GOSHEN GIRLS RELAYS: Penn, Culver Academies win as teams ready for postseason

May 8—GOSHEN — Saturday's Goshen Girls Relays allowed for one last competition for area girls track and field teams before conference meets begin next week.

The 14-school, two-class event saw Penn win Class A with 96 team points, while Culver Academies won Class B with 110 points in the 31st running of the girls relays at Foreman Field.

Goshen finished third in Class A with 56 points. They picked up a win in the pole vault, as Almudena Menendez-Jimenez, Mallory Wood and Kayli Anglemeyer combined to vault 24-06.50 feet, winning them Class A hardware. Menendez-Jimenez was also the top individual vaulter in Class A, reaching 9-00.50 feet.

RedHawk coach KeJuan Leek said his team was a little shorthanded Saturday due to various injuries, which affected some of their performances. Still, the first-year coach thought his team competed well.

"I'm happy with our team," Leek said. "A couple of our girls had to step up at the last minute. We've been preaching this week to go out and be competitive, but also go out and be loose; have some fun this week. So, it was nice to see them come out here and compete well; we had a lot of (personal records)."

NorthWood finished second in Class B with 94 points. They picked up two victories: the 4x100-meter hurdle relay (MacKenzie Brewer, Reagan Koble, Joslyn Miller and Hannah Chupp, 1:10.28) and in the high jump (Jessie Price, Aaliyah Bonner and Iliya Smith, combined 12-06 feet).

Panthers coach Mark Mikel said that, along with some injuries, he had some athletes not available Saturday because they were taking their SAT's. That was completely fine, in the coach's eyes.

"We talk about our team priorities: we talk about faith and family first, academics second, track and field third," Mikel said. "So, I had no problem with them missing to get their college stuff set up."

Both Goshen and NorthWood now turn their attention to Tuesday's Northern Lakes Conference girls track championship meet at Warsaw High School. NorthWood finished 3-4 in conference meets in the regular season, while Goshen was 1-6. The host Tigers won the regular season NLC crown by going 7-0.

Mikel said Saturday gave him a chance to work his team hard one more time before they start getting ready for the conference championship.

"This is a good, hard workout for the kids," Mikel said. "They're racing in race conditions. A lot of them run distances they're not used to running, and there's a few key athletes that we overloaded a little bit (Saturday). This is that last big, hard effort day before (NLC)."

Leek hopes to see his athletes compete well at Warsaw on Tuesday.

"All year, we've been preaching to go out and do your best; just go out and compete," Leek said. "So, hopefully we can go out and see the culmination of everything we've done this year."

One other school from the area emerged victorious in an event, and that was Fairfield in the long jump. The trio of Maddy Yoder, Nicole Haldeman and Lauren Wuthrich combined to jump 43-1.5 feet to win the Class B competition. The Falcons next compete in the Northeast Corner Conference championships Wednesday at Churubusco.

Concord and Wawasee also competed Saturday, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Class A team standings.

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31st Goshen Girls Relays — event winners

Note: the Goshen Girls Relays score field events as the combined scores of the top three performers from each school.

Class A:

Distance medley relay (1,200, 400, 800, 1,600): Mary Eubank, Julia Economou, Nicole Marshall and Julie Smith, Penn, 12:41.56 (new meet record)

4x100-meter hurdle relay: J'Asia Scott, Kobi Scott, Cambria Bomersback and Morgan Patterson, Fort Wayne Northrop, 1:02.47

4x100-meter relay: Morgan Patterson, Cambria Bomersback, J'Asia Scott and Tajaina McKenzie, Northrop, 49.90 seconds

4x200-meter relay: Angel Thomas, Isabella Soens, Sofia Frazee and Adele Zyniewicz, South Bend Adams, 1:49.95

4x400-meter relay: Julia Economou, Haley Makowski, Ava Gillis and Nicole Marshall, Penn, 4:11.89

4x800-meter relay: Mary Eubank, Ava Gillis, Julie Smuth and Julia Economou, Penn, 10:09.30