By Andrew Crum
CNHI
ZIONSVILLE — The Avon and Brownsburg girls’ track teams competed in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference track meet on Tuesday evening in Zionsville, the last tune-up before sectionals, which start next week.
Brownsburg’s Laura Bess had the best overall performance from either school as she won the 1600 with a time of 5:04.68 and was second in the 3200 (11:13.06), just behind Helen Willman of Noblesville.
“I felt really good, to get closer to the school record (in both the 3200 and 1600), I know am going to sleep really well tonight,” Bess said. “It was a goal to qualify in two events and hopefully go to state, so I am very excited.”
Avon had a good performance from its entire team, using its depth to place in the top five of the conference.
Hannah Heim of Avon was second in the long jump with a distance of 16-feet-10-inches, finishing just behind Taylor VanArsdel of Harrison.
Avon and Brownsburg were fourth and seventh, respectively, and each team knows it has some work to do this week, as they hope to improve upon tonight’s showing.
Hamilton Southeastern was the top overall team with a score of 138.50 and they were followed by Fishers (130.50), Noblesville (106), Avon (80.50), Harrison (63), Zionsville (60), Brownsburg (51), Westfield (46.50), Lafayette Jeff (34) and McCutcheon (25).
The Orioles had top five finishes in the 1600 with Jesse McNealy who finished fourth (5:20.48) and in the 4x100 where the team of Hannah Heim, Kiya Keili, Monique Ellis and Danyetta Johnson finished fourth with a time of 52.04.
In the 200, Johnson was fifth with a time of 27.25.
In the high jump, Avon’s Kailyn Hutson was fourth with a jump of 5-feet and Emily Young (4-10) was fifth.
In the 3200, Avon’s Malyka Abramson (11:20.50) was third and Taylor Smith was fourth with a time of 11:21.08. Teammate Zoe Bestmann was fifth in the shot put with a distance of 35-10.5.
Avon coach Stephanie Chenoweth was proud of the Orioles’ efforts.
“I think they did pretty well, it was so competitive and I think it was a great experience for our girls,” she said. “I think we have to work out a few kinks here and there, I like where we are, we just got to get better. This week of practice is crucial; so I am feeling pretty confident, but it’s going to be tough in sectionals.”
While the Bulldogs finished seventh, they also had a few top-five finishers.
Sibong Nicube finished second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.84, just behind Fishers’ Jasmin Jackson (15.21). Teammate Kerry Devney (49.00) finished third in the 300 hurdles for the Bulldogs. Sydney Lesko finished fifth in the 3200 with a time of 11:44. 69.
Brownsburg coach Ken Schnepp was proud of his team’s effort, and especially liked what he saw from Bess.
“I was pretty happy how we finished up, I think the strength is in our distance and I think we are mentally sharp and competing well going into sectionals (next week),” he said. “Laura’s times are right on pace and she is definitely peaking at the right time. I think she is going to do really well next week and be someone to watch.”
