Valley’s Shepherd finishes 3rd in 300 hurdles, returns to state

NM’s Hoover finishes 2nd in shot put, earns first trip to state

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Girls track

Betty Shepherd

After a two-year wait, Tippecanoe Valley senior Betty Shepherd earned a return trip to the IHSAA girls track state finals by finishing third in the 300 hurdles at the Goshen regional Thursday.

Shepherd was timed in 45.67 seconds, breaking her own Valley school record.

She had the previous record of 45.97 seconds at the 2025 regional at Warsaw, but she finished fourth and did not advance.

Shepherd was second in the event at the 2024 regional, when she ran a 47.51 at Kokomo.

She went on to finish 18th at state in 46.40 seconds.

The other area state qualifier is North Miami sophomore shot putter Andrea Hoover, who earned her first state trip by finishing second with a throw of 40-5 ½. Jimtown’s Brooklyn King won with a throw of 41-5.

Rochester did not advance an athlete to state or score any team points, but the 4 x 100 relay team set a school record of 51.56 seconds in finishing 15th. The team consists of Kyra Doran, Maddie Bailon, Kyla Conley and Maddie MacLain.

The previous record was at last week’s Bremen sectional, where they finished third in 52.20 seconds.

Doran also participated in two individual events at Goshen. She took 10th in the long jump with a jump of 16-4 ½. She missed the finals by a half-inch and missed scoring by an inch.

Doran also placed 16th in the 100 hurdles in 19.54 seconds.

Allyson Calloway, participating in her third straight regional in the 3,200 meters, was 14th in 12:35.55.

Bailon, who received a callback in the 200, finished 16th in 27.54 seconds.

Shepherd also took fifth in the 100 hurdles in 15.40 seconds and ninth in the discus with a throw of 111-0.

In addition to Hoover, the other North Miami athlete in the field was senior high jumper Grace Sailors, who took eighth with a jump of 5-1.

Penn won the regional title with 70 points. South Bend Adams was second with 63. Valley finished with 10 points, and North Miami had nine.

Athletes qualified for state by finishing in the top three in their event or by meeting a difficult state qualifying standard.

North Central High School in Indianapolis will host the state finals at 3 p.m. June 5.

GOSHEN GIRLS TRACK REGIONAL RESULTS (TOP 10 TEAMS PLUS AREA TEAMS): Penn 70, South Bend Adams 63, Elkhart 43, Fairfield 38, Warsaw 35, Plymouth 33, Goshen 30, Northridge 29.5, East Noble 27, Bremen 26.5, VALLEY 10, NORTH MIAMI 9, ROCHESTER 0

Scoring on 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for all events

State qualifiers (top three) plus all Rochester, Valley and North Miami athletes

100 m

1. Walter (Fairfield) – 11.75 seconds, 2. Kimbrough (SB Adams) – 12.11, 3. Allen (Plymouth) – 12.31

200 m

1. Lind (Goshen) – 24.35 seconds, 2. Kimbrough (SB Adams) – 25.37, 3. Marsh (SB Adams) – 25.48, 16. MADDIE BAILON (RHS) – 27.54

400 m

1. Petkova (Goshen) – 56.18 seconds, 2. E. Kincaid (Bremen) – 57.08, 3. Clyde (NorthWood) – 57.55

800 m

1. K. Kincaid (BRE) – 2:15.17, 2. Metz (Warsaw) – 2:15.85, 3. Hasler (SB Adams) – 2:18.92

1,600 m

1. Nayee (Penn) – 5:05.77, 2. Lute (Trinity Academy) – 5:08.65, 3. Hodgson (Wawasee) – 5:08.83

3,200 m

1. Moore (Northridge) – 10:49.33, 2. Van Hoveln (Penn) – 10:50.09, 3. Nayee (Penn) – 11:09.86

14. ALLYSON CALLOWAY (ROCHESTER) – 12:35.55

100 m hurdles

1. Swanson (SB Washington) – 13.85 seconds, 2. Robbins (Elkhart) – 14.79, 3. Hunter (Plymouth) – 15.05, 5. Betty Shepherd (TV) – 15.40, 16. KYRA DORAN (RHS) – 19.54

300 m hurdles

1. Swanson (SB Washington) – 43.72 seconds, 2. Cruz (SB Adams) – 45.28, 3. BETTY SHEPHERD (TV) – 45.67

4 x 100 m relay

1. South Bend Adams – 48.35 seconds, 2. Warsaw – 48.59, 3. Jimtown – 48.98, 15. ROCHESTER (KYRA DORAN, MADDIE BAILON, KYLA CONLEY, MADDIE MACLAIN) – 51.56

4 x 400 m relay

1. Goshen – 3:51.35, 2. South Bend Adams – 4:00.24, 3. Penn – 4:01.23

4 x 800 m relay

1. Northridge – 9:21.31, 2. Penn – 9:22.40, 3. East Noble – 9:27.25

Long jump

1. Goodsell (SB St. Joe) – 18-3 ¼, 2. Weirich (Concord) – 17-11, 3. Summers (SB Riley) – 17-1 ½, 10. KYRA DORAN (RHS) – 16-4 ½

High jump

1. Foust (Fairfield) – 5-4, 2. Lyles (CGA) – 5-4, 3. Neuenschwander (Fremont) – 5-4, 8. GRACE SAILORS (NM) – 5-1

Discus

1. Lash (East Noble) – 128-8, 2. Mapes (Churubusco) – 128-6, 3. Jackson (Warsaw) – 128-0, 9. BETTY SHEPHERD (TV) – 111-0

Shot put

1. King (Jimtown) – 41-5, 2. ANDREA HOOVER (NORTH MIAMI) – 40-5 ½, 3. Jordan (West Noble) – 39-10 ¼

Pole vault

1. Arevalo (Penn) – 11-3, 2. Collins (Elkhart) – 11-0, 3. Holsopple (Fairfield) – 11-0