M-G's Sites fastest at Kokomo
May 14—MARION — Long considered a star on the rise at Madison-Grant, junior Aida Sites elevated her success during her first two years little by little.
Those results have risen by an order of magnitude in her third season as an Argyll.
The Madison County champion will return to the track-and-field regional after adding the 100-meter dash sectional title at Kokomo to her resume Tuesday.
After qualifying second in the preliminary heats, Sites used the weather conditions to her advantage and finished the 100 in 12.73 seconds, edging Makenna Brooks by .14 of a second for her first sectional championship.
"I'm pretty surprised. I was hoping for a top-three finish, but the rain helped," Sites said. "The other girls were letting it change their routine and hiding under tents. There was just me and one other girl doing our regular warm-ups."
She placed 10th as a freshman and ninth a year ago. This season, she won the county title in the 100 in similar conditions but improved her time by over .6 of a second.
"It's one of my better times," she said. "I'm happy with it, especially in the rain."
The Kokomo sectional was completed while many others were postponed until Wednesday.
Sites also advanced to regional after running the anchor leg of the 400 relay team that ran 52.69 seconds for a third-place finish. This is the same foursome that moved on last season, consisting of Sites, Laci Southerland, Ariahlynn Stanger and Abigail Brown.
"We were pretty locked in for the race," Sites said. "We were hoping to get back to regional and break the (school) record there again."
Southerland was also among the Argylls who placed in scoring position but did not advance. She was fifth in the 200 while Brooklynn Hodupp (87-foot-7) and Rebecca Brown (77-7) were sixth and eighth, respectively, in the discus throw. Hodupp was also eighth in the shot put while Sites closed out her night — along with Brown, Southerland and Ayla Caldwell — with a sixth-place finish in the 1,600 relay.
Madison-Grant placed eighth as a team with 28 points with Western claiming the overall title at 101 points.
The advancing Argylls will return to Kokomo for the regional May 21, and Sites will spend the next week trying to be just a little faster.
"I think one thing that's helped me (improve) is my block starts," Sites said. "I've improved those, but it's something I can still get better at."
Three Madison County schools — Alexandria, Elwood and Frankton — were also in action at Marion, and while none automatically advanced to the Fort Wayne Carroll regional, there were strong performances, including one that was just fast enough.
Frankton's Chelsea Newton was fourth—only the top three automatically qualify for regional—in the 1600, but her time of 5:39.50 was good enough to move on.
Elwood's Savannah Garcia, after qualifying ninth in the prelims, roared back to a fourth-place finish in the 100 hurdles, narrowly missing out on qualifying. Alexandria's Emmalynn Gullion was eighth in the event.
Alexandria freshman Riley Thomas had a strong first sectional, grabbing a sixth-place finish in the 100, fifth in the long jump and was sixth in the 200.
Frankton's Joslyn Karnes-Hatfield was ninth in the 100 before helping the 400 relay team — including Lowyn Coffey, Amaya Collins and Ann Curtis — to a seventh-place run. Evelyn Croy was sixth in the 400 and Coffey added an eighth-place finish in the long jump. Collins was also eighth in the 200.
Karnes-Hatfield, Coffey, Newton and Croy closed out the event with a seventh-place finish in the 1,600 relay.
Contact Rob Hunt at rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com or 765-640-4886.
