.

Miller was aiming for a personal best of slightly more than 5-feet-4, but the cold weather didn’t allow her to stay loose between jumps. And the slick track due to the rain didn’t help either.

“I feel like I did pretty well, but it wasn’t my best,” Miller said. “I was going for a [personal best] but the weather was too much.”

Kelly Lafferty Gerber | Kokomo Tribune
HAPPY PANTHER: Western sophomore Bronwyn Getts cries tears of joy as she hugs her coach Joni McCracken after Getts crossed the finish line in first place during the 4x800 relay in the Western Sectional on Tuesday.

Western’s 3,200 relay team defeated Maconaquah, which returned all four runners from its sectional championship team of a year ago.

In the 1,600 run, six of the top-11 finishers were freshmen. But they’ll all be looking to catch up with Martin, who won the 1,600 in 5:26, nine seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.

In the 3,200, Martin won the event in 11:53, winning that event by 16 seconds. And she said she did that after battling a cold this week, which made it more difficult to breathe.

“I have a lot of good teammates to help push me and I’ve been working hard for it all season,” Martin said. “I knew it was going to be close because I had a lot of good competitors [Tuesday]. It was whomever wanted it the most.”

The top-3 finishers in each event advance to next Tuesday’s regional at Kokomo, which will also include those advancing from the Penn, Rochester, and Warsaw sectionals.

Tipton’s Taylor Pierce (pole vault), Brooklin Shrock (100 dash), Jessica Sprinkles (800), and Carly Warner (discus); Kokomo’s Taylor Coram (300 hurdles);Northwestern’s Brooke Treadway (shot put); Eastern’s Arienna Ewing (100 hurdles); Taylor’s Cami Hansen (1,600) and Kokomo’s 1,600 relay all earned second-place finishes to advance to regional.

Kokomo’s Andrews (long jump), Northwestern’s Treadway (discus) and Kaylee Watson (400); Tipton’s Sprinkles (3,200 meters); Peru’s Jaelin Richardson (800) and Wood (100 hurdles); Tri-Central’s Erin Leonard (300 hurdles); Eastern’s Carly Jones (1,600) and the Comets’ 3,200 relay team all had third-place advancing finishes.