Girls track: Eberle, Elliott power Bloomington North to sectional title

Dede Eberle stumbled right out of the gate.

Then the other 98 meters went smoother than any other in Bloomington North history. It was the start of a huge day for the junior, who screamed with joy after reading her time of 14.39 in the 100 hurdles final at Tuesday's North girls' track sectional.

Meet record by .6. School record by .04. It was the first of three individual wins that helped the Cougars claim the team title. Eberle also won long jump (17-4), then anchored the 400 relay to a win and another school record (48.91).

"I fell out of the blocks for my final but I think I improved so much from last year," said Eberle, whose best as a sophomore was 16.06. "I just ran a 14.3 and it's very exciting to compete and be with the team."

The 300 hurdles was Eberle's "let's just get through this event." She won it, too, though not by much, holding off Edgewood's Sara Polito by .13 in 46.54.

Boys track: What to watch at Bloomington North Sectional

"I had like 10 minutes after I ran the 4-by-1 to go do the 300 hurdles," Eberle said. "That was really exhausting, but I pushed through."

Eberle is a former gymnast who decided to participate in indoor track this winter.

"Choosing to not do gymnastics this year was really hard for me," Eberle said. "I've been think about it the whole year, since the end of (last) track season. I just felt like if I was able to compete during the winter then I would be so much better.

"I might do gymnastics next year. I'm keeping my options open."

All-Area Girls Basketball: Who is the 2022-23 H-T Girls Player of the Year?

Toss in another four-star athlete for North in Sarah Elliott. The wonder from Down Under set PR's of 12.61 and 26.00 to win the 100 and 200, took care of the backstretch for the 400 relay and then anchored the 1,600 relay, pulling North from second to first and a win in 4:02.19.

Just call them Bloomington North's Killer 'E's'.

"That's a lot on a short turnaround to do that many events with the prelims," North coach Justin Helmer said. "With Sarah, she's just so strong. Powerful sprinter. On the 4-by-4, when I knew we were in a little bit of a hole, 'Ha, we're going to win this.' Just knowing Sarah's on the end of that, the competitor that she is, even being tired after the big day that she had.

"Dede, extremely impressive. Then the two of them on the 4-by-1, exchanges were pretty good and first time under 49 in school history. Excellent meet by the two of them."

North four-peats

Their efforts helped the Cougars pounce on a fourth straight sectional title and every ounce of effort was needed to get the job done. North finished with 168 points while South had 158½. Edgewood ended up with 116 points for third, its highest total since 118 in a runner-up finish in 1999.

Martinsville was fifth (33), Eastern Greene sixth (30½), Owen Valley was seventh (15) and Lighthouse Christian tied for ninth (9).

With the top three in each event automatically qualifying and four scratches by Edgewood pulling others in, North will send eight individuals in 13 events and all three relays while South has eight individuals in 11 events and three relays. Edgewood still has five individuals and two relays moving on while Martinsville and OV have a relay and Eastern one individual for sure.

More: Bloomington's track teams show big numbers can pay off when seconds count

Call-ups, the next four best results in each event out of the four sectionals that feed into the North Regional, will fill out the field.

Among North's regional contingent are Nola Somers Glenn, who broke her school record in the 800, pulling away on the second lap for a 2:12.49 and the win.

Cora Deemer went 2-3 in the 100 and 200, Cara Sanders (discus), Kiera Feagans (400) and Kenli Sullivan (high jump) are also moving on as is the 3,200 relay. Hope Taylor (10-4 PR) and Janel Solie (9-6) went 1-2 in pole vault.

Myers changes her mind

South senior Lily Myers thought she had her roadmap to state all set.

One of the state's best in the 3,200 last year, she decided to trade in that event for a pair of 800s, one with the 3,200 relay when her 2:11.93 split helped the Panthers smash the school record last week. Making a run to state with that group was too good to pass up.

Everything worked out as the 3,200 relay still won without her in 9:35.41, Myers broke the meet record that dated clear back to 1984 and her own school record in the 1,600 with a 4:54.71 with no one pressuring her over the last 500 meters. She took second in the 800 in 2:14.21, just .19 off the South record, and helped the 1,600 relay take second.

"I was just having trouble taking a more individual route when we could go medal pretty high up at state as a team," Myers said. "So that's when we flipped and went 4-by-8, 16, 8, 4-by-4.

"It was definitely tough today, something I need to get used to. The time between the 16 and the 8 was a little shocking. But now I know what to expect next week and what I need to change."

South piles up points

The Panthers had two other sectional champions as freshmen Violet Hall took high jump at 5-1 and Ellie Barada cruised to the 400 title in 57.68.

The regional crew also includes Helena Cutshall in the 100, long jump and 400 relay; Millie Williams in the 1,600 and 3,200 relays, who hopes her 2:22.93 in the 800 for fourth by a mere .45 gets her a callup; Molli Lucas in shot put after a PR (37-7½); Jasmine Martoglio, second in the 3,200 (11:04.15), Eden Bailey in the 200 and Adriene Shaevitz in the 100 hurdles, who was pulled up after a scratch.

"I think we're going to get a bunch of call-backs," South coach Jill Rensink said. "I'm hoping it's our biggest group at regionals in the last few years. The kids did great tonight. All three relays ran extremely well today. Long jumpers went 3-4. They did everything we asked them to do.

"To be less than 10 points back from North, I'm excited. They have a super strong team and I told coach Helmer that's motivating that we're chasing them."

North's Lucas getting locked in

The numbers posted by North junior Hadley Lucas in the throws were historic as usual for the defending state champ.

Lucas started off by breaking her own meet record from 2022 in the discus with a 166-2, a foot off her best but farther than last year's 163-8. She then fired off a 50-0 in the shot put on her next-to-last throw, leaving Stacy Martin's 1999 mark intact by 6 inches.

"We're doing a lot of technical changes," Lucas said. "At this point in my throwing career it's just little tweaks. Lots and lots of little tweaks. And so it's been especially frustrating so far. But coach (Sara Hamidovic) has been great. She's helping me through it and I think we're getting there.

"I think I'm going to have some big throws coming soon."

Both efforts were the best posted in the state Tuesday. Lucas and Hamidovic are watching a lot of video, trying to match her form with some of the world's best.

"I think I'm particularly hard on myself, which doesn't help anything," Lucas said. "I'm a perfectionist. Once you throw so far, you just expect to at least to do that and when you try a new technique, there's obviously going to be struggling and I don't like to not be good at things. You have to be patient and I'm not that patient."

Edgewood lightens the load

In all, Edgewood earned nine individual spots to go with its 400 and 1,600 relay making it out, but head coach Zach Evans had a full scratch card to turn in after the meet to narrow his athletes' focus at regional.

"The goal is to get people to the state meet so that's why we're scratching people out of some of their events," Evans said. "We don't want a repeat of last year where we had four or five girls (relays) finish fourth. So making sure they're fresh as possible."

Clara Crain nearly broke the school record in the 1,600 with a PR of 4:58.83 while Hannah Crain was fourth at 5:17.49, but both will scratch out and focus on the 3,200, where Clara won in a meet record 10:49.11 (just .32 faster than older sister Annalyssa ran in 2021) and Hannah was fifth (11:12.62).

"Running extremely well right now," Evans said of Clara. "Which is great to see after a couple of years of having a hard time."

Emma Edwards was second in the high jump, but will let that event go to just run the 400 and the 1,600 relay, which was third in 4:09.65, but well off the 4:04 they ran at the WIC meet with Piper Stephens, who also plays softball and had a conference game on Tuesday.

"Both of those relays have some more time to gain," Evans said.

Sara Polito was third in the 100 hurdles and second in the 300s (46.67) but will just do the 300s at regional, along with her 1,600 relay duty.

Edgewood also saw Ella Hayden take second in the long jump and Harlie Robbins was third in pole vault (9-0) while Ashley Abram struggled (8-6) to fifth and hopes for a second chance at regional.

Other regional qualifiers

Martinsville's freshman Laura Barco had a strong finish to take third in the 3,200 (11:07.64) while Maddie Moscrip was third in the 300 hurdles (49.59).

Owen Valley's 3,200 relay broke the school record from 2005 by six seconds in 10:29.91 to get out by taking third while cutting 25 seconds off their season best. Eastern ended up fourth with a school record of its own in 10:40.58.

The T-Birds' only qualifier is Lilyanna Blais in the 1,600 due to Edgewood's scratch outs. The sophomore was fifth at 5:26.77.

BLOOMINGTON NORTH SECTIONAL

Team scores — 1. Bloomington North 168; 2. Bloomington South 158½; 3. Edgewood 116; 4. Linton-Stockton 65½; 5. Martinsville 116; 6. Eastern Greene 30½; 7. Owen Valley 15; 8. Shakamak 12½; 9. Lighthouse Christian 9; Brown County 9; 11. Bloomfield 5; 12. White River Valley 1.

Individual results

Top 3 automatically qualify for regional

100: 1. Sarah Elliott, BN, 12.61; 2. Cora Deemer, BN, 12.80; 3. Helena Cutshall, BS, 13.06; 4. Violet Hall, BS, 13.07; 5. McKenzie Allen, L, 13.24; 6. Keylee Hudson, EG, 13.71; 7. Macey Crider, Edg, 13.80; 8. Layla Wolff, M, 13.88.

200: 1. Elliott, BN, 26.00; 2. Eden Bailey, BS, 26.26; 3. Deemer, BN, 26.61; 4. Madeline Esslinger, LCA, 27.31; 5. Emily Fluke, M, 28.08; 6. Carlie Pedersen, BS, 28.37; 7. K.Hudson, EG, 29.03; 8. Crider, Edg, 29.10.

400: 1. Ellie Barada, BS, 57.68; 2. Emma Edwards, Edg, 1:01.80; 3. Kiera Feagans, BN, 1:04.03; 4. Kinley Carmichael, L, 1:04.36; 5. Avery Rayl, Edg, 1:04.45; 6. Jessie May, BS, 1:05.48; 7. Alex Mast, BN, 1:05.63.

800: 1. Nola Somers Glenn, BN, 2:12.49 (school record; old record, 2:13.97, 2022 state); 2. Lily Myers, BS, 2:14.21; 3. Elayni Stone, Shk, 2:22.48; 4. Millie Williams, BS, 2:22.93; 5. Hadley Gradolf, BC, 2:26.55; 6. Ellie Patrick, BN, 2:27.44; 7. Ellie Vagedas, Edg, 2:32.96; 8. Riley Haskett, Edg, 2:33.01.

1,600: 1. Myers, BS, 4:54.71 (meet record; old record, 4:59.60, Stephanie Bassett, North, 1984)(school record; old record, Myers, 4:55.19, 2023); 2. Clara Clain, Edg, 4:58.83; 3. Peyton Smith, L, 5:14.06; 4. Hannah Crain, Edg, 5:17.49; 5. Lilyanna Blais, EG, 5:26.77; 6. Kate Barada, BS, 5:28.22; 8. Esther Crane, EG, 5:40.88.

3,200: 1. C.Crain, Edg, 10:49.11 (meet record; old record, 10:49.43, Annalyssa Crain, Edgewood, 2021); 2. Jasmine Martolgio, BS, 11:04.15; 3. Laura Barco, M, 11:07.64; 4. Smith, L, 11:11.75; 5. H.Crain, Edg,11:12.62; 6. Aurelia Martoglio, BS, 11:38.31; 7. Crane, EG, 12:08.37; 8. Ruth Bartlett, BN, 12:55.58.

100 hurdles: 1. Dede Eberle, BN, 14.39 (meet record; old record, 14.99, Nyagon Duany, Bloomington North, 2015)(school record; old record, 14.43, Gracie Heeb, 2016); 2. Audrianna Hale, L, 15.45; 3. Sara Polito, Edg, 16.04; 4. Adriene Shaevitz, BS, 16.28; 5. Zoie Ault, EG, 16.87; 6. Annalise Coyne, BS, 17.52; 7. Onika Rutledge, BN, 18.28.

300 hurdles: 1. Eberle, BN, 46.54; 2. Polito, Edg, 46.67; 3. Maddie Moscrip, M, 49.59; 4. Addison Goerges, Edg, 50.02; 5. Coyne, BS, 50.59; 6. Izzy Sweet, BS, 51.42; 7. Ault, EG, 52.77; 8. Clara Hawk, EG, 54.89.

High jump: 1. Hall, BS, 5-1; 2. Edwards, HJ, 5-0; 3. Hale, L, 5-0; 4. Kenli Sullivan, BN, 5-0; 5. Sydney Jerrells, L, 4-10; 6. Reese Davis, M, 4-10; 7. Kena Maddox, EG, 4-10; 8. Teagan West, BS, 4-8.

Long jump: 1. Eberle, BN, 17-4¼; 2. Ella Hayden, Edg, 16-9½; 3. Cutshall, BS, 16-4½; 4. Shaevitz, BS, 16-4½; 5. Hale, L, 16-4½; 6. Stone, Shk, 15-7¾; 7. Emily Fluke, M, 15-5¾; 8. Jade Johnson, M ,15-5½.

Shot put: 1. Hadley Lucas, BN, 50-0; 2. Becca Robbins, L, 39-8; 3. Molli Lucas, BS, 37-7½; 4. Anna Barnes, BS, 34-8; 5. Shayli Walker, Edg, 34-5¼; 6. Cara Sanders, BN, 33-10; 7. Liberty Clarner, Edg, 32-8; 8. Nova Mobley, OV, 32-4.

Discus: 1. H.Lucas, BN, 166-2 (meet record; old record, 163-8, Lucas, 2022); 2. Robbins, L, 134-8; 3. Sanders, BN, 113-6; 4. Barnes, BS, 111-9; 5. Delaney Richardson, Blmf, 98-6; 6. Walker, Edg, 96-0; 8. Clarner, Edg, 91-1.

Pole vault: 1. Hope Taylor, BN, 10-4; 2, Janel Jolie, BN, 9-6; 3. Harlie Robbins, Edg, 9-0; 4. Kiara Erickson, BS, 8-6; 5. Ashley Abram, Edg, 8-6; 6. Audrey Freeman-Day, BS, 8-6.

400 relay: 1. Bloomington North (Daisy Rogers, Elliott, Deemer, Eberle), 48.91 (school record; old record, 49.12, 2023); 2. Bloomington South (Mackenzie Freeman, Cutshall, Bailey, Hall), 50.71; 3. Edgewood (Crider, Abram, Goerges, Hayden), 51.50; 4. Martinsville (Moscrip, Wolff, Johnson, Fluke), 52.33; 5. Owen Valley (Kaylee Deckard, Kyra Newby, Rann McMillan, Kat Robinson), 53.60; 6. Lighthouse Christian (Charlotte Wiser, Lizzie Billingsley, Ava Fritz, Esslinger), 54.05; 7. Eastern Greene (Hawk, K.Hudson, Mallory Shelton, Ault), 54.25.

1,600 relay: 1. Bloomington North (Somers Glenn, Deemer, Feagans, Elliott), 4:02.19 (meet record; old record, 4:02.24, North, 2013); 2. Bloomington South (E.Barada, Myers, Bailey, Williams), 4:02.44; 3. Edgewood (Edwards, Hayden, Rayl, Polito), 4:09.65; 4. Linton, 4:23.17; 5. Owen Valley (Deckard, Alison Anderson, Mallory Owen, Lily Smith), 4:28.07; 6. Martinsville (Wolff, Cassy Berry, Moscrip, Kaitlyn Spurgeon), 4:29.15; 7. Eastern Greene (Hawk, Ashley Hudson, K.Hudson, Blais), 4:40.72; 8. Lighthouse Christian (Lily Stephenson, Billingsley, Fritz, Esslinger), 4:46.81.

3,200 relay: 1. Bloomington South (E.Barada, J.Martolglio, A.Martoglio, Williams), 9:35.41; 2. Bloomington North (Emma McDevitt, Lilah Reed, Somers Glenn, Patrick), 10:17.17; 3. Owen Valley (Owen, Bailey Kay, Anderson, Smith), 10:29.91 (school record; old record, 10:35, 2005); 4. Eastern Greene (A.Hudson, Richardson, Crane, Blais), 10:40.58 (school record; old record, 10:43.24); 5. Edgewood (Ellie Vagedas, Rayl, Nayeli Young, Haskett), 10:50.83; 7. Martinsville (Ainsley Lowder, Cora Chaplin, Michaela Mathews, Kaylee Willard), 12:09.73.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Girls track: Eberle, Elliott power Bloomington North to sectional title