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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Kennedy Jackson throws the discus and the shot put. She also threw us for a loop when she transferred from Rochester to Culver for her senior year last summer.
But seeing the senior in the ring this spring, her skill stood out even though she was wearing a new uniform.
And for the second straight year, Jackson is our RTC Girls Track Athlete of the Year.
A Grand Valley State signee, Jackson won the Hoosier North title in the discus but once again made her mark – literally – during the state tournament series in the shot put, where she qualified for state again after finishing third at the Goshen regional with a throw of 40-2.
Showing off her glide step form, that throw was a personal best, and she also placed fifth in the discus at the regional.
Her consistent excellence stood out again.
Here is the remainder of our all-RTC girls track team.
We emphasize performance in the larger weekend meets over the weekday dual meets, and we place special emphasis on the conference and postseason meets.
We thank our area coaches for filling us in with statistics and results, but ultimately, these selections are ours and ours alone, and we take full responsibility for this list.
Sprinters (100 m-400 m)
Paula Collado Fernandez (Pioneer) – This area has not been historically known for top girls 400 meter runners, but the Spanish import changed that perspective when she finished second at the sectional and then broke the one-minute mark (59.87 seconds) at the regional. She also anchors Pioneer’s terrific 4 x 400 relay team.
Audrey Wagner (Rochester) – One can see Wagner, a sophomore, continuing to run with more confidence, and she finished sixth in the sectional in both the 200 and 400. She is now consistently under 28 seconds in the 200 and under 1:05 in the 400.
Rachel Harding (Pioneer) – The one runner to beat Collado Fernandez in the 100 at the Hoosier North meet was her sophomore teammate Harding, and she is the one area runner who has a 100 time under 13 seconds. She was also second in the conference in the high jump.
Distance runners (800 m-3,200 m)
Chesnee Miller (Tippecanoe Valley) – We could have easily placed the versatile Miller in the sprinter category as she also was a regional qualifier in the 400, but for us, her iconic performance was her win in the 800 at the Three Rivers Conference meet at Wabash, where she ran a 2:28.9 not too long after running the 400.
Zoe Seward (Rochester) – The lone area Division I athlete is Seward, a Southern Indiana signee who could get under 5:50 in the 1,600 and who cut her 3,200 time from 12:34 at conference to 12:17 at sectional to 11:55 at regional.
Araceli Ochoa (Rochester) – Ochoa, a senior, broke 2:45 in the 800 and six minutes in the 1,600. She was always scoring points in big meets against good competition.
Hurdlers
Betty Shepherd (Tippecanoe Valley) – The Betty Shepherd revolution arrived quickly as the freshman won the 300 hurdles at the TRC meet and advanced to the regional in that event. She ran a 49.68 at sectionals, and it’s been awhile since we’ve had an area runner under 50 seconds. Then she got down to 48.19 at the regional. Shepherd embraces a very tough event that scares off a lot of potential runners.
Aspen Moolenaar (Pioneer) – The springy freshman is already under 17.5 in the 100 hurdles, and she came a whisker away of winning the Hoosier North title. Then she qualified for regional. She’s also a nine-foot pole vaulter who won the conference title, and she is also a sub-53 second runner in the 300 hurdles.
Blair Grigsby (Pioneer) – We wanted to reward Grigsby, a junior, for her versatility, so we will put her in this category even though we know she is also a very good 400-meter runner and the conference champion long jumper. She was sixth in the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles at the conference meet.
Jumpers/pole vaulters
Keirsten Nies (Pioneer) – Anybody who has seen Nies play volleyball knows that she can scrape the ceiling with her vertical, and the sophomore won the conference title in the high jump at 4-11. Then she cleared 5-2 at the sectional to qualify for regional, where she eventually finished seventh. Of the six who finished ahead of her, three were seniors. She has the potential to make it to Bloomington some day.
Michelle Harding (Pioneer) – Harding, a sophomore, stunned with her sectional win in the long jump with a leap of 16-8. Pioneer has extraordinary jumping depth with the Harding sisters, Nies and Grigsby.
Macie Nelson (Rochester) – In a year where things seemed doomed because of damage to the pole vault pit, Nelson got better and qualified for regional and cleared 9-0.
Throwers
Kennedy Jackson (Culver) – Jackson broke the Culver school record with her throw of 40-2, beating her current coach Mickella Hardy Stevens. She eventually finished 15th at state. She also got better in the discus, reaching the 113-foot mark.
Ashlynn Weyant (Rochester) – The Lady Z freshman came on at the end of the year. She has thrown the shot over 30 feet and the discus over 75. We think she has regional potential in the shot put.
Melody Hisey (Rochester) – Hisey was the other area thrower who consistently went over 30 feet in the shot put.
Honorable mention
Tayler Shafer (Caston)
Makenna Strycker (Pioneer)
Chloe Chan (Pioneer)
Kaitie Hutsell (Caston)
Breana Amezquita (Caston)
Kelsey Cox (Tippecanoe Valley)
Allyson Calloway (Rochester)
Ali Paul (Caston)
Kasey Gray (Rochester)
Giselle Villegas (Culver)
Ava Smith (Tippecanoe Valley)
Kendyll Bradley (Rochester)
Opmerkingen