Valley’s Shepherd heartbroken but not unhappy with 4th at regional

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Betty Shepherd

WARSAW — Tippecanoe Valley junior Betty Shepherd made the 2024 IHSAA girls track state finals in the 300 hurdles and finished 18th.

She got even faster this year. But she is not going to state.

Only the top three at each event at the regional make state. Shepherd took fourth at the Warsaw regional.

Those meeting a difficult state qualifying standard also advanced. In the 300 hurdles, the standard was 45.44 seconds, and Shepherd ran a 45.97.

How fast is Shepherd? Seven girls made state from other regionals who had a slower time.

Shepherd was second at the 2024 Kokomo regional in 47.51 seconds. This year, she trimmed 1.54 seconds off that time at Warsaw and ran a personal-best time.

She said she was not disappointed afterwards.

“I’m pretty happy about it honestly,” Shepherd said. “I got a PR, so that’s all I could really ask for at this point.”

Shepherd was in lane 2, so she got a good look at her competition at the start.

“Since I was in lane 2, I was behind a lot of the people, so my goal was to really try and catch up on the first 100, and then it would show my true place as I got through that back stretch and then just give it all that I got towards the end really.”

Shepherd was asked what the toughest part of the race is.

“The end, 100 percent,” Shepherd said. “You get tunnel vision. Your legs start to give out, and feel like you’re going to fall over the hurdles. You’ve got to push through. But it is definitely the hardest part.”

Shepherd was asked how long it has taken her to get used to the 300 hurdles. She has not reached that point yet.

“I still feel like I’m dying at the end of every race,” Shepherd said. “I’ve been doing this since freshman year. Well, in middle school you do the 200 hurdles, so it just goes up in high school, so I’ve been doing this since seventh grade I guess you could say.”

Shepherd, who also plays volleyball and basketball, does “mid-distance workouts” to get ready for track season.

“So not sprinting but not running miles,” Shepherd said. “It’s just like sprinting an 800 and then sprinting a 2(00) and then repeating that just over and over to get your endurance up.”

Shepherd knows two of the three hurdlers who finished ahead of her well. Rochester’s Audrey Wagner, who placed second, is her friend. Warsaw’s Annabel Parker, who took third, is her cousin.

“It is definitely heartbreaking, but I made state last year with a slower time than I ran at regionals today, so I’m not mad about it at all,” Shepherd said. “Yes, I was expecting to get to state, but I ran at regionals, and I’m pretty happy.”

Wagner will take to the track at approximately 7:20 p.m. Saturday at North Central High School in Indianapolis for the state finals. Shepherd said she and Wagner wish each other well before every race.

Wagner was first and Shepherd second in a dual meet at Triton May 6 and again at the Bremen sectional May 20.

“We talk before every race and tell each other good luck,” Shepherd said. “I’m so happy for her, especially because last year she wasn’t where she was now. And so I’m very happy she got in this place now.”

Warsaw girls track regional results May 27 (top 10 teams): 1. Warsaw 81, 2. Penn 69, t-3. South Bend Adams 34, t-3. Whitko 34, 5. Elkhart 31, t-6. Northridge 27, t-6. South Bend Washington 27, 8. Fairfield 24, t-9. Bremen 23, t-9. Goshen 23, t-24. Rochester 8, t-28. Tippecanoe Valley 5

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

State qualifiers (top three) plus all Rochester and Valley results

100 m

1. Ugwoke (PENN) – 12.17 seconds, 2. Walter (FF) – 12.31, 3. Burner (WAR) – 12.31

200 m

1. Williams (ELK) – 24.88 seconds, 2. Kimbrough (SBA) – 25.17, 3. Harper (WHI) – 25.49

400 m

1. Petkova (GOSH) – 56.24 seconds, 2. E. Kincaid (BRE) – 57.60, 3. Clyde (NW) – 57.79

800 m

1. Baxter (CGA) – 2:12.07, 2. Metz (WAR) – 2:13.99, 3. Haslett (LPCS) – 2:14.23, 4. Rainsberger (WV) – 2:14.45

NOTE: Raisberger meets the state qualifying standard of 2:14.68 and also advances to state.

1,600 m

1. Haslett (LPCS) – 5:02.55, 2. Nayee (PENN) – 5:06.79, 3. Miller (PLY) – 5:13.77

3,200 m

1. Van Hoveln (PENN) – 10:41.69, 2. Moore (NR) – 10:42.51, 3. Myers (PH) – 11:09.96, 14. Allyson Calloway (RHS) – 12:25.45

100 m hurdles

1. Swanson (SBW) – 13.97 seconds, 2. Hunter (PLY) – 15.44, 3. Robbins (SBW) – 15.67

300 m hurdles

1. Swanson (SBW) – 44.67 seconds, 2. Audrey Wagner (RHS) – 45.33, 3. Annabel Parker (WAR) – 45.36, 4. Betty Shepherd (TV) – 45.97

4 x 100 m relay

1. South Bend Riley (Ellis, Burton, Wittrock, Johnson) – 48.92 seconds, 2. NorthWood (Reaker, Payne, McMillian, Yoder) – 49.08, 3. Penn (Heintzelman, Turk, Brisco, Ugwoke) – 49.21, 14. Valley (Gaby Gonzalez, Izabella Woodruff, Betty Shepherd, Hadley Wise) – 51.10

4 x 400 m relay

1. Bremen (Foster, Sahlhoff, K. Kincaid, E. Kincaid) – 3:59.34, 2. Penn (Driscoll, Neuenschwander, Turk, Ugwoke) – 4:00.33, 3. Warsaw (Parker, Laput, Fisher, Metz) – 4:03.16

4 x 800 m relay

1. Penn (Balinnang, Nayee, Morgan, Mbianda) – 9:24.25, 2. Northridge (Ambers, Long, Snyder, Moore) – 9:30.73, 3. Warsaw (Purdy, Laput, Rastrelli, Metz) – 9:37.57

Long jump

1. Goodsell (JG) – 18-2 ¾, 2. Malone (PENN) – 18-0 ¾, 3. Summers (MISH) – 17-7 ¾, 13. Kyra Doran (RHS) – 15-5

High jump

1. Neuenschwander (FRE) – 5-4, 2. Payne (NW) – 5-3, 3. Calizo (LCA) – 5-3

Discus

1. Howard (WHI) – 141-1, 2. Stoffel (NR) – 117-1, 3. Jackson (WAR) – 115-9

Shot put

1. Howard (WHI) – 47-3, 2. King (JIM) – 40-6 ¾, 3. Jellison (ELK) – 40-6 ¼

Pole vault

1. Transparenti (WAR) – 11-9, 2. Barnett (WAR) – 10-6, 3. Miller (FF) – 10-3