{"id":37129,"date":"2026-05-27T09:02:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T13:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=37129"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:05:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T13:05:46","slug":"walter-to-lead-local-contingent-to-state-track-field-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/walter-to-lead-local-contingent-to-state-track-field-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Walter to lead local contingent to State Track & Field Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

RANDY HISNER & DANE FUELLING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HUNTERTOWN – The Heritage Patriots scored five athletes in the Carroll Girls\u2019 Track and Field Regional Tuesday to tally 31 points and finish eighth in the team standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proud to sponsor Heritage athletes and teams on WZBD.com!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throwers Alexa Walter and Lenai Riddle accounted for 24 of the Patriots\u2019 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\u2019s first regional title; she was runner-up in the shot put last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexa Walter and Lenai Riddle speak with the Z Team after qualifying for the IHSAA State Finals. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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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\u2019 PRs (Walter 45-11.5, Riddle 43-03), but it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lenai Riddle of Heritage finished third to qualify for state in the shot put, a rarity for a freshman. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Heritage throws coach Jason Habisch was philosophical about the shot put performances. \u201cFirst, I want to say that the girl from Carroll did a tremendous job,\u201d he said. \u201cTonight\u2019s not the night to be below average, but the good news is they [Walter and Riddle] kept competing, and I\u2019m really proud of them. Having girls go back to state is tremendous.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Throwing coach Jason Habisch of the Heritage Patriots talks about the performance of his stars. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day,\u201d Habisch added, \u201cthey\u2019re high schoolers; they\u2019re going to have their good nights and tough nights, and how they respond is what I\u2019m mostly interested in. I think they\u2019re going to respond really well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heritage senior Alexa Walter releases the shot put. Her runner-up finish sends her to state for the second year in a row. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the third year in a row that Heritage has qualified throwers for the girls\u2019 state meet. Walter is the defending runner-up in the shot put and will be one of the favorites to win this year\u2019s title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proud to sponsor Heritage Athletics on WZBD.com!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walter also took the below-par night in stride. \u201cIt definitely wasn\u2019t my best performance,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I\u2019m blessed to be here and to get to go to state, especially with Lenai. I mean, that\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bellmont sophomore Mary Bleke threw a big PR to go from the 8th seed to 4th place. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bellmont\u2019s 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\u2019s sectional and more than a foot over her previous best of 38-08.5. \u201cI knew it was my last meet,\u201d said Bleke, \u201cso I had to go all out or nothing. Last week I didn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Mary Bleke talks about her new PR with WZBD’s Randy Hisner.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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New storefront open in Decatur!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Heritage\u2019s other seven points came from freshman Di\u2019Mond 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heritage freshman Di’Mond Williams-White (lane 2) set a new PR of 26.37 in the 200 meters on her way to fifth place. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scoring two freshmen (Williams-White and Riddle) and a sophomore (Amstein) in the regional bodes well for the future of Coach Matt Smith\u2019s Patriots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Adams senior Kapri Bixler scored in the 100-meter hurdles, placing eighth in 16.30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 8th-place Bellmont 4X400 relay (L to R: Ashley Bleke, Kaitlyn Barton, Quinn Buchan, Grace Ruble). (Photo by Randy HIsner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bellmont\u2019s 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\u2019s sectional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grace Ruble finishes the second leg of the Braves’ 4X400 relay and hands off to Ashley Bleke (Photo by Randy HIsner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the highlights of the night was a 4:33.37 clocking in the 1600 meters by Concordia\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Besides George in the shot put, the Chargers got wins from Nadia Ford in the 100 meters (12.03) and their 4X100 relay squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Girls\u2019 state meet will be held next Friday, June 5, at Indianapolis North Central High School. Field events will begin at 3:00 P.M.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results & Notes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shot Put<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Lily George-Carroll (FW) 42-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Alexa Walter-Heritage 41-09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Lenai Riddle-Heritage 40-06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Marianne Bleke-Bellmont 40-01.75<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Alexandria Koby-Bluffton 38-01.75<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Rori Drayer-Bluffton 35-09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Alexa Walter-Heritage 117-03<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alexa Walter gave the Patriots an individual champion in the discus with a toss of 117-3. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

6. Rori Drayer-Bluffton 106-01<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Riley Roy-Heritage 97-06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Braelyn Radecki-Bellmont 91-06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. Kenley Geels-South Adams 82-05<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100 M Final<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Nadia Ford-Carroll (FW) 12.03<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100 M Prelim Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peyton Carpenter-Jay County 13.25<\/p>\n\n\n\n

200 M Final<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Aryann Washington-Northrop 24.96<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5. Di’Mond Williams-White-Heritage 26.37<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Mia Bollinger-Delta 27.25<\/p>\n\n\n\n

200 M Prelim Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Di’Mond Williams-White-Heritage 26.34<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jada Dale-Norwell 27.11<\/p>\n\n\n\n

400 M<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Channing Xayarath-Homestead 56.94<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Jada Dale-Norwell 57.76<\/p>\n\n\n\n

800 M<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Daphne Weller-Concordia Lutheran 2:13.62<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Cora Kunkel-Bluffton 2:24.11<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Ashley Tucker-Norwell 2:27.80<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Brooklyn Byrum-Jay County 2:29.98<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1600 M<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Mallory Weller-Concordia Lutheran 4:33.77<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3200 M<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Mallory Weller-Concordia Lutheran 10:38.31<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Kenya Leitch-Columbia City 10:44.07<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Alice Friesen-Huntington North 10:51.83<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proud sponsor of local athletes on WZBD.com!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

100 M Hurdles Final<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Jillian Barr-Delta 15.13<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Channing Xayarath-Homestead 15.36<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. McKinsey Amstein-Heritage 15.80<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Amstein’s time was a new PR, surpassing her time of 15.97 against South Adams and Bluffton earlier this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Kapri Bixler-South Adams 16.30<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100 M Hurdle Prelim Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKinsey Amstein-Heritage 16.05<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kapri Bixler (left) of South Adams negotiates the final barrier in the 100-meter hurdles on her way to eighth as Heritage’s McKinsey Amstein (right) charges to sixth place. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kapri Bixler-South Adams 16.56<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey Jenkins-Southern Wells 17.24<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dakota Lee-Bluffton 17.68<\/p>\n\n\n\n

300 M Hurdles <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Alasia Greene-Northrop 45.28<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Leighann Carpenter-Southern Wells 47.52<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Kapri Bixler-South Adams 48.39<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Ana Lehman-South Adams 48.71<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Lehman’s time was a new PR for the Starfire hurdler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Rosalinda Medina-Heritage 49.88<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4×100 Relay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Carroll (FW) 47.33<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Heritage 50.81<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-The Patriots saved their best for last in the 4×100, clocking a time that was .54 faster than last week’s sectional time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Bluffton 51.33<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. Jay County 51.40<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4×400 Relay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Concordia Lutheran 3:55.41<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Bellmont 4:10.82<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Senior Quinn Buchan ran a blazing first leg for the Bellmont 4X400 relay (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

-The Braves went 1.61 seconds faster than last week at sectional for their season best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Heritage 4:13.74<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Norwell 4:17.22<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. Bluffton 4:22.32<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4×800 Relay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Columbia City 9:03.41<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Bluffton 10:08.69<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Jay County 10:10.97<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Norwell 10:36.78<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

High Jump<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Alexis Lopez-Southwood 5-03<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Haley Williamson-Norwell 5-01<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Luelle Schoch-South Adams 4-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17. Mya Kunkler-Jay County 4-08<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24. Maya Schlemmer-Bellmont 4-08<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Maya Schlemmer matched her season best against the very best competition at regional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bellmont high jumper Maya Schlemmer plants for an attempt in the high jump. She cleared 4-8
(Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Long Jump<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Reese Backus-Delta 18-04<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Peyton Carpenter-Jay County 16-00.5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Ana Lehman-South Adams 15-11<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Lehman had her best jump of the season for the team and the best distance of any Adams County jumper in 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pole Vault<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st-Madeline Baker-Leo 10-00<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Addison Raber-Bluffton 9-06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Mya Kunkler-Jay County 9-06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Chloe Post-Bellmont 8-06<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RANDY HISNER & DANE FUELLING WZBD.com HUNTERTOWN – The Heritage Patriots scored five athletes in the Carroll Girls\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":37144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,15,51,28,26,39],"class_list":["post-37129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bellmont","tag-featured","tag-heritage","tag-southadams","tag-sports","tag-track"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_7602-scaled.jpeg?fit=1928%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37129"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37157,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37129\/revisions\/37157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}