BLOOMINGTON
For the athletes still competing in the postseason, it was finish in the top-three or go home.
Four Jackson County schools — Brownstown Central, Crothersville, Seymour and Trinity Lutheran — were represented at the Bloomington North girls track and field regional Tuesday.
Top-three finishes automatically qualified athletes for next week’s state championships at Indiana University and the top-eight scored team points.
All county schools at regional advanced at least one athlete to state.
In the 38-team pool, Bloomington South won their 12th straight regional with 84 points. Bloomington North was runners-up with 72 points and Jeffersonville got third (53).
Brownstown Central placed 12th (18 points), Seymour finished 17th (12), Trinity Lutheran was 21st (10) and Crothersville got 27th (6) in team scoring.
Trinity Lutheran senior Hailley Peters was the regional champion in the high jump with a clearance of 5-feet, 4-inches. Peters also qualified for state last season.
Seymour sophomore Ashton Chase will make her state debut in the 1,600, as she finished in third place by clocking 5-minutes, 13.16-seconds . In an incredibly fast race, Greencastle’s Emma Wilson broke the regional record with a time of 4:55.96.
“Last year I didn’t make it, so I was really hungry this year,” Chase said. “I just want to have fun at my first state meet. I want to go out and run my race and have fun doing it.”
Coming down to the final 20 meters, Crothersville senior Breanna Barger’s time of 2:25.68 was third in the 800. Barger’s edged fourth place by less than two-tenths of a second.
Crothersville coach Cheryl Nehrt said she believes it’s the first runner to advance to state from the school.
“It’s very, very exciting, Barger said. “I don’t know where it came from. I just looked forward to the finish line. It’s really overwhelming, I’m not sure what I’m excited about most. It’s just an amazing feeling.”
Oriana Morales placed 16th, in 2:24.45, for the 800.
Brownstown Central senior Trentity Vaught will return to state in the discus. Vaught tossed a season best of 121-feet, 11 inch for third place for the Braves. Vaught later placed 13th in the shot put with a heave of 33-2.
“I”m super excited since it’s my senior year — I wanted to end on a good note,” Vaught said. “I’m hoping to make the finals this year at state and throw a personal record to finish off the season.”
Brownstown Central’s Grace Jaynes placed sixth in the disc (121-11) while Seymour’s Paige Kestler finished 14th (91-07).
Sophomore Brooklyn Snodgrass will also return to state in 2017, as she earned third place for the 100 dash in 12.75.
“I felt so much pressure on myself that i had to make it back, it was more of a relief than anything,” Snodgrass said. “I just want to do better than I did last year at state.”
The Owls’ Liz Lenart was 15th (13.58) for the shortest sprint.
With a time of 1:01.96, Kristen Stuckwisch got fourth in the 400.
In the 300 hurdles, Katrina Christian placed ninth (48.95) while Madison Klinge finished 13th (50.85)
Seymour’s Makenna Sunbury clocked 12:07.23 for seventh in the 3,200 and BC’s Kaelyn Johnson was 12th in 12:40.64.
Avery DeHart got over 9-0 for 11th place in the pole vault while Owls teammate Sarah Benefiel got 12th at 8-6.
For the 4×800, Seymour’s Morales, Brett Kleber, Emma Brock and Chase combined for a time of 10:44.61 for eighth place.
Seymour’s team of DeHart, Ritz, Jalen Snider and Lenart timed 52.64 for ninth and Brownstown’s foursome of Klinge, Sophie Kreis, Keeli Darlage and Snodgrass finished 13th (54.01) in the 4×100 relay.
Crothersville’s Barger, Makayla Helt, Christian and Piper Hensley ran a 10:49.41 for 10th while Brownstown’s team of Grace Garland, Destiney Satterthwaite, Shauna Drake and Kylee Wischmeier were 11th (10:54.82) in the distance relay.
For the 4×400 relay, Brownstown’s Alex Caffee, Tayler Garland, Stuckwisch and Klinge ran a 4:40..64 for 16th and Seymour’s Bailee Wolfe, Kleber, Jessica Blevins and Alexis Gross were 15th in 4:31.88.