Edgewood girls' sprinters and jumpers just getting started as sectionals arrive Tuesday
It took just three meets for Ella Hayden to break the school record in the girls' long jump.
Three.
The junior had never long jumped before she reached Edgewood High School. Yeah, she'd competed in cross country and track in junior high, but tired of distance running, she moved on to volleyball and softball.
This year, she decided track deserved a second chance.
"I knew I needed to come back and show what I had," Hayden said.
During early running drills, Edgewood's coaches saw a pinch runners footspeed flash by. They also saw the hops of a volleyball player that might make a good jumper.
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Put her together with senior leader Claire Sherfield, sophomores Emma Edwards, Piper Stephens, Addison Goerges and Ashley Abram and it was a great reason for veteran Edgewood jumps coach Steve Ritter to return as well.
The Mustangs have the makings of the best sprint/jumps group it's ever had.
"This has been exciting," Ritter said. "This is my 41st year of coaching and I wasn't going to coach this year because I had my 40 years in, 31 at Ben Davis.
"But when you've got kids like this, my wife said. 'Go coach! Don't walk away from it.' And they're fun to be around."
And given their youth, there's plenty of upside. Doesn't sound like Ritter is retiring anytime soon.
"We're loaded with some talented and girls that will work," he said. "We're nothing compared to what were going to look like next year."
One for the record book
While the long jump record was the first to fall as Hayden flew 17-1 on April 28 to erase the 16-5¼ recorded by Kate Atkinson in 1995, it doesn't look like it will be the last.
Hayden went 12.89 in the 100 at the Edgewood Invitational, with the school mark 12.54 held by Olivia Ashba (2012) and Cheryl Rambo (1984).
And with a 51.15 in the 400 relay at the Western Indiana Conference meet on Thursday, the Mustangs are effectively the second fastest team at Tuesday's Bloomington North Sectional and closing in on the 50.8 set in 1992.
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"I'm definitely surprised," Goerges said. "But we've put a lot of effort into this relay. It hasn't been perfect every time, but we always push to the end."
Not perfect maybe, but Ritter had few complaints with how they circled the track to win a conference title in that relay for the first time since 2012, and in the second best time in WIC history.
"This is the first time we might be able to get a four-by-one to the state meet," Ritter said. "We've done it in the four-by-four and four-by-eight. And the way they ran tonight and their exchanges... there's not much more I'd change.
"They can go faster. We've got to go 50 and I hope next year we can get in the 49s. It's just little things, but it looks good. And then you've got Ella as an anchor."
A simple philosophy
Transitioning from a distance runner to a sprinter took a bit of work in a physical and mental sense, from learning how to get out of a set of blocks to making the most of each step in a limited amount of time.
"I can't pace myself anymore," Hayden said. "You just have to go. I just watched so many videos at home on how to do blocks.
"And when I'm running, I just run as fast as I can. That's all I do."
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That speed is an asset in long jump, where putting her name on the record board was most unexpected. She jumped in the season opener, going a decent enough 15-4, then four weeks later, made herself the No. 2 seed at sectional.
"I definitely didn't think I'd make it this far the first year back," Hayden said. "I was definitely surprised. I didn't think I'd do that."
Spring in Goerges' step
Goerges, a gymnast during the winter, teamed up with Edwards (a soccer player) to give the Mustangs a pair of 5-foot high jumpers. It's a number just a couple other jumpers coming to sectional have reached this year.
"We haven't been able to do what I want to do in the winter to elevate their vertical," Ritter said. "We have three gymnasts (Goerges, Abram and Harlie Robbins) they'd come here and train with us, do their running and then say, 'Coach, we have to go to gymnastics practice.'
"I've been lucky with those two, to find out they can jump. They can both go a lot higher."
Goerges had been consistently at 4-10, but moved the bar up another notch at the WICs.
"I've been working on it for two years, so I was surprised by that," Goerges said.
She also runs the leg-sapping 300 hurdles, along with the 400 relay, in the middle of the meet. The hurdles are a mental challenge, but one she's facing head on this year and has broken the 50-second barrier, setting a career low of 49.77 to win a WIC title.
"I ran them last year for the first time, but I never practiced them," Goerges said. "This year, I've just been trying to push myself as hard as I can and I've been practicing a lot at them.
"What I've struggled with is confidence. At the start of the season, I did not believe in myself at all. This is me now: 'I'm going to go out there and crush it.'"
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The key is pushing herself through the last 100 meters after getting out strong.
"I just give it my all right then," she said.
And that's how it works as for the 400 relay, too.
"I feel like we're stacked so we can push each other," Hayden said. "We all want to win and when we compete against each other, we're competing for the team."
"We feed off each other's energy, too," Goerges said. "We're always excited."
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Sectional preview: Edgewood girls' sprinters, jumpers just getting started
