Local trio is state finals bound
Alexa Yeomans, Ella King and Rachel Suttman have unquestionably been the coverage area’s top contenders to make it to a girls state finals this spring and the South Ripley senior, Batesville sophomore and Oldenburg Academy junior proved such a prediction to be true on Tuesday night, qualifying at the IHSAA Girls Track and Field Regional.
Three coverage area schools were represented in regional action on Tuesday. Top three finishers in each event advance to the state finals while remaining participants currently await word on an at-large bid.
For Yeomans, it was a near miss on a regional championship on Tuesday at Bloomington North High School. She was just .10 seconds out of first place and finished runner-up in the 100 hurdles, running in a school record time of 14.72 seconds. That was good enough to give South Ripley eight points and allow the school to finish 20th among 31 scoring teams at the regional.
This is the second-straight year that Yeomans has been a state finalist but this spring marks her first appearance in the biggest meet of the year. 2024 saw the Lady Raider forced to miss out on the state finals as she was overseas on a school-affiliated trip. She enters next week as one of the state’s top hurdlers and currently posts on Top 10 statewide time.
Bloomington South took the team regional title, scoring 122 points.
Away from Bloomington on Tuesday, both Batesville and Oldenburg competed at the regional hosted by Lawrence Central High School and the Lady Bulldogs are currently awaiting word on an at-large state finals bid in two events in addition to a memorable night for King who punched her ticket to the state finals with an individual regional championship.
King, who is making her second state finals appearance, won the shot put with a throw of 41 feet and five inches after finishing fourth and advancing with an at-large bid a year ago. That was nearly two feet better than Rushville runner-up Jenna Lawler at 39 feet and 11 inches.
Addison Luers ran fourth in the 400 dash in a time of 1:00.06 and the quartet of Bayleigh Demaree, Jayla Bedel, Paige Allgeier and Kaylynn Bedel ran fifth in the 3200 relay at 9:39.82. Both could potentially find themselves into the mix.
Demaree also ran eighth in the 800 run in 2:23.37 and Jayla Bedel was eighth in the 1600 run after finishing in a time of 5:23.01. Sarah Bedel put up a 10th place spot in the discus after a throw of 102 feet and three inches. Other Batesville finishers included Maycee Holtkamp in the high jump at five feet and the team of Abby Miller, Maggie Jelinek, Demaree and Luers in the 1600 relay in 4:10.79.
This is the first state finals appearance for Suttman who was 10th in the regional a year ago. Obviously some major improvements have propelled her to the next level.
In the discus on Tuesday, Suttman threw 117 feet and seven inches, over three feet better than runner-up Sarah Jane Hobley of North Central. She had two throws of over 117 feet and was never challenged after the opening round of tosses.
Oldenburg’s other two regional qualifiers were Bridgette Ehrhard and Belle Young. Ehrhard was 13th in the 800 run in a time of 2:27.03 and Young ran 13th in the 300 hurdles at 49.49 seconds.
North Central (Indianapolis) won the regional at Lawrence Central with 90.5 points. Batesville was 14th out of 30 teams with 21 points and Oldenburg placed 17th with 10 points.
The IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals will be held at North Central High School in Indianapolis on Saturday, June 7. More information regarding the coverage area will be detailed in next Thursday’s Versailles Republican.
