Lady Pilgrims Track Team Finished in 2nd Place at Sectional in Bremen

Last night, the Plymouth Lady Pilgrims track team traveled to Bremen to compete at the IHSAA Sectionals. Kicking things off, the 4x800m team of Rylee Laird, Kyleigh Kara, Ally Schadek and Addie Kingston had a solid showing narrowly missing a top 3 place and a ticket to regionals by finishing in fourth place.  Seniors Kylee Gaines and Elli Schaller both competed in both throwing events, shot put and discus, and did not qualify for the event finals as they represented our team in their final meet of their careers. In the High Jump, Jersey Hunter took 5th place and Joy Everett finished just off the podium.  In the 400m dash, Freshman Lauren Gurtner ran a personal best time for the third consecutive race and took 5th place while Emma Erhart finished in 8th place.  In the 300m hurdles, Sonya Joseph and Alexis Doll finished in 6th and 7th place in a close race, Joseph ran a Season Best (SB) time.  The 4x100m relay team completed their stellar season with an 8th place finish; we want to highlight that the quartet featuring Jersey Hunter, Arielle Ferman, Kathryn Morrison and Alana Allen had an incredible year that included breaking the school record and they also went undefeated in conference dual meets.  In the 1600m, Ellie Gifford sliced over 7 seconds on her personal best for the third straight meet and finished right outside the podium while Sophie Wray took on a grueling challenge in the first of three gauntlet distance races by taking runner-up honors and punching her first ticket to regionals.  Freshman Yuli Contreras ran in the 200m, ran her 2nd fastest time of the year but barely missed making the finals on the day.  In the Pole Vault, Bella Walters matched her personal best and took sixth place while Sophomore Arielle Ferman also matched her personal record and grabbed her first ticket to Goshen with a 3rd place finish.  Sophomore Rowynn Hall-Davis missed making the Long Jump finals during the day, while teammate Ferman leaped a personal best on her final jump to add a second opportunity to compete at the regionals with another third place finish.  In Wray’s 2nd distance race, she took another red ribbon and set a personal best that earned her a second ticket for the Goshen regional.  Lola Hissong ran another quality race as she finished in 5th place and provided a glimpse of what she will bring back for next year’s team.  The 4x400m relay team of Gurtner, Everett, Erhart and Amaya Ameling ran in a talented mile relay field and finished in third place that provides this team another chance to race against the best at regionals next Tuesday.  Junior Sophie Wray ran in her third and final gauntlet distance race, the 3200m and finished in fourth place and secured the team crucial points for the team leaderboard.  Bailey Edmiston also scored a point with a solid 8th place finish.  Senior Rilynn Ames ran in a tough 100m hurdle field and missed the event final by .19 of a second.  Freshman Jersey Hunter navigated through a tough field as she turned it on at the finish to become the team’s first sectional champion of the night with a personal best time of 15.63, the program’s third best all time.  Next up, in the 100m dash, Freshman Kathryn Morrison made her first sectional final debut and placed 7th as she ran a PR in the prelims.  Not to be outdone, Freshman Alana Allen raced a stellar field and joined Hunter as a sectional champion as she came out on top in the 100m finals.  Later on in the meet, Allen was in her second final of the night, the 200m dash.  She faced TRC champion Emerson Harper amongst a top level field in her fifth race of the evening. Jumping out with a nice start out of the blocks it appeared Allen had the early lead but Harper, Guilliani from Manchester and Labella from CGA were all exchanging the lead down the stretch…..a final burst from the Plymouth freshman garnered her a second sectional championship and berth at the Goshen regionals.  Proud of the way our team battled and came together and finished in 2nd place as a team.  The regional qualifiers will continue their journey and travel to Goshen next Tuesday.