Penn races to girls track sectional title as grieving Saint Joseph gives inspired effort

MISHAWAKA — What Julia Economou accomplished Tuesday night took a lot of guts. Or some would say it was nuts.

Or maybe a little of both.

In the space of about 25 minutes, Economou — a Penn High School junior — won the 400-meter dash at the Mishawaka girls track sectional. Then, she came back to win the 800-meter run.

Then, after laying down for a moment to catch her breath, she got up and led off Penn’s winning 4 x 400-meter relay.

“I like a challenge,” quipped Economou. “And yeah, I’m tired.”

No doubt. By the way, she also anchored Penn’s first-place 4 x 800 relay squad at the start of the meet, igniting the Kingsmen on the way to their second consecutive girls team title.

The Kingsmen scored 157 points, while Adams was second at 107.

“We’re getting her ready for state, pure and simple,” said Penn coach Melissa Danner when asked about Economou’s stressful schedule. “She’s running tired and learning to deal with the lactic acid. She’s going to have to deal with it down there (the state finals).”

Economou, a legitimate state medal contender in the 800-meter run, clocked 1:00.55 in the 400 and 2:20.29 in the two-lapper, both solid times, even if she was running fresh.

“I like to push myself,” said Economou. “It was pretty difficult, but I just tried to stay dialed in, because there’s no time to waste.”

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The top three finishers in each event qualify for next week’s regional meet at Kokomo, as well as any athlete who met a tough IHSAA qualifying standard. There is also a slightly confusing process which may allow other athletes to be selected for a regional berth.

Economou was the only athlete to win four blue ribbons at the sectional, though Adams junior Angel Thomas collected three first-place finishes and a second.

Thomas won the 100-meter dash, long jump, 200-meter dash and anchored the Eagles to a runnerup finish in the 4 x 100 relay, almost closing a massive gap in the final 50 meters.

“I’m trying to work on my form when I run,” said Thomas. “I feel like my form is breaking down a little bit at the end.”

Inspired effort by grieving Saint Joseph team

An emotional Saint Joseph team finished fourth, with Ella Frick scoring impressive wins in two hurdle races. The Indians were clearly dealing with the deaths of two classmates last weekend, including a boys track member.

While there were some strong emotional displays, Saint Joseph’s athletes held themselves together to pull off what coach Mike McCarthy saw as their most impressive meet of the season.

“I was completely inspired by the way our team cared for one another and dealt with situations as they came up,” said McCarthy. “They gave their absolute best efforts, regardless of the circumstance, they were doing it for one another. It was the absolute epitome of being a team.”

The compassion shown to Saint Joseph athletes by members of other teams was a gold-medal moment as well.

Frick’s victory in the 100-meter hurdles was inspiring in itself, as she made up a three-meter gap over the last two hurdles to pass Kayla Douglas of Adams and win by two-100ths of a second, 15.76 to 15.78.

Her victory in the 300 hurdles wasn’t even close, as she clocked 48.08 to win by two seconds.

“Tonight was all for the team,” Frick said. “I don’t think I’m happy so much as proud. I’m proud to be part of this team and what I was able to accomplish today, and proud of what the whole team accomplished today.”

More winners

Penn’s Julie Smith ran legs on the winning 4 x 800 and 4 x 400 squads, and also cruised through the 1600-meter run in 5:22.01. Mary Eubank won the 3200 in 11:16.29 as well as handling a leg on the 4 x 800.

Adams junior Leia McCann had an eye-opening performance in the discus, adding almost 10 feet to her season best with a winning throw of 120 feet, 1 inch.

“I’m way more aggressive in the discus because I know that’s where I can excel,” said McCann. “I’ve only been throwing for about a year. I’ve been gunning for a perfect throw and today I finally got it. I’m pumped right now.”

Penn’s Paige Yewchuk won the high jump while Jillian Pletcher took the pole vault. LaVille’s Lucy Sherk won the shot put.

Two athletes — Thomas and Kendall Ivory of Washington — each went 16-10 ½ in the long jump, with Thomas getting the win on a second-best effort.

IHSAA GIRLS TRACK SECTIONAL

At Mishawaka

TEAM SCORES: Penn 157, Adams 107, Mishawaka 99 ½, Saint Joseph 94 ½, LaVille 72, Marian 43, Washington 26, John Glenn 10, Riley 5, Clay 2.

4 x 800 relay: 1, Penn (Julie Smith, Abigail Stevens, Mary Eubank, Julia Economou) 9:43.94. 2, Saint Joseph 10:12.57. 3, Mishawaka 10:14.66. 4, Adams 11:16.47. 5, Marian 11:23.41. 6, LaVille 11:25.91. 7, Trinity 12:00.63.

100 hurdles: 1, Ella Frick (SBSJ) 15.76. 2, Kayla Douglas (Adams) 15.78. 3, Jaci Naragon (Mishawaka) 16.40. 4, Carrie Fozkos (Mishawaka) 16.52. 5, Abby Portolese (Marian) 17.17. 6, Dana George (Penn) 18.22. 7, Sophia Romer (Glenn) 19.14. 8, Mary Curran (Trinity) 33.87 (fell).

100: 1, Angel Thomas (Adams) 12.29. 2, Brooklyn Williams (Washington) 12.88. 3, Olivia Goze (LaVille) 12.89. 4, Kendall Bethel (Marian) 12.97. 5, Kendall Ivory (Washington) 12.99. 6, Sofia Ugwoke (Penn) 13.06. 7, Lilly Deeds (Mishawaka) 13.23. 8, Abigail Radecki (Mishawaka) 13.47.

1600: 1, Julie Smith (Penn) 5:22.01. 2, Abigail Stevens (Penn) 5:29.34. 3, Koryn Flick (Mishawaka) 5:32.52. 4, Tess Collins (SBSJ) 5:46.00. 5, Margaret Baxter (SBSJ) 5:54.77. 6, Brooke Edison (LaVille) 5:55.41. 7, Katelynn Braun (Glenn) 6:03.09. 8, Ciera Vincent (Glenn) 6:10.61.

4 x 100 relay: 1, South Bend Saint Joseph (Sara Prokop, Ellie Miller, Stella Toothaker, Tori Brewer) 51.14. 2, Adams 51.22. 3, Penn 51.43. 4, Mishawaka 52.37. 5, LaVille 53.05. 6, Trinity 55.25. 7, Riley 55.32. 8, Glenn 55.54.

400: 1, Julia Economou (Penn) 1:00.55. 2, Sarah Beshara (Mishawaka) 1:01.33. 3, Terryah Leonard (Washington) 1:02.01. 4, Keotave Love (Penn) 1:03.39. 5, Mikalah Kuskye (LaVille) 1:05.78. 6, Kelly Ratigan (SBSJ) 1:03.27. 7, Serenity Mikulyuk (Mishawaka) 1:07.38. 8, Mary Williams (Marian) 1:07.71.

300 hurdles: 1, Ella Frick (SBSJ) 48.08. 2, Haley Roberson (Penn) 50.17. 3, Carrie Fozkos (Mishawaka) 50.39. 4, Tie between Jaci Naragon (Mishawaka) and Abby Portolese (Marian) 50.82. 6, Brennan Moser (SBSJ) 52.43. 7, Dana George (Penn) 53.08. 8, Lauren Edison (LaVille) 53.48.

800: 1, Julia Economou (Penn) 2:20.29. 2, Lauren Frick (SBSJ) 2:24.35. 3, Emily Shepherd (Adams) 2:27.48. 4, Jillian Waelbroeck (Mishawaka) 2:27.71. 5, Aubrey Morgan (Penn) 2:29.37. 6, Jillian Kaufman (Adams) 2:29.85. 7, Madeline Buraczewski (Mishawaka) 2:31.05. 8, Maggie Kearns (Marian) 2:31.22.

200: 1, Angel Thomas (Adams) 26.46. 2, Tori Brewer (SBSJ) 26.65. 3, Kendall Bethel (Marian) 26.84. 4, Madelyn Fuchs (LaVille) 26.93. 5, Olivia Goze (LaVille) 27.21. 6, Emma Heintzelman (Penn) 28.01. 7, Sara Prokop (SBSJ) 28.13. 8, Karis Johnson (Riley) 28.63.

3200: 1, Mary Eubank (Penn) 11:16.29. 2, Ellie Stabnik (Penn) 11:21.71. 3, Lexi Lawwill (Adams) 12:09.48. 4, Koryn Flick (Mishawaka) 12:13.26. 5, Tess Collins (SBSJ) 12:27.88. 6, Deirdre Tomasek (Marian) 12:55.80. 7, Anna Borger (Clay) 13:22.46. 8, Olivia Purcell (Adams) 13:36.98.

4 x 400 relay: 1, Penn (Julia Economou, Keotave Love, Ella Bailey, Julia Smith) 4:09.28. 2, Adams 4:13.58. 3, Saint Joseph 4:14.46. 4, Mishawaka 4:20.27. 5, LaVille 4:30.83. 6, Marian 4:35.84. 7, Riley 4:41.36. 8, Trinity 4:43.95.

High jump: 1, Paige Yewchuk (Penn) 5-1. 2, Kayla Douglas (Adams) 5-0. 3, Emma Knip (Mishawaka) 5-0. 4, Reese Sutherland (Mishawaka) 4-8. 5, Madelyn Fuchs (LaVille) 4-8. 6, Brooke Edison (LaVille) 4-8. 7, Tie between Grace Mazurek (SBSJ), Grace Fulton (Penn), and Paige Goben (SBSJ) 4-6.

Long jump: 1, Angel Thomas (Adams) 16-10 ½. 2, Kendall Ivory (Washington) 16-10 ½. 3, Olivia Goze (LaVille) 16-7 ½. 4, Cecelia Urbanski (Mishawaka) 15-7. 5, Aniya Taylor (Penn) 15-5 ½. 6, Abby Portolese (Marian) 15-4 ½. 7, Sofia Frazee (Adams) 15-3. 8, Emma Knip (Mishawaka) 15-2.

Shot put: 1, Lucy Sherk (LaVille) 34-8. 2, Payton Ladson (Penn) 34-4 ¾. 3, Ann Okhiria (Adams) 33-4. 4, Leia McCann (Adams) 31-2 ½. 5, Erin George (Mishawaka) 31-1 ¾. 6, Faith Rock (LaVille) 29-5 ¾. 7, Maddi Crowley (SBSJ) 29-1 ½. 8, Natalie Feldkamp (SBSJ) 29-1.

Discus: 1, Leia McCann (Adams) 120-1. 2, Sydney Little (Penn) 108-2. 3, Payton Ladson (Penn) 103-1. 4, Faith Rock (LaVille) 102-2. 5, Michaela Hurford (Glenn) 98-5. 6, Lucy Sherk (LaVille) 94-3. 7, Lillian Dawson (Mishawaka) 93-6. 8, Natalie Feldkamp (SBSJ) 84-2.

Pole vault: 1, Jillian Pletcher (Penn) 10-0. 2, Ana Devries (Mishawaka) 9-0. 3, Adrienne Weyers (Marian) 8-6. 4, Maddy Tubbs (SBSJ) 8-6. 5, Olivia Leonhard (LaVille) 8-0. 6, Tie between Kaye Fry (SBSJ) and Kaelynn Kilgore-Ivory (Marian) 7-6. 8, Avery Curtis (Adams) 7-6.

NOTE: Top three finishers in each event advance to IHSAA regional at Kokomo on Tuesday, May 24, along with any athlete who meets IHSAA state performance standard.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA girls track sectional: Economou lead Penn to title at Mishawaka