GIRLS TRACK: Jackson qualifies for 4th straight state finals
May 23—SHELBYVILLE — Just one step away from her fourth straight state finals appearance, Greensburg's Emarie Jackson stamped her ticket to Bloomington by winning the regional title in the discus and shot put at the Shelbyville Regional Tuesday.
Jackson broke the regional record in both the shot put (48-8) and the discus (149-9). Jackson set a meet record in every event in which she participated this season.
Fellow Lady Pirate Olivia Grimes placed fifth with a state standard distance of 128-3 to also advance to the state finals in the discus.
"It was a special night for our throwers. After Livy threw the state standard and automatically earned her advancement to the state meet the celebration was awesome! Emarie and Livy have trained together and pushed each other every day in practice for three years now and if I had to guess, one of Emarie's favorite moments of the night was when Livy threw that standard. It meant that Emarie would get to have a teammate and more importantly, a friend for life, join her at the state finals," Greensburg Coach Josh Hawkins said.
"As coaches, we were happy to see their hard work and determination pay off. It wasn't necessarily either girls' best night, but it was good enough to get the job done and hopefully they'll both have their best night's next Friday down in Bloomington at the state finals," Coach Hawkins added.
Batesville also had advanced athletes in two events. The 4x800 relay team of Kaylie Raver, Bayleigh Demaree, Kaylynn Bedel and Megan Allgeier placed third in a season best 9:37.26 to qualify for the state finals.
Batesville freshman Ella King took fourth in the shot put with a school record distance of 39-5.75, earning her advancement to the state finals.
Also placing in the Top 8 for Batesville was Addison Luers fifth in the 400 and Kaylynn Bedel eighth in the 1600.
North Decatur's Ella Kunz placed seventh in the shot put with a distance of 37-8. Madi Allen took eighth in the 300 hurdles in 48.24.
The state finals will be held May 31 at Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex on the campus of Indiana University at Bloomington.
Contact Aaron Kirchoff at aaron.kirchoff@greensburgdailynews.com.
