RANDY HISNER & DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
HUNTERTOWN – The Heritage Patriots scored five athletes in the Carroll Girls’ Track and Field Regional Tuesday to tally 31 points and finish eighth in the team standings.
The Carroll Chargers won the meet with 98 points, well ahead of the runner-up Concordia Cadets, who scored 72. New Haven Sectional champ Homestead placed third with 55 points, nipping fourth-place Columbia City by one point.
Throwers Alexa Walter and Lenai Riddle accounted for 24 of the Patriots’ points. Walter, a senior, claimed the only Z-Land title in the meet with a discus throw of 117-3, well off her PR of 134-07 but enough to beat runner-up Mairin Gesler of Yorktown at 115-7. It was Walter’s first regional title; she was runner-up in the shot put last year.
Walter placed second in the shot put (41-9) and freshman teammate Lenai Riddle placed third (40-6). Both efforts were short of the girls’ PRs (Walter 45-11.5, Riddle 43-03), but it’s an indication of their elite status that even on an off night, both qualified for state. (The top three finishers receive automatic bids.) Carroll senior Lily George won the event with a 42-10 mark.
Heritage throws coach Jason Habisch was philosophical about the shot put performances. “First, I want to say that the girl from Carroll did a tremendous job,” he said. “Tonight’s not the night to be below average, but the good news is they [Walter and Riddle] kept competing, and I’m really proud of them. Having girls go back to state is tremendous.”
“At the end of the day,” Habisch added, “they’re high schoolers; they’re going to have their good nights and tough nights, and how they respond is what I’m mostly interested in. I think they’re going to respond really well.”
It’s the third year in a row that Heritage has qualified throwers for the girls’ state meet. Walter is the defending runner-up in the shot put and will be one of the favorites to win this year’s title.
Walter also took the below-par night in stride. “It definitely wasn’t my best performance,” she said, “but I’m blessed to be here and to get to go to state, especially with Lenai. I mean, that’s pretty special.”
Bellmont’s Mary Bleke had a big night in the shot put, jumping from her eighth seed all the way to fourth with a huge PR throw of 40-1, almost five feet better than she threw at last week’s sectional and more than a foot over her previous best of 38-08.5. “I knew it was my last meet,” said Bleke, “so I had to go all out or nothing. Last week I didn’t do the best I could because I was slipping, but I knew this ring was going to be better. I knew I had a better chance to throw more than 35.”
Heritage’s other seven points came from freshman Di’Mond Williams-White, fifth in the 200 meters in a career-best 26.37, and sophomore McKinsey Amstein, sixth in the 100-meter hurdles in a career-best 15.80.
Scoring two freshmen (Williams-White and Riddle) and a sophomore (Amstein) in the regional bodes well for the future of Coach Matt Smith’s Patriots.
South Adams senior Kapri Bixler scored in the 100-meter hurdles, placing eighth in 16.30.
Bellmont’s 4X400 relay (Quinn Buchan, Grace Ruble, Ashley Bleke, and Kaitlyn Barton) scored a point by beating their ninth seed by one spot to place eighth in 4:10.82, cutting another 1.6 seconds from their big season best at last week’s sectional.
One of the highlights of the night was a 4:33.37 clocking in the 1600 meters by Concordia’s Mallory Weller. Her time, which gave her a 28-second margin of victory, is the second-best in the nation this season. Weller also won the 3200 meters in 10:38.31. Her sister, Daphne, won the 800 in 2:13.62.
Besides George in the shot put, the Chargers got wins from Nadia Ford in the 100 meters (12.03) and their 4X100 relay squad.
The Girls’ state meet will be held next Friday, June 5, at Indianapolis North Central High School. Field events will begin at 3:00 P.M.
Team Scores: 1st-Carroll (FW) 98, 2nd-Concordia Lutheran 72, 3rd-Homestead 55, 4th-Columbia City 54, 8th-Heritage 31, 11th-Bluffton 15, 18th-Woodlan 7.5, 19th-Norwell 7, 21st-Bellmont 6, 26th-Southern Wells 3, 28th-Jay County 2.5, 30th-South Adams 1
Results & Notes:
Shot Put
1. Lily George-Carroll (FW) 42-10
2. Alexa Walter-Heritage 41-09
3. Lenai Riddle-Heritage 40-06
4. Marianne Bleke-Bellmont 40-01.75
-Bleke’s previous PR was a throw of 38-08.5 against East Noble. She is now just 3.5 feet away from Hailey Cole’s school record.
6. Alexandria Koby-Bluffton 38-01.75
9. Rori Drayer-Bluffton 35-09
Discus
1. Alexa Walter-Heritage 117-03
6. Rori Drayer-Bluffton 106-01
11. Riley Roy-Heritage 97-06
14. Braelyn Radecki-Bellmont 91-06
15. Kenley Geels-South Adams 82-05
100 M Final
1. Nadia Ford-Carroll (FW) 12.03
100 M Prelim Times
Peyton Carpenter-Jay County 13.25
200 M Final
1st-Aryann Washington-Northrop 24.96
5. Di’Mond Williams-White-Heritage 26.37
8. Mia Bollinger-Delta 27.25
200 M Prelim Times
Di’Mond Williams-White-Heritage 26.34
-Di’Mond’s times Thursday in the 200 were both better than her PR, with her prelim time of 26.34 easily the best time for the Patriots in at least the last five years.
Jada Dale-Norwell 27.11
400 M
1st-Channing Xayarath-Homestead 56.94
4. Jada Dale-Norwell 57.76
800 M
1st-Daphne Weller-Concordia Lutheran 2:13.62
6. Cora Kunkel-Bluffton 2:24.11
9. Ashley Tucker-Norwell 2:27.80
13. Brooklyn Byrum-Jay County 2:29.98
1600 M
1st-Mallory Weller-Concordia Lutheran 4:33.77
3200 M
1st-Mallory Weller-Concordia Lutheran 10:38.31
2. Kenya Leitch-Columbia City 10:44.07
3. Alice Friesen-Huntington North 10:51.83
100 M Hurdles Final
1st-Jillian Barr-Delta 15.13
2. Channing Xayarath-Homestead 15.36
6. McKinsey Amstein-Heritage 15.80
-Amstein’s time was a new PR, surpassing her time of 15.97 against South Adams and Bluffton earlier this season.
8. Kapri Bixler-South Adams 16.30
100 M Hurdle Prelim Times
McKinsey Amstein-Heritage 16.05
Kapri Bixler-South Adams 16.56
Bailey Jenkins-Southern Wells 17.24
Dakota Lee-Bluffton 17.68
300 M Hurdles
1st-Alasia Greene-Northrop 45.28
6. Leighann Carpenter-Southern Wells 47.52
9. Kapri Bixler-South Adams 48.39
10. Ana Lehman-South Adams 48.71
-Lehman’s time was a new PR for the Starfire hurdler.
13. Rosalinda Medina-Heritage 49.88
4×100 Relay
1st-Carroll (FW) 47.33
10. Heritage 50.81
-The Patriots saved their best for last in the 4×100, clocking a time that was .54 faster than last week’s sectional time.
14. Bluffton 51.33
15. Jay County 51.40
4×400 Relay
1st-Concordia Lutheran 3:55.41
8. Bellmont 4:10.82
-The Braves went 1.61 seconds faster than last week at sectional for their season best.
11. Heritage 4:13.74
13. Norwell 4:17.22
15. Bluffton 4:22.32
4×800 Relay
1st-Columbia City 9:03.41
8. Bluffton 10:08.69
10. Jay County 10:10.97
14. Norwell 10:36.78
High Jump
1st-Alexis Lopez-Southwood 5-03
7. Haley Williamson-Norwell 5-01
13. Luelle Schoch-South Adams 4-10
17. Mya Kunkler-Jay County 4-08
24. Maya Schlemmer-Bellmont 4-08
-Maya Schlemmer matched her season best against the very best competition at regional.
(Photo by Randy Hisner)
Long Jump
1st-Reese Backus-Delta 18-04
9. Peyton Carpenter-Jay County 16-00.5
10. Ana Lehman-South Adams 15-11
-Lehman had her best jump of the season for the team and the best distance of any Adams County jumper in 2026.
Pole Vault
1st-Madeline Baker-Leo 10-00
3. Addison Raber-Bluffton 9-06
6. Mya Kunkler-Jay County 9-06
9. Chloe Post-Bellmont 8-06
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