MUNCIE — A nearly two-hour lightning delay made for a late night at Delta High School, but the IHSAA girls track and field sectional was completed nonetheless.
Field events started on schedule at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, but a bout of thunderstorms forced a lightning delay just before the 4×800 kicked off the track events. Once the storms passed, the action finally restarted at 7 p.m., and the sectional champions didn’t hoist the trophy until after 10 p.m.
Other schools in the area were not so lucky Tuesday. Blue River Valley, Daleville, New Castle and Shenandoah were set to compete in Sectional 22 at Pendleton Heights, but the decision was made to postpone that meet until Wednesday. Meanwhile, Sectional 11 at Marion, which included Blackford, proceeded after a delay.
Here are the highlights from the Delta sectional, followed by all of the regional qualifiers from East Central Indiana.
Note: This story has been updated with Wednesday’s results.
Delta dominates en route to sectional title
Last season, Yorktown won the girls team title to snap a streak of three consecutive years in which Delta won on its home track. This year, the Eagles left no doubt in their return to the top, controlling the meet from the jump and finishing with a team score of 158, with Yorktown in second at 125.5.
“Our biggest goal is ‘Let’s get as many people qualified that should be qualified,'” Delta coach Mac Dye Conley said. “Go out, do our best for today, no matter what. Everybody’s dealing with the same thing, especially when we saw what the weather was supposed to be like, so let’s be the ones that adapt to it the best. I think they did a really good job of that.”
Conley commended the younger members of the Delta squad for immediately buying in to the expectations of the program and meeting those expectations with strong performances.
The biggest standouts were sophomores Reese Backus and Shiloh Bunch, as Backus won the long jump and was a regional qualifier in the 100-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles and 4×100, while Bunch won the 800-meter and 1,600-meter runs convincingly and helped the Eagles win the 4×400 as well. Freshmen Reese Stanley and Aurora Thorpe also stood out, with both of them running on the 4×400 team and Thorpe winning the 400-meter dash with a personal-best time.
“This is my first year of track at the high school, so I was really excited to just play a little bit of a part into the team score this year,” Bunch said. “I think that this year, we’ve just really tried to have fun, and I think that’s made a huge impact on our outcomes of every meet. Giving all of the glory to God is another thing that has given us a lot of strength in these past few meets, and I think that He’s the reason we won this meet today.”
Yorktown’s Caroline Wallace sprints into regional
Yorktown junior sprinter Caroline Wallace saved her best work for the postseason, and it paid off with a pair of personal record times in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Wallace was a sectional champion in both events with a time of 12.39 seconds in the 100 and 26.25 seconds in the 200.
“I felt really loose today and really positive,” Wallace said. “Honestly, with the rain delay, I think it helped me mentally prepare more. I really just focused on my team, being with the girls really just lifts me up every day. I just love being with them so much, and I think that helped me stay mentally grounded and calm and ready for my race.”
This season, Wallace has stepped up as a leader for the Tigers’ track team, especially with the 4×100 and 4×400 teams of which she is one of the more experienced members. While the 4×100 team missed out on the regional, the 4×400 team advanced with a second-place finish.
“All the girls are younger, and she’s been leading all of them,” Yorktown sprints coach Dan Whitehead said. “Even the 4×100 team, the 4×400, she’s leading. All things that she didn’t think she could do a few years ago, she does. Coach (Angie) Taylor, Coach (Christina) Kuzma, just to have a crew that is able to work with her, some of these ladies are special. We’ve been all-state before, and we’re just lucky from a smaller school to keep coming up with people like Caroline.”
Muncie Burris’ Sloane Sanchez making a name for herself
Muncie Burris sophomore Sloane Sanchez had a big day, becoming a regional qualifier in three different events — the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, and the 4×400. She started her day with a third-place finish in the 100 hurdles, then became Burris’ lone event winner with a first-place finish in the 300 hurdles. Finally, Sanchez ran third on the last event of the evening and helped the Owls 4×400 relay team finish in third.
“I’m just working hard, having a good mental attitude,” Sanchez said. “That’s one of the biggest parts of this sport that I feel like no one really talks about, just staying dedicated and staying focused.”
Sanchez’s dedication and focus has made a great impression on her coaches. The fact that it paid off in the form of three regional qualifications was no surprise to Owls hurdles coach Kyle Walton.
“Sloane’s always been a hard worker, from day one since I started coaching her,” Walton said. “She actually spent time training this summer to show us her dedication to how bad she wants this and how bad she wanted this year, and it just kind of proved itself tonight with how she ran. She’s always motivated, always works hard to get better, and is never satisfied with what she’s done already. That’s kind of the best thing and what makes her always improve, she’s just so locked in on what she wants.”
Wapahani’s Ava Cook cruises in distance events
Already a school record breaker and county champion in the 3,200-meter run, Wapahani junior Ava Cook added to her résumé by becoming a sectional champion in the event as well. It was one of the more dominant race victories of the evening, as Cook beat out second place by nearly 20 seconds. She also qualified for regional in the 1,600 with a third-place finish. Cook attributed her success to her mental preparation during the long delay.
“It was definitely a lot, but it was a lot of preparing myself mentally and getting ready for the race,” Cook said. “Not even just warming up, but putting myself in a mindset where I can win my race and be successful today. I was really super excited about both races, and it helps that I like both of them too.”
Cook drew praise from Raiders distance coach Austin Mullikin for her work ethic that has brought her to this point.
“It’s pretty incredible working with her,” Mullikan said. “Extremely hard worker, dedicated, disciplined, does all the right things, is very encouraging to her teammates. She’s a blessing to have on the team, an incredible athlete to work with.”
IHSAA girls track and field regional qualifiers from East Central Indiana
Sectional 12 at Delta
(Top three finishers in each event qualify for a regional. This section will be updated with results from Pendleton Heights once they are available.)
4×800
100-meter hurdles
100-meter dash
1,600-meter run
4×100 relay
400-meter dash
300-meter hurdles
800-meter run
200-meter dash
3,200-meter run
4×400 relay
Pole Vault
Discus
High Jump
Long Jump
Shot Put
Sectional 22 at Pendleton Heights
New Castle finished 1-2 in the pole vault, with senior Chole Nicols winning with a height of 10-6 feet and junior Janelle Byrket second at 9-6 feet. Shenandoah sophomore Natalie Armstrong also claimed a sectional title, winning shot put with a toss of 30-3.25 feet.
The only other East Central Indiana area automatic qualifier for regionals was Daleville junior Nichole Brown in the discus (95-4 feet). No area runners finished in the top 3 of their events. The meet was dominated by Lawrence North and Pendleton Heights, with the former winning with 134 team points and the hosts second at 132. The next closest team scored 56 points.
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Top performers from East Central Indiana at IHSAA girls track sectionals
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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