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BLOOMINGTON – Faith and family propelled Warren Central to the team championship Friday night in the 50th IHSAA girls state track and field meet.

The Warriors took comfort in their faith after a bus accident 15 weeks ago threatened their season. Then three Smith sisters, plus Jila Vaden, became a mighty foursome.

They wanted to “leave no doubt,” said Le’gretta Smith, the coach and mother of Laila, Samaya and Kira.

“Actually, all their life we knew there was going to be one year where they could run together. Just to have that year be a state title year, that was nothing planned but God.”

She borrowed from Matthew 17:20 for inspiration.

Truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Smith placed a mustard seed into the equipment bag of each girl.

Warren Central, after finishing second by one point in 2023 and 2021, did not leave doubt in 2024. The Warriors scored 57.5 points -- 26 by Laila Smith, 25 by Vaden – to 41 for runner-up Bloomington North.

Hamilton Southeastern was third with 29 and Carroll (Fort Wayne) fourth with 26. Brownsburg and Carmel tied for fifth with 24, one point ahead of defending state champion Noblesville.

Bloomington North thrower Hadley Lucas set two state meet records. Heritage Christian high jumper Kya Crooke nearly set one, and distance runners Nicki Southerland of Delta and Ava Jarrell of Pendleton made bids for three.

The Warriors battled from the first event, the long jump. In the second round, Vaden (20 feet, 0.75 inch) and Laila Smith (19-3.75) climbed into first and second place, and they stayed there for 18 points.

“I feel like with us starting out before everybody, we get everyone’s energy up,” said Vaden, a Purdue recruit.

She came within two-thousandths of a second of joining Lucas and Southerland as a double winner. Fishers’ Maya Taylor edged Vaden, 12.101 to 12.103 seconds, in the 100 meters. Vaden came back to finish third in the 200.

Smith was first in the 300-meter hurdles (43.35) for her first individual state title. She was second in the 100 hurdles and long jump. Her freshman sister, Kira, tied for third in the high jump at 5-8.

This was Warren Central’s sixth state championship – second to Fort Wayne Northrop’s 10 – and first since 2017. Four have come under coach Smith, who ranks second in state history. The total easily could be seven, considering Warren twice was second by one point and once by two points.

The coach acknowledged she has thought “all the time, all the time” about the scary events of Feb. 17.

A bus transporting eight girls to an indoor meet slid into a guardrail on I-74 near Crawfordsville. Laila was sore afterward, and Kira was transported to the hospital. Kira lost a tooth, endured a concussion and bruised her right shoulder.

After the Warriors regrouped and rehabbed, they refocused.

“We took that time to be grateful that we were alive and able to come to practice every day,” Laila said. “Then nobody got really injured, so we were able to come back today and put in all of our hard work.”

Elsewhere, Lucas won her fourth and five state titles, an Indiana record in field events.

The Wisconsin signee threw the discus 169-6, breaking the meet record of 168-6 by Lawrence Central’s Arianna Brown in 2013.

Lucas, on her final attempt in the shot put, threw 51-11 to complete a three-year sweep. The shot was deep in quality, considering Greensburg’s Emarie Jackson (48-9) and Crispus Attucks’ Lariah Wooden (48-3.5) rank in the nation’s top 15.

Lucas’ all-time state records are 175 feet and 54-10.75 – second and first, respectively, in the nation this year. In the discus, she had four throws exceeding 160 feet and beat runner-up Jackson by 17 feet.

“Not a bad day when I have two goals I’ve been working for my whole high school career,” she said.

Lucas will travel to Eugene, Ore., in a June bid to make the U.S. team for the under-20 World Championships and perhaps to throw in the Olympic Trials.

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Southerland became the first to win state titles in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters in a career. She repeated in the 1,600 in 4:41.98, three seconds off the meet record, after winning the 3,200 in 2022.

She built a lead in the 800 but was challenged down the stretch by two Bloomington runners, Ellie Barada of South and Nola Somers Glenn of North. Southerland held on to win in 2:06.50, or 1.55 off the record set by Park Tudor’s Gretchen Farley in beating Southerland last year.

“I heard a lot of cheering, but I wasn’t really sure how close anybody was,” Southerland said. “But I just finished as hard as I could.”

Barada was second in 2:06.87 – a personal best by four seconds, a state sophomore record and best in the nation by a soph this year. Glenn dropped five seconds to finish third in 2:07.28. They now rank Nos. 6 and 7 on Indiana’s all-time list.

In the 3,200, Jarrell ran the closing 400 in 71.78 to win in 10:10.05, worth No. 5 on Indiana’s all-time list and seven seconds off the state meet record.

“If I was at a point to where I might be able to get it, I was going to go for it,” she said.

Cross-country state champion Libby Dowty, an Indian Creek sophomore, closed in 70.84 to finish second in 10:15.14.

Crooke jumped 5-11 to win her first state title, then seemingly was over 6-0.25, which would have broken the meet record held by Norwell’s Angie Bradburn since 1985. Crooke barely clipped the bar. After winning the long jump last year, she became the first in this meet’s half-century to be state champion in both high jump and long jump.

“Even though I didn’t make that 6-0.25, I was so close, and I know it’s coming soon,” she said. “As soon as I hit that 6 feet, it’s going to keep on going up from there.”

Four girls cleared 5-8. In 28 of 49 previous state meets, 5-8 was enough to win. Defending champion Josie Page of Wood Memorial finished second at 5-10.

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50th Annual IHSAA Girls Track & Field State Finals
Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex, Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
Friday, May 31, 2024

State Champions
3200 Relay: Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran (Brylee Crass 9, Sidney Scheumann 12, Lexi Panning 12, Mallory Weller 10), 9:00.52
100 Meters: Maya Taylor, 12, Fishers, :12.11
100 Hurdles: Dede Eberle, 12, Bloomington North, :14.25
200 Meters: De'Janay Layne, 10, Evansville North, :24.79
1600 Meters: Nicki Southerland, 12, Delta, 4:41.98 Repeat state championship
400 Relay: Carroll (Fort Wayne) (Doreen Adjei 10, Eva Mueller 9, Aliyah Sauder 12, Nadia Ford 9), :47.46
400 Meters: Omema Anyanwu, 11, Zionsville, :56.18
300 Hurdles: Laila Smith, 12, Warren Central, :43.35
800 Meters: Nicki Southerland, 12, Delta, 2:06.50
3200 Meters: Ava Jarrell, 11, Pendleton Heights, 10:10.05
1600 Relay: Carmel (Gabriela Grande Rosas 10, Sadie Foley 10, Olivia Cebalo 11, Emily Norris 11), 3:50.90
Discus: Hadley Lucas, 12, Bloomington North, 169-6 State Record
Shot Put: Hadley Lucas, 12, Bloomington North, 51-11 State Record; Third consecutive championship
Long Jump: Jila Vaden, 12, Warren Central, 20-0.75
High Jump: Kya Crooke, 11, Heritage Christian, 5-11
Pole Vault: Amy Luttrell, 12, Greenwood Community, 12-9

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Hadley Lucas of Bloomington North named Mental Attitude Award recipient
Following Friday's action, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Hadley Lucas of Bloomington High School North as the winner of this year’s Mental Attitude Award in Girls Track and Field.

Hadley is a two-time state champion in discus (2022, 2024) and a three-time state champion in shot put (2022, 2023, 2024). On Friday, she set the state meet record in both discus (169-06) and shot put (51-11). Hadley is a two-time Indiana Track and Field Athlete of the Year and represented Team USA at the 2023 Pan American Games. She's been a team captain for Bloomington North for the past two years.

Hadley is a member of National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society. She actively volunteers her time assisting her community through her church, as well as with Habitat for Humanity and Wheeler Mission.

The daughter of Laura and Brad Lucas of Bloomington, Hadley will be attending the University of Wisconsin where she will throw for the Badgers and double major in Construction Management and Kinesiology.

The IHSAA Executive Committee, on behalf of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Bloomington High School North in the name of Hadley Lucas.