The Crawfordsville girls track and field team is saving their best for when it matters most. Tuesday the girls track and field post-season got underway for both North Montgomery and Crawfordsville as Harrison hosted the sectional.
The Chargers were unable to qualify anyone for the Regional but had good showings from Hailey Kunz in the pole vault with a sixth place finish of eight feet and Paige Yarger finished right behind in seventh with a height of seven feet, eight inches. Ella McManomy placed seventh in the long jump at 16ft two inches, while taking eighth in the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.68. Katelyn Woolwine placed seventh in the 1600 (5:53.84) and eighth in the 3200 (13:25.78). Lastly scoring for the Chargers was the 4x400 team of McManomy, Yarger, Mady Holt, and Taylor Hudson with a sixth place finish (4:32.31). As a team the Chargers placed eighth with 14 points.
For CHS they qualified seven total girls and placed fourth with a score of 54.50. Riley Gardner took second in the high jump with a height of five feet-three inches and Guinevere Schmitzer-Torbert placed third in the 300 hurdles with a 48.16. The 4x800 team of Caroline and Sophia Melevage, Skylah Strawser, and Katherine Novak placed third and once again shattered their school record that they set at conference. At the SAC meet they ran a 10:29.22 and Tuesday night they ran a 10:22.85. The last Athenian to qualify for the Regional was junior Naarah Byard who will compete in both the long jump and 100 meter dash. Byard took second in the 100 with a 12:74 while setting a school record in the long jump with a distance of 17ft 10 1/2 inches as Byard was named the sectional champion.
“Our 4x800 team is absolutely on fire right now,” Crawfordsville coach Amanda Elizondo said. “Back-to-back weeks of breaking a school record is crazy and I couldn’t be more proud of those girls. Naarah was able to get another school record and she was so excited to get it. She had a great night and Riley and Guin both did what they needed to do to advance too.”
All seven girls will now race at the Lafayette Jeff Regional which will feature some of the top runners in the state. The mindset for Elizondo and her seven girls is after these last two weeks, they can run with anyone.
“I told them that we can compete with the schools at that sectional and now afterwards I think they’re starting to believe it,” Elizondo added. “It’s a mindset that you have to have going in and after these last two weeks of a second place at conference and now a fourth place at the sectional and getting seven girls out, we’re planning on showing up to the Regional and continuing this run we’ve been on.”
Just like the sectional, the top three individuals in each event will qualify for the IHSAA State Finals which are held on the campus of Indiana University down in Bloomington on May 31.
Hoagland advances for Mustangs
Fountain Central’s Brailey Hoagland ran at the Benton Central sectional and qualified in both the 100 and 400 for FC. Hoagland placed third in the 100 with a time of 12:.95 and was the runner up in the 400 with a time of 1:02.16. Hoagland will join the seven Athenian girls at the Lafayette Jeff Regional.
