Pike's Lynna Irby rules track, Lawrence Central takes the field

BLOOMINGTON – Pike's Lynna Irby won the triple. Lawrence Central's trio won the team trophy.

That was the outcome of the 41st girls state track and field meet Friday on a night that featured Irby's historic feat.

Lawrence Central scored 47 points, all by three athletes in four field events. Pike finished second with 38 and Warren Central third with 35.

Thirty of the Red Devils' points were by Irby, who became the first freshman to sweep the 100, 200 and 400 meters since Olympic gold medalist Maicel Malone of North Central did so in 1984. It was the first 100/200/400 sweep in Indiana since Lawrence Central's Arlaina Davis in 1997.

Malone was 11-of-12 in state finals, and Pike coach DeDee Nathan wanted to give Irby a chance to be the first to complete a quadruple triple.

"That's what it's really about. It's about making history," Nathan said.

Irby is. Consider that she has lost one race at any distance since 2012, and that was by two-thousandths of a second in a 100 at last July's national Junior Olympics.

Because Pike could not win the team championship, Irby was scratched from the closing 1,600-meter relay. She had done enough.

She conceded she was nervous before each of her five races (including preliminaries), something that coaches say is normal for her.

"I've been nervous since yesterday," Irby said.

The 15-year-old has won 17 national age-group championships but had never had to race so often on a single day. She cruised through heats of the 100 and 200 meters in 12.05 and 24.69 seconds, respectively, then really went to work:

>> Despite a poor start, she blasted through the 100 in 11.61, less than one-10th of a second off the state meet record of 11.52 set by Malone in 1986. Irby broke Malone's state freshman record of 11.64, bettered her personal best of 11.74 and climbed to No. 4 on the all-time state list. Irby's 11.61 is also the fastest wind-legal time by a freshman in the nation this year, according to dyestat.com.

"She ran in place for three or four steps at the start. And then she just took off," Nathan said.

>> Irby ran the 400 in 54.38, close to the 54.16 she ran at the 2013 Junior Olympics. She was .05 off the freshman state record set by Fort Wayne Northrop's Shauntel Elcock in 2002, and she is fourth nationally among freshmen.

Irby said her summer goal is the 53s. She could do that back at Indiana University's track in three weeks during USA Track & Field's youth nationals.

>> The 200 was going to be Irby's biggest challenge, coming less than an hour after the 400. She felt a cramp walking toward the starting line but used a trick taught by Nathan — flapping her lips — to rid herself of it.

Irby clocked 24.07, close to her best of 23.77 and Malone's freshman state record of 23.96. That is seventh nationally among freshmen.

With no points on the track, Lawrence Central had to wait to see if Pike or any other team could overtake it. None did.

It was a redemptive title for the Bears, who were ranked No. 1 in 2012 before losing to Pike and finished second last year behind Fort Wayne Northrop.

"Just looking at the scoreboard and thinking, 'Is there another team who can edge us out?'" junior Kayla Smith said. "We had faith. We all did what we needed to do to get as many points as we could."

Smith scored 15 with a victory in the pole vault — she become the state's seventh 13-footer and third from Lawrence Central — and a fifth in the high jump. Seniors Adrianna Brown and Demara Compton finished 1-3 in the discus and 2-3 in the shot put for 18 and 14 points, respectively.

It was especially gratifying for Compton, where the state meet had been a "house of horrors," according to coach Tim Richey. It was almost that for Brown, a defending champion who fouled her first two discus throws. One more foul, and Brown would have come away with zero.

"I prayed, 'God help me out,' got after it the last throw. And got it, got one in," said Brown, whose winning throw was 160 feet, 2 inches.

It was Lawrence Central's third girls track championship, following those in 1996 and 2010. Only two schools — Northrop (10) and Fort Wayne South Side (four) — have more.

Call Star reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195.