The Batesville High School Track and Field team opened their 2024 season Saturday competing at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marian for a chance to qualify for the Hoosier State Relays. This is the indoor state meet which will be held at the newly built Track and Field Facility at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, held on Saturday, March 23rd. Yesterday was one of two meets the Bulldogs will have for a chance to qualify for this state meet. To qualify, times and distances must be one of the top 24 in the state by March 16th.
The Bulldogs left the parking lot yesterday at an early 6:30 am to make the 2-hour trip to Marian and overall it was a very successful day. There were 31 teams at the meet competing in various events, with many being a 4-5A school. For the Hoosier State Relays, the events are not all the same as they would be during the outdoor season. There are all the field events except for discus, but the only individual running events are the 60m hurdles, 60m dash, and the 3200m run. All other events are relays…4 x 200, 4 x 800, 4 x 400, and the Distance Medley Relay (DMR).
Here are our highlights for the day…
Ayden Eckstein was one of 2 left competing after the 6’2″ mark. Although Ayden cleared a big PR of 6’7″, it was Jordan Randall wowing the crowd with his 6’10” make and attempts at 7’0″. It was a pretty cool thing to watch! Congratulations Ayden on your 2nd place finish out of a field of 27 jumpers! Ayden also jumped a PR at the long jump with a leap of 19’10.5″ placing him 5th overall out of 38.
Also getting a 2nd place finish was freshman Ella King with a PR throw-in shot put of 37’7″ with 40 athletes in the event.
Hudson Kohlman was 3rd in the pole vault with a 12’0″ clearance and 12 vaulters in the field.
Other events placing in the top 10 were:
Both the boys and the girls’ 4 x 800m relay teams placed 4th overall. The girls squad was Kaylie Raver, Kaylynn Bedel, Paige Allgeier and Megan Allgeier. They had a finish time of 10:10.55 with 18 teams in their race. The boys’ team was composed of Deev Ranka, Cash Myers, Ethan Lacey, and Cannon Clark with a time of 9:00.78 and raced against 20 teams.
6th place finishes went to the girl’s Distance Medley team of Megan Allgeier, Kaylie Raver, Paige Allgeier, and Kaylynn Bedel (13:38.42) out of 18 teams and the boy’s 4 x 400m relay team of Gage Pohlman, Cannon Clark, Deev Ranka and Blake Hornberger (3:39.57) out of 20 teams.
Taking 8th place was the girls’ 4 x 400m relay of Megan Allgeier, Bayleigh Demaree, Addison Luers, and Kaylie Raver (4:26.84) out of 21 teams, and in 10th place was: Brock Mahon in shot put with a throw of 44’5.5″ (out of 47 throwers) and the girls 4 x 200m relay team of Savannah Pohlman, Nora Wiedeman, Addison Luers and Katie Lipps (1:55.41) out of 24 teams.
Congratulations to all!
Batesville had other events and athletes also competed, although not in the top 10, but still beating more than 1/2 of their competitors…listed by event with place/#of competitors below are:
Long Jump: Nora Weideman (14/32)
Shot Put: Ryan Oesterling (19/40)
60m hurdles: Cole Rudolf (20/40)
60m dash: Katie Lipps (29/65), Brock Mahon (24/70), Noah Davis (38/70) and Christian Stenger (31/70)
Great start to everyone! The Bulldogs will travel to UIndy this Friday for their 2nd opportunity to better their times and distances to qualify for the Hoosier State Relays.
Submitted by the school’s athletic department.