King and Riehle impress at state finals

Milan senior Gabe Riehle, seen earlier this year inking a commitment to Marian University, placed a career-best 10th place in the IHSAA Boys Track and Field State Finals on Saturday. Riehle broke his own school record in the 800 run.

As if one Top 10 finish wasn’t impressive enough for the coverage area, a pair of Top 10 finishes sounds even better and that’s what the area got from Batesville’s Ella King and Milan’s Gabe Riehle at the IHSAA Track and Field State Finals this past weekend in Indianapolis.

North Central High School hosted both events with the girls competing on Friday and the boys following up on Saturday despite evening weather delays.

Having finished 15th in the shot put in her state finals debut in 2025, King dazzled and climbed up the standings in 2026 to place in the top five which allowed her to stand on the podium at the end of the night. Her throw of 44 feet not only broke her own school record but was also just a half-inch off of third place which was taken by Whiteland’s Keira Gunn. Ellyse Walden of Western High School was the state champion at 47 feet and 8.5 inches and Carly VonDielingen of Whiteland was runner-up with a distance of 44 feet and 9 inches.

King earned Batesville six points in the team standings with her podium finish.

As for Riehle, he was a 400 dash state finalist in 2025 but this spring saw him in the state finals as part of the 800 run which turned out to be a major success. He hit the track and finished 10th overall and broke his own school record with a time of 1:53.04 which was just three ticks under ninth place finisher Caelan D’Onoforio in 1:53.0.

Caleb Winders of Bloomington North just missed out on setting a state finals record in the 800. He won the title in a time of 1:49.36 which was over a second better than runner-up Jace Works of Columbus North.

Three other events at the state finals over the weekend featured coverage area participants. Oldenburg Academy’s Rachel Suttman threw 122 feet and three inches to place 15th in the discus and Batesville’s 3200 relay team of Bayleigh Demaree, Jayla Bedel, Caitlin Raver and Ava Wade was 27th in 9:46.04. Maycee Holtkamp of Batesville took part in the high jump but was unable to record a height.

Team championships were claimed by Carmel and Bloomington North. Carmel’s girls scored 49.5 points and North’s boys put together 39 points.