PREP GIRLS TRACK: Northridge, NorthWood lead TGN area at Warsaw sectional

May 18—WARSAW — The Northern Lakes Conference will be well represented at the Kokomo girls track regional next week after strong performances during the Warsaw sectional Tuesday.

The host Tigers ran away with the team championship, scoring 169 points to win its 16th-straight sectional crown. Warsaw was able to have 16 qualifiers across 13 events as well.

While the Tigers led the way from start to finish, Northridge was able to finish second with 95 team points. The Raiders qualified an impressive 10 events for next week's regional, led by senior Elaina Papandrea winning the 300-meter hurdles sectional championship. Papandrea was able to edge Warsaw senior Marin Hart at the finish line to win the race by 0.07 seconds.

"It was really nice to see," said Northridge coach Trisha King of Papandrea's victory. "It was a big win on the track, but also an emotional win to just see her excited and peaking at the right team. Marin was in the lead until she hit a hurdle, and my hope surged and I saw Elaina take the lead. She finished really strong, so I felt confident she was going to hang on."

Another big performance from Northridge came in the 800-meter run, as junior Tame Baylis used a big sprint to the finish to pass NorthWood senior Kaitlin Burden for third place, automatically qualifying her for the regional. The top three finishers in each event automatically advance.

"(Baylis) started off and she got boxed in early, which was a problem; we're going to have to work on the start so she can get some clean air," King said. "She came through and was sitting around eighth with 300 (meters) to go, and I was getting a little nervous. But she finished strong, so to just see her gut it out the last 100 meters — although it gave me a panic attack — was encouraging to see."

All three relay teams qualified for regional for Northridge as well. With only a certain number of events to focus on next week, King expects practices to go differently than they have been.

"At this point, it's just putting finishing touches on things and giving the girls confidence so they're ready to race next week," King said. "We won't gain a lot of fitness in the next week; it's just time to finalize everything and refine it so that, next week, we are strong on the track and mentally prepared."

NORTHWOOD FINISHES THIRD

NorthWood freshman Elayna Yoder backed up her NLC championship meet performance in the 100, winning the sectional title by 0.01 seconds over Elkhart freshman Ja'leiiya Williams.

It was one of six events the Panthers will be sending to Kokomo next Tuesday. NorthWood finished third in the team standings at sectionals with 85 points scored.

"All in all, I'm just proud of the way the girls competed," NorthWood coach Mark Mikel said. "Through most of the meet, we were in second place. ... To come into a meet like this with a Warsaw and an Elkhart and a Northridge and a Concord and even Goshen, schools of that size — we were able to put up a good fight."

CONCORD ADVANCES THREE TO REGIONALS

Arguably the most exciting race of the day was won by the Minutemen, as the quartet of Jaylah Leggett, Dea ana Emerson, Reagan Cooper and Jada Swanson won the 4X100-meter relay with a time of 51.04 seconds. They were able to beat out NorthWood by 0.03 seconds and Northridge by 0.05 in a photo finish.

"All year long, we were not strong enough coming off of the anchor (part of the relay)," said Concord coach Jerry Redmond of his 4X100 relay team. "We made some adjustments, and our leadoff leg (Leggett) ran a strong leg. We knew that if we ran a strong first leg, she'd give us a good lead and give our anchor a chance to win. And, she held on. It was awesome."

Concord also qualified Leggett in the 100-meter dash and Macie Swineheart in the discus throw, who both finished third in their respective events. The Minutemen ended up finishing sixth in the team standings Tuesday with 60 points.

YODER, KONIECZNY LEAD WAWASEE

Sophomore Emma Yoder kept up her strong season in the discus throw, winning the sectional title with a toss of 124-10.50 feet.

Senior Dylan Konieczny then qualified for regionals in two events, taking second place in the long jump and third in the high jump.

"I think it gets a little less intense," said Wawasee coach Stefani Wuthrich of what practice will look like for Yoder and Konieczny next week. "They already know what they're doing and they're already conditioned, so it's just about getting as many reps in as possible. The talent's already there, so there's not much to work on there."

Other schools from The Goshen News coverage area that competed at the Warsaw sectional but did not qualify anyone for regionals were Goshen, Fairfield and Bethany Christian.

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2022 IHSAA GIRLS TRACK SECTIONAL AT WARSAW — Regional qualifiers and final team standings

Regional is next Tuesday, May 24 at Kokomo High School

100-meter dash: Elayna Yoder, NorthWood, 12.60 seconds; Ja'leiiya Williams, Elkhart, 12.61; Jaylah Leggett, Concord, 12.72

200-meter dash: Ja'leiiya Williams, Elkhart, 26.19 seconds; Olivia Adkins, Northridge, 26.71; Elayna Yoder, NorthWood, 26.71

400-meter dash: Rylee Burns, Warsaw, 1:01.45; Lillian Richmond, Columbia City, 1:01.55; Mikayla Mimnaugh, Warsaw, 1:04.18

800-meter run: Wini Barnett, Warsaw, 2:22.44; Lilyana Lahr, Columbia City, 2:24.34; Tame Baylis, Northridge, 2:24.74

1,600-meter run: Josefina Rastrelli, Warsaw, 5:03.17; Kaitlin Burden, NorthWood, 5:13.11; Felice Mullinax, Columbia City, 5:29.50

3,200-meter run: Josefina Rastrelli, Warsaw, 11:13.03; Haylee Hile, Northridge, 11:43.72; Elizabeth Vander Bie, Warsaw, 12:03.25

100-meter hurdles: Marin Hart, Warsaw, 15.41 seconds; Alyssa Sloop, Northridge, 16.68; Hannah Chupp, NorthWood, 17.13

300-meter hurdles: Elaina Papandrea, Northridge, 48.99 seconds; Marin Hart, Warsaw, 49.06; Kiersten Parker, Warsaw, 50.21

4X100-meter relay: Concord (Jaylah Leggett, Dea ana Emerson, Reagan Cooper and Jada Swanson), 51.04 seconds; NorthWood (Hannah Chupp, Claire Payne, Megan Mikel and Elayna Yoder), 51.06; Northridge (Elaina Papandrea, Jen'Daesha Brown, Susanne Nickell and Olivia Adkins), 51.09.

4X400-meter relay: Warsaw (Rylee Burns, Sarah Kratzsch, Mikayla Mimnaugh and Wini Barnett), 4:06.74; Northridge (Eliana Papandrea, Olivia Adkins, Jen'Daesha Brown and Tame Baylis), 4:09.74; Elkhart Christian Academy (Emma Gruet, Emmalynn Brown, Adaline Russell and Miah Vida), 4:19.17

4X800-meter relay: Warsaw (Ella Laput, Tatum Bergan, Elizabeth Vander Bie and Wini Barnett), 9:53.03; NorthWood (Emilie Allen, Sydney Prenkert, McKenzie Brewer and Kaitlin Burden), 10:04.10; Northridge (Isabel Snyder, Haylee Hile, Emma Long and Tame Baylis), 10:14.95

Shot put: Haley Thompson, Columbia City, 38-06.50 feet; Abby Sanner, Warsaw, 37-04.50 feet; Sydney Nethercutt, Northridge, 36-10.50 feet

Discus throw: Emma Yoder, Wawasee, 124-10.50 feet; Abby Sanner, Warsaw, 115-10 feet; Macie Swinehart, Concord, 104-07 feet

Long jump: Mady Axsom, Elkhart, 16-01.50 feet; Dylan Konieczny, Wawasee, 15-10.25 feet; Erika Bugg, Warsaw, 15-09 feet

High jump: Mady Axsom, Elkhart, 5-04 feet; Marin Hart, Warsaw, 5-04 feet; Dylan Konieczny, Wawasee, 5-01 feet

Pole vault: Josie Niebbia, Warsaw, 10-06 feet; Emily Hood, Northridge, 9-00 feet; Danielle Dunham, Columbia City, 9-00 feet

Final team standings:

1. Warsaw, 169 points

2. Northridge, 95

3. NorthWood, 85

4. Elkhart, 66.50

5. Columbia City, 61

6. Concord, 60

7. Wawasee, 41.50

8. Elkhart Christian Academy, 21

9. Goshen, 10

10. Fairfield, 7

11. Jimtown, 5

12. Bethany Christian, 2

13. Lakeland Christian Academy, 1

Regional qualifiers by school: Warsaw, 16 (13 events); Northridge, 10 (10 events); NorthWood, 6 (6 events); Columbia City, 5 (events); Concord, 3 (3 events); Wawasee, 2 (3 events)Elkhart, 2 (4 events); Elkhart Christian Academy, 1 (1 event).

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.