INDIANA STATE MEET

Forest Park Senior Runs All-Time Indiana Best 13.38 For US#7 In 100m Hurdles; Noblesville Girls Edge Warren Central

Story and Photos by David Woods for DyeStat

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Jimmy Carter defeated incumbent president Gerald Ford, college dropout Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer, and Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers were 32-0. At the Montreal Olympics, Nadia Comaneci was a perfect 10, Doc Counsilman’s U.S. swimmers grabbed 12 of 13 gold medals and Bruce Jenner (before Caitlyn Jenner) won the decathlon.

And a 16-year-old, Rhonda Brady of Calumet High in Gary, Ind., won the 100-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Her time was 13.25 seconds.

The year was 1976.

It had been that long since a Hoosier high school hurdler ran as fast as Rachel Mehringer did Saturday night at the 49th girls state meet.

Mehringer, a Forest Park senior, twice smashed her own state meet record in winning a third straight title. She clocked 13.52 in the heats, bettering last year’s 13.92, and lowered that to 13.38 in the final. She won by nearly a full second with a US#7.

“I wasn’t expecting a 13.3. But I was really hoping for something close to that,” she said.

Brady had +2.3 wind in running 13.25. Her wind-legal best of 13.53 came in winning an AAU junior title in 1976. So Brady retains the all-conditions best. Mehringer, an Indiana State signee, should be credited with the all-time state record. (Brady never ran hurdles at the state meet but won the 100-yard dash in 10.8 in 1977.)

In the 300 hurdles, Mehringer lowered her PB by nearly two seconds to double in 42.72. She upset Heritage Christian sophomore Kya Crooke (42.85) and Warren Central junior Laila Smith (42.97), also with PBs.

In a team race undecided until the 4x400 relay, Noblesville won its first state championship by edging Warren Central 45-44. It was so close, in fact, that Noblesville invited Warren Central girls to share the podium with them as they posed for photos holding first- and second-place trophies.

It was the fourth one-point outcome in Indiana history. Cathedral edged Warren Central 40-39 in 2021.

Carmel was third with 33 points (24 in three relays) and Bloomington North fourth with 30. Heritage Christian was sixth with 27, all by Crooke.

If there had been an athlete-of-the-meet trophy, that, too, might have been a tie -- even considering Mehringer’s historic 13.38.

State meet records were set by Mehringer, Gretchen Farley (2:04.95) in the 800 meters and Kailee Swart (13-6.50) in the pole vault.

Nicki Southerland ran a 4:43.73/2:05.06 middle-distance double, Crooke became the first to score in four individual events, Alexia Smith went from seventh seed in the 400 meters to fifth in Indiana history, and Laila Smith ran and jumped to two seconds and two thirds.

Laila Smith is the daughter of Warren Central coach Le’gretta Smith and cousin of Olympic bronze medalist Ashley Spencer. An injury sidelined Laila all of last season.

She was second in the long jump (19-5) and 100 hurdles (14.19), third in the 300 hurdles  – all in PBs. She ran a 56.69 anchor in the 4x400 relay, in which Warren needed second to tie the team score and finished third.

“It’s all I really could have asked for,” she said.

Park Tudor’s Sophia Kennedy and Farley belong to track families, too.

Each won her first state title, extending legacies. Sophia is the daughter of Bob Kennedy, an Ohio state champion before becoming a two-time Olympian and American record-holder. Farley’s older sisters, Hannah and Abby, were three-time state champions in the 400 and 800, respectively.

“This is the most special moment. I remember as a little kid, sitting up in the stands, watching my sisters win and win,” Gretchen said. “I wanted to be just like them. To finally get it, it means so much. It really does.”

Farley vs. Southerland was perhaps the most compelling race of a memorable two days here.

 At 2:04.95 and 2:05.06, they climbed to US#5 and US#6. Both were under the state meet record of 2:06.26 set by Huntington North’s Addy Wiley last year. Coincidentally, they raced about three hours after Wiley became the No. 3 collegian ever at 1,500 with a time of 4:03.22 at Nashville, Tenn.

Farley aimed for a fast first lap to gap Southerland, a Delta junior coming off victory in the 1,600. At 61.93, that did not happen.

Instead, it became a reprise of the Pike Regional, where Farley charged to hold off Southerland, 2:05.88 to 2:06.12.

“I saw her, and I felt her on my shoulder, and it was like, ‘All right. It’s on. Let the race begin,’“ Farley said. “I knew she was going to do that. I had an extra gear in me because it was my only event today.

“That whole race, I just said, ‘I won, I won, I won.’ And I just kept going until I won. Never a doubt. It’s all mind over matter.”

With an evenly split 61.94/63.01, Farley approached Wiley’s top times -- 2:04.40 at Renton, Wash., in 2021, and 2:04.64 at Eugene, Ore., in 2022. Farley will have a chance to break Indiana’s all-time record June 14 at the Brooks PR Invitational.

(On World Athletics scoring tables, Farley's time is worth 1,076 points, compared with 1,099 for Mehringer's 13.38.)

Also at Brooks PR will be Kennedy, who won the 3,200 in 10:07.86, just off Lily Cridge’s state meet record of 10:03.16.

“Another chance to run fast out there,” Kennedy said. “Hopefully, it’s coming. Sub-10:00 in the works.”

Swart, of Cathedral, became a pole vaulter after frequent injuries in gymnastics. She broke the record of 13-6.25 set in 2009 by Pendleton Heights’ Ellie McCardwell. Swart nearly no-heighted, requiring three attempts to make her opening bar of 12-3.

“I just had to do what I know how to do and make that bar,” she said. “And then I knew I’d be fine for the rest of the bars.”

Until 2019, athletes were confined to three individual events and one relay. With Indiana now allowing four individual events, Crooke took advantage: first in the long jump, 19-10.75. PB; second in the 300 hurdles; third in the high jump, 5-9, and eighth in the 100 meters.

“I knew beforehand that it was going to be difficult. So kind of worked with trying to save energy as much as possible – which was way harder than I thought,” Crooke said.

Upset of the day was by Alexia Smith in the 400 meters. After finishing fourth in the long jump and second in the 100 meters, “I knew I had to win something today,” she said.

The Evansville Bosse sprinter, out of lane 8, turned in a 54.12 that made her No. 5 on Indiana’s all-time list (ahead of Hannah Farley, 54.21 in 2008).

Less of an upset, but a surprise nonetheless, was the 24.50 by Connersville freshman Ahniyah Bennett in the 200 meters. She was fifth in the 100, an event in which she was projected to be a potential champion. There have been six other freshman champions in the event, notably Olympic gold medalists Maicel Malone in 1984 and Lynna Irby in 2014.

“I was upset about that 100. That made me run faster than I normally do,” Bennett said.

Other field event champions included Bloomington North junior Hadley Lucas, who repeated in the shot put at 49-5, and Wood Memorial high jumper Josie Page at 5-10.

Noblesville completed a cross-country/track sweep of state championships. Oddly, it wasn’t solely because of distance runners. Oddly, too, is Noblesville became state champion after not winning in conference, sectional or regional.

The Millers scored in seven of 16 events, featuring 31 points in the field and 17 by thrower Hannah Alexander. She upset Lucas to win the discus by one foot (158-8), then improved on a No. 9 seed for third in the shot (45-8.5).

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on  Twitter: @DavidWoods007.