By Colin Altevogt
Track & Field Coordinator
BLOOMINGTON – On an evening where the top girls track & field teams were losing expected points left and right at Indiana University, two-time defending champion Warren Central weathered the storm best and took a 47-43 victory May 30 over top-ranked North Central (Indianapolis).
We gots video!!
Click here for Mike McGraw’s interview with Culver Academies’ 1600- and 3200-meter champion Alex Banfich!
Click here for Mike’s interview with multiple-threat Shelby Higginbottom of North Central (Farmersburg)!
Click here for Mike’s interview with high jump champion Ellie Tidman of Batesville!
The No. 2 Warriors – expected to finish third by both myself and colleague Brandon Jones – trailed by six points with two events remaining but notched 10 after senior sprinter Candyce McGrone won her third state title in the 200-meter dash. Warren dropped the baton in the final event, the 4×400 meter relay, but caught a break when North Central’s third-seeded squad failed to score.
(Click here for the complete girls state finals results!)
The Warriors got their usual contributions from McGrone, the Florida State-bound senior who won the 100 in :11.74 and the 200 in :24.18. She also ran the second leg on Warren’s second-place 4×100 meter relay.
Warren also got big contributions from thrower Monteka Flowers, who finished second in the discus and fourth in the shot put. Five big points from junior Qaniah Douglas in the 100-meter hurdles and long jump proved to be vital as well.
Although Warren Central only reaped scoring from three individuals and a relay, it was enough for the unexpected three-peat.
Defending state champions won nine of the 11 non-field events, with the remaining two having champions who graduated last year. Those repeat-winning events were McGrone (100 and 200), Park Tudor’s Hannah Farley (400), Culver Academies’ Alex Banfich (1600 and 3200), Batesville’s Ellie Tidman (high jump), Muncie Central’s Erynn Young (long jump), Lawrence North’s Felisha Johnson (shot put), and Bloomington North’s Rachel Deloney (discus).
Kathy Klump of South Dearborn took the lead from Southmont’s Creasy Clauser with 200 meters remaining in the 800 and won the event in 2:10.20, just missing the state meet record on a day that seemed to be too humid to produce spectacular times in the distance events. Tidman, meanwhile, just missed an attempt in the high jump for a state meet record.
Banfich’s victories in the 1600 and 3200 gave her eight total individual state championships, including cross country. That breaks the previous record of seven titles held by Brebeuf’s Courtney Adams and Kankakee Valley’s Celeste Susnis.
After winning cross country in the fall and both distance events in the spring this season and last, Banfich becomes the first two-time “Triple Crown” winner in state history. The Culver senior employed simple strategies of running away from the field in both her victories.
Banfich opened with a 70-second lap in the 1600 before clicking off three straight 75-second circuits to run virtually unchallenged throughout. After a brief tussle in the first half-mile of the 3200 from Wheeler freshman Christina Blair, Banfich pulled away and eventually won her primary event by 16 seconds over Westfield freshman Waverly Neer.
Pre-race favorite and defending champion Westfield won the 4×800 meter relay in 9:12.61. The well-balanced Shamrocks had a difference of only 1.1 seconds between their fastest and slowest legs. The quartet of Maggie Bingham, Breanne Ehrman, Kaitlyn Love, and Neer was comprised of Westfield’s top four runners from its state championship cross country squad.
Shelbyville senior Sarah Snapp won the 100 hurdles in :14.65 after pre-race favorite Chelsea Ross of Fort Wayne Wayne ran into the first barrier and stumbled. Snapp did double back, however, to place eighth in a 300 hurdles that Lawrence North’s Stacia Weatherford won by nearly a full second in :43.45.
Lawrence Central sophomore Margo Tucker won her first state title in the pole vault, clearing 12’6”.
Finally, Lawrence North’s 4×400 meter relay anchored by Weatherford took the last race in 3:52.33. A fast-charging Devin Gosberry was not enough to bring Munster from way back for the win as the Mustangs finished third.
Carroll’s Chelsea Blanchard, who finished second in the 1600 and fourth in the 3200, won the mental attitude award. She was second in the 3200 last season.
Processing your request, Please wait....
