H.S. girls track: Penn best in the long run, but Valpo carries the day

Tim Creason
·5 min read

Penn stood out in the long distance events, but it was Valparaiso that ruled one of Indiana’s prestigious high school girls track meets Saturday.

Penn’s Mary Eubank won both the 1600- and 3200-meter runs, and Julia Economou clocked a swift 2:18.90 to capture the 800-meter run, during the 24th annual Lady Kingsmen Invitational, contested under wet and blustery conditions at Penn’s Freed Field.

Penn's Mary Eubank (797), show last May during sectional, won two events during Saturday's Penn Lady Kingsmen Invitational.
Penn's Mary Eubank (797), show last May during sectional, won two events during Saturday's Penn Lady Kingsmen Invitational.

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But those were the only Penn victories on a day when Duneland Athletic Conference power Valparaiso dominated the competition, winning six events and finishing second in four others.

The Vikings totaled 159 points for the championship, while Penn was second with 92.

Warsaw finished third and Concord fourth in the 13-team meet.

Eubank had a full day, running a leg on Penn’s second-place 4 x 800 relay in addition to her two distance victories.

Both blue ribbons were won with impressive times.  In the 1600, Eubank clocked 5:07.59 to fight off Valparaiso’s Elizabeth Ehrhardt (5:09.95).

In the 3200, Eubank needed an 11:14.97 to put away Valpo’s Grace Thomas, second in 11:18.96.

Likewise, Economou was also a busy runner, anchoring the 4 x 800 relay and handling a leg on Penn’s second-place 4 x 400 relay squad.

Her 800 time, very fast for this time of season, brought her home a full four seconds ahead of Valpo’s Brooke Byvoets (2:22.91).

Plymouth, which finished sixth in the team standings, showed sprint strength with a victory in the 4 x 100 relay, where Jersey Hunter, Arielle Ferman, Kathryn Morrison and Alana Allen clocked 50.93 seconds. Hunter was also second in the 100 hurdles and Allen second in the 200-meter dash.

Mishawaka’s Ana DeVries won the pole vault by clearing 10 feet. Elkhart’s Ava Decker won the discus.

And Concord proved to be a field event power. Dea’ana Emerson won the long jump, Carolyn Fisher took the high jump and Macie Swinehart finished first in the shot put.

LADY KINGSMEN INVITATIONAL 

At Mishawaka 

TEAM SCORES: Valparaiso 159, Penn 92, Warsaw 74 ½, Concord 73, Northridge 48, Plymouth 42, Elkhart 39, Mishawaka 35, Kokomo 18 ½, LaVille 12, Riley 11, Fort Wayne Wayne 11, Fort Wayne Canterbury 7.

4 x 800 relay: Valparaiso (Ena Gilliana, Brooke Byvoets, Cheyanne Stock, Angela Coulopoulos) 9:31.43.  2, Penn (Mary Eubank, Aubrey Morgan, Morgan Collins, Julia Economou) 9:40.53.  3, Northridge (Haylee Hile, Hadley Troyer, Dakotah Moore, Tame Baylis) 9:57.16.  4, Mishawaka (Koryn Flick, Maddie Buraczewski, Ava Fox, Jada Rogers) 10:12.96.

100 hurdles: 1, Ramaya Hall (Valpo) 15.75.  2, Jersey Hunter (Plymouth) 16.02.  3, Jada Stewart (FW Wayne) 16.42.  4, Alyssa Sloop (Northridge) 16.72.

100: 1, Camryn Burner (Warsaw) 12.70.  2, Allison DeFreese (Concord) 12.87.  3, Brianna Fincannon (Valpo) 12.92.  4, Reanna Jones (Kokomo) 13.16.

1600: 1, Mary Eubank (Penn) 5:07.59.  2, Elizabeth Ehrhardt (Valpo) 5:09.95.  3, Ani Gilliana (Valpo) 5:22.81.  4, Dakotah Moore (Northridge) 5:25.54.

4 x 100 relay: 1, Plymouth (Jersey Hunter, Arielle Ferman, Kathryn Morrison, Alana Allen) 50.93.  2, Concord (Jocelyn Jones-Perry, Dea’ana Emerson, Reagen Cooper, Allison DeFreese) 51.19.  3, Warsaw (Mikayla Mimnaugh, Addison Williams, Annie Scholl, Camryn Burner) 51.87.  4, Valparaiso (Ramaya Hall, Elizabeth Fields, Sophia Venit, Brianna Fincannon) 51.87.

400: 1, Paige Schulte (Valpo) 1:01.08. 2, Ali Barkey (Warsaw) 1:01.66.  3, Becca Cavanaugh (Valpo) 1:02.62.  4, Madison Smalley (Warsaw) 1:04.79.

300 hurdles: 1, Ramaya Hall (Valpo) 49.67.  2, Alyssa Sloop (Northridge) 51.60.  3, Hadley Troyer (Northridge) 52.02.  4, Eila Bailey (Penn) 52.34.

800: 1, Julia Economou (Penn) 2:18.90.  2, Brooke Byvoets (Valpo) 2:22.91.  3, Cheyanne Stock (Valpo) 2:24.56.  4, Mikayla Mimnaugh (Warsaw) 2:28.05.

200: 1, Paige Schulte (Valpo) 26.34.  2, Alana Allen (Plymouth) 26.97.  3, Allison DeFreese (Concord) 27.35.  4, Camryn Burner (Warsaw) 27.58.

3200: 1, Mary Eubank (Penn) 11:14.97.  2, Grace Thomas (Valpo) 11:18.96.  3, Haylee Hile (Northridge) 11:29.05.  4, Anika Anderson (Valpo) 11:32.02.

4 x 400 relay: 1, Valparaiso (Ani Gilliana, Brooke Byvoets, Becca Cavanaugh, Paige Schulte) 4:07.39.  2, Penn (Macey Gableman, Ella Bailey, Janine Mbianda, Julia Economou) 4:20.50.  3, Warsaw (Ali Barkey, Madison Smalley, Ella Laput, Mikayla Mimnaugh) 4:22.22.  4, Mishawaka (Kryslyn Shelton, Maddie Buraczewski, Lilly Strohkirch, Koryn Flick) 4:27.17.

High Jump:  1, Carolyn Fisher (Concord) 5-0.  2, Shaniyah Hughes (Elkhart) 5-0.  3, Saylor Gapinski (Valpo) 4-10.  4, Ryleigh Robinson (Concord) 4-10.

Long jump:  1, Dea’ana Emerson (Concord) 16-7.  2, Shaniyah Hughes (Elkhart) 16-7.  3, Emma Heintzelman (Penn) 16-3 ½.  4, Erika Bugg (Warsaw) 15-11 ½.

Shot put:  1, Macie Swinehart (Concord) 36-9.  2, Lucy Sherk (LaVille) 36-8.  3, Brynlee Jellison (Elkhart) 34-4.  4, Gretchen Wendorf (Valpo) 33-5 ½.

Discus:  1, Ava Decker (Elkhart) 123-7.  2, Abbi Kohler (Warsaw) 113-9.  3, Macie Swinehart (Concord) 110-5.  4, Olivia Stoffel (Northridge) 103-3.

Pole vault:  1, Ana DeVries (Mishawaka) 10-0.  2, Ashley Cavanaugh (Valpo) 10-0.  3, Mia Curran (Valpo) 10-0.  4, Ellianna Transparenti (Warsaw) 9-6.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana high school girls track: Penn Invitational