Girls State Meet Recap

For the past four years we all knew who would win the sprint events at the girls state meet, Lynna Irby. But now that she has graduated and moved on to being a star on the college scene, it was time to figure out who would be the new stars. Three girls were ready to take over that top podium spot this year.

Semira Killebrew played a big role in Brebeuf snagging the runner-up trophy, placing 1^st in the 100 in smooth 11.55. Giving herself a new PR along with a new state leading time as well. Tionna Brown (Kokomo) finished .2 of a second behind in 11.75.

Brown got her redemption in the 200, coming in 1^st with a 23.86, becoming the first girl in Indiana to go sub-24 this year so far. Camille Christopher (HSE) snagged 2^nd in 24.19. Mikeisha Covington 3^rd 24.24 and Killebrew 4^th in 24.26. Many had counted Brown out before the meet, believing this was Killebrew's year to get the 100 and 200 titles, but she has been ill the whole week and almost did not get the opportunity to race on Friday.

Speaking of Covington, she seems to lower her 400 time with every race. Friday, she pulled out a 54.74 to win by over a second to Iyanla Hunter (Perry Meridian).

In an upset no one could have easily predicted, Destiny Washington walked away with the W in the 100 hurdles, out leaning Nakita Turner-Lee in the finals by .05 of a second. In the process she was able to also get herself a new state record of 13.93 to end her senior year.

Bishop Chatard Junior, Beth Barnes came to battle and wasn't going to leave without some hardware around her neck. In 43.76 she was able to beat Lawrence Central senior De'aira Robertson in the 300m Hurdles.

The biggest shocks of the night started to show up in the distance events. First in the 1600, the heavy favorite coming in was the defending champ, Emma Wilson. The race didn't exactly go as Wilson is used to. Early on she got boxed in and had to slow down to find a gap and surge just to get to the outside again. Still it wasn't enough and a little late to be able to gap the field. Phoebe Bates had started to control the race and pull ahead slightly. She was able to score those 10 points for Carmel, finishing in 4:51.79, leading 5 other girls with her to a sub-5 min race.

Two newbies to the high school track scene, Abby Lynch and Elizabeth Stanhope, were expected to battle it out in the 800 and possibly get towards that state record time of 2:07. The race turned into who had the better closing speed. Crown Point sophomore, Maddie Russin was able to find one extra gear to surge past both girls and grab her first state title in 2:12.35, .05 ahead of Stanhope and just about a second ahead of Lynch.

Wilson look more like the typical Wilson we're accustomed to seeing come the 3200. She used the method that works very well for her, taking it out strong and continuing to widen the gap as much as she can. She managed to pull off a comfortable 10:27.83 to win by 12 seconds. The real race came for who would get 2^nd? Bates was a good guess going in. She was able to hang with the front pack the whole time, but a name we're used to seeing, Tyler Schwartz decided to see if she could chase down Wilson and gapped the pack a little bit was quickly caught by the Carroll duo of Hathaway and Green. Hathaway was able to pull off a big race and get around Schwartz to grab 2^nd in 10:39.24. Schwartz 3^rd , Green 4^th and Bates 5^th.

Out of lane 9 in the 3^rd heat of he 4x100, Brebeuf fixed there handoff problems from regionals to get a nice little 1^st place in 46.87, topping HSE who finished in 47.25.

The thought coming into the 4x800 relay in everyone's mind, Brownsburg should win this.  In unexpected fashion, Abby Lynch had to find a way to bring the bulldogs back up towards the front with just two laps to do so, they were in about 5^th when she got the baton. She was able to do some big work and pull them up to a 2^nd place finish just behind the West Lafayette ladies who won in a time of 9:11.21

By the time the 4x400 rolled around, the team race had already been decided but HSE decided to see if they could add 10 more points to the score really quick. And they surely delivered on that goal, coming in first in 3:51.10, with Perry Meridian and Lawrence North each finish just milliseconds after respectively.

Shelby Tyler earned her 2nd state title in the high jump.

Two seniors dominated the throwing competitions. Sade Hill of Perry Meridian tossed 143' 5" to earn a state title before graduation. Alicia Tiney-Williams of FW Northrop came into the shot put competition fresh and ready to rumble. She was undefeated coming into the meet, and she planned to keep it that way. The senior tossed on up to 45' .5" to give her the winning throw and earning her first state title as well in her final season.

Hearing the shouts of excitement from across the complex as on long jumper took her final jump of the afternoon, had to run over to see what had just happened. Prommyse Hoosier (Warren Central) had just jumped 20' 1.25" to secure herself a state title before heading over to help her team in some relays. The Junior had recently come back from a torn ACL just a few months ago as well.

Apparently, the class of 2019 and jumping go hand in hand as Noblesville's Shelby Tyler was able to repeat as the high jump champ, clearing 5' 11". Fellow HCC competitor Katie Isenbarger came up a little short, not earning herself a state title despite being the current US leader. Both girls did attempt 6ft, but were unable to clear.

The class of 2019 continued to dominate in the pole vault, where HSE's Kennedy Drish cleared 12'6" to earn her 2^nd state title. She has plans to go back to New Balance Nationals in a few weeks and contend for a national title and hopefully clear a 13ft bar.