27 advance to track regional

Four schools in the coverage area combined to send 27 to the regional after last week’s IHSAA Track and Field Sectional at East Central.

The girls portion of the sectional was delayed by a day due to storms in the area but was able to be held on Wednesday and the boys sectional followed one night after. Top three individual finishers in each event automatically qualified for the regional.

Wednesday night’s girls team standings saw East Central win the sectional with 137 points, just barely fending off Batesville who made a run for the title but placed second at 133 points. Franklin County (79.25), Lawrenceburg (71.5) and Greensburg (56) rounded out the top five. Oldenburg Academy placed ninth out of 13 teams with 24 points, South Ripley was 11th at 14 points, Jac-Cen-Del 12th with two points and Milan sat at 13th with .25 points.

A total of 13 Lady Bulldogs are advancing to the regional with a group of four having racked up a sectional championship as Kaylie Raver, Bayleigh Demaree, Paige Allgeier and Megan Allgeier won the 3200 relay in a time of 9:52.60. The following are remaining regional qualifiers for Batesville.

Second Place – Addison Luers, 400 dash, 1:00.17; Kaylynn Bedel, 1600 run, 5:26.37; Bedel, 3200 run, 12:36.17; Raver, 800 run, 2:21.88; M. Allgeier, Demaree, Raver and Luers, 1600 relay, 4:13.18. Third Place – Katie Lipps, 100 dash, 13.15; Lipps, 200 dash, 26.79; Lexiyne Harris, 1600 run, 5:32.93; Harris, 3200 run, 12:36.17; M. Allgeier, 800 run, 2:22.31; Savannah Pohlman, Nora Wiedeman, Ella Moster and Lipps, 400 relay, 52.39; Samantha Adams, high jump, 4’8; Ella King, shot put, 38’6.

South Ripley’s Alexa Yeomans gave the green and white a sectional champion and is heading to regional after winning the 100 hurdles in a time of 15.17 seconds. In the 300 hurdles, Oldenburg’s Felicity Brelage placed third at 49.27 seconds.

East Central also ended up as sectional champions on the boys side, winning with 143 points. Batesville scored 97 points for second place, Lawrenceburg sat third with 87.33 points and it was Greensburg alongside South Dearborn rounding out the top five at 61 points and 58.33 points respectively.

Milan just missed the top five and was sixth place with 56 points and Oldenburg Academy came in ninth at 13 points. Jac-Cen-Del finished 12th with sixth points and South Ripley competed but did not total any scoring.

Although sixth, Milan led the coverage area with four sectional championships, led by the 3200 relay team of Gabe Riehle, Ethan Dehamer, Ayden Potts and Ben Riehle who won in a sectional record time of 7:54.44. Gabe Riehle went on to win the 800 run in 1:59.12, Ben Riehle just missed on a new record time in the 400 dash, winning in 49.50 seconds and Ayden Potts took first in the 1600 run in 4:34.74. That same 3200 relay squad is also advancing to the regional in the 1600 relay after finishing second at 3:26.82.

Batesville’s Ayden Eckstein tied a sectional record in the high jump and won the individual title in the event with a height of six feet and six inches. Hudson Kohlman joined him as a first place finisher, winning the pole vault at 13 feet. Eckstein would also finish runner-up in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet and 7.5 inches.

Deev Ranka, Griffin Koester, Jake Chapman and Cannon Clark ran second in the 3200 relay in a time of 8:05.84 with Chapman and Clark branching off to each finish third in the 3200 run (10:25.75) and the 800 run (2:01.40) respectively. Gage Pohlman advanced to the regional with a third place finish in the 300 hurdles at 41.65 seconds.
Oldenburg’s Adam Dennis is moving on to the next round as he placed second in the 1600 run in a time of 4:40.18.

The IHSAA Girls Track and Field Regional is tonight at Shelbyville beginning at 6 p.m. while the boys regional is Thursday at Greenfield-Central. Top three finishers in each event will receive an automatic bid to the IHSAA State Finals.