Herald-Press

BY SEAN GIGGY

 

It didn’t take Alyssa Hurlburt long to qualify for the girls’ state track meet next weekend.

Hurlburt had a jump of 17 feet, 0.5 inches in the preliminary round of the long jump at Tuesday’s Fort Wayne Northrop regional to earn a spot in the state finals on June 6 in Bloomington.

The state standard qualifying mark is 17-0.25 which Hurlburt passed on in the preliminary round. She bettered that distance with a jump of 17-02 in the finals to place third.

The top three in each event qualify for the state meet. Hurlburt was the only Lady Viking to earn a state berth.

“I’m very pleased that Alyssa qualified,” Cotton said. "She has a shot at placing at the state meet. There will be some 18-foot jumpers and the rest will be 16 or 17-foot jumpers. Our school record is 17-05 and she wants to get that. That’s been a goal of hers all season long.”

After a thrilling one-point win in last week’s sectional, the Lady Vikings didn’t expect a regional title, but aimed at sending as many girls to state as possible.

The team championship came down to two regular contenders, Fort Wayne Northrop and Fort Wayne Snider.

Northrop picked up a big win in the final event, the 1,600-meter relay, to come away with the regional championship with 77 points. Snider was right behind with 69 points.

Defending champion Carroll finished third with 47 points, followed by Fort Wayne Concordia (42), Fort Wayne Wayne (38), Fort Wayne Harding (30), Westview (29), Huntington North (25), Fort Wayne South Side (23) and Fort Wayne Elmhurst (23).

Despite just one state qualifier, the Lady Vikes had several strong performances.

Molly King set a personal record last week by going under 12 minutes for the first time ever in the 3,200-meter run. She shattered that time with another PR, again by nearly 12 seconds, to finish fourth in 11 minutes,

36.99 seconds.

“[Molly] did not break 12 minutes until sectional,” Cotton said. “Amazing.

She was only 10 seconds off the school record.”

Tayah Kline improved her time in the 300 hurdles from last week, finishing fifth in 47.04. Kline also picked up points with a seventh place finish in the 100 hurdles in 15.79.

“Tayah really ran well in the 300 hurdles,” said Cotton. “She had a PR by quite a bit.”

Keila Clore had a seventh place finish in the shot put with a throw of 35-11. In the discus, Liesl Davenport finished eight with a toss of 106-08.

Two of the Lady Viking relays picked up points. The 400 relay of Cora Frame, Mariah Town, Emilie Jamison and Kline finished sixth in 50.69.

Olivia Eckert, Becca Goodman, Cassie Hacker and Natalie Spahr were seventh in the 3,200 relay in 10:11.72.

“The girls did well despite not having their best efforts,” Cotton said.

“We only had two or three personal bests of the season. To finish eighth place is really not bad.

“There are places where we should’ve gotten more points, but didn’t. If we’d have been on top of our game, we could have been third or fourth place in this meet.”

The girls’ state track meet will be held June 6 at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex at Indiana University.

Hurlburt will compete in the high jump beginning at 3 p.m.