Led by five Indoor State qualifiers, the Benton girls track team opened its indoor season at the Western Indiana Indoor Invitational at DePauw University over the weekend.
Junior Sydney Potts qualified for Indoor State in three events. Individually, she was second in the high jump ( 4 feet 10 inches), and third in the 55-meter high hurdles (9.28). Potts also teamed up with Madaline Parrish, Kaitlyn Schutt and Lindsay Hathcoat to take second in the 4x400 relay (4:27.54). The relay time was the second best in BCHS indoor history.
Ashley Webb took second in the shot put (37 feet 11.5 inches) to qualify as well. The throw was the best in BCHS indoor history and is the top throw in Illinois so far.
Parrish and Schutt both qualified in the long jump. Parrish was second (15 feet, 11.25 inches) and Schutt was fourth (15 feet, 7.75 inches). The jumps were the Nos. 3 and 5 in BCHS indoor history.
“This was a good start for our team and I thought we competed well,” Benton girls track coach Andy Sloan said. “We are very inexperienced and will learn with each and every meet, especially early. Honestly we needed this meet very badly to get on a track and out of the gym.
“As a coaching staff, we didn’t have one thing that disappointed us all day,” he added. “We have a lot of work to do and need to have a good week of practice and continue to challenge the kids. Ashley Webb picked up where she left off last year, Sydney was steady in all of her events, Kaitlyn and Madaline ran and jumped very well. Bybee had a good day and Emily Nolen was impressive in her first career track meet. Our 4x4 also ran well and nipped a good Newton team at the wire. Overall, we qualified 5 entries into the indoor state meet later this month and that is great for our first meet. We need to focus and improve on all of our marks over the next three weekends.”
Chelsea Hayden (32 feet, 1 inch) and Natalie Taylor (31 feet, 1.5 inches) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the shot put setting the Nos. 2 and 4 marks in BCHS history. Parrish (28.94) and Potts (29.51) were seventh and 11th, respectively, in the 200-meters with the Nos. 3 and 4 BCHS indoor marks. Kaitlyn Schutt (7.82) was fourth and Parrish (8.12) and Macy Shurtz (8.20) were 10th and 13th, respectively, in the 55-meter dash for the Nos. 2, 5 and 6 indoor times in BCHS history.
