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INDIANAPOLIS - With Indiana’s largest high school enrollment, 5,200, and a record 199 state championships, Carmel has grown a winning sports culture.

Yet victory is never inevitable. Not in track and field anyway. No. 200 was hard-earned.

“Lots of things happen in track. You never know,” Carmel distance runner Annabel Pollert said. “There’s no defense. In track, everybody has to do their best. It comes out how it comes out.”

This is how it came out Saturday night at North Central High School: For the first time in this century, Carmel is state champion in this sport. The Greyhounds thus completed a triple crown of cross-country/indoor/outdoor titles.

Carmel scored 54 points, Hamilton Southeastern 46 and Bloomington South 34. Brownsburg and Fort Wayne Carroll tied for fourth with 31 each.

Carmel regularly wins in cross-country – 20 state titles in all, 10 in the 2000s – but had not won in track since 1999.

The Greyhounds did not win an event but scored in nine of 16, featuring 23 points out of three relays.

“We did it all by team,” coach Aaron McRill said. “Which is what we’ve been preaching to the kids all year. We were not going to win it by one single person. We knew that.

“Everyone had to contribute, and everyone did. It was so amazing.”

None more so than Sadie Foley.

She was tripped near the start of the 1,600 meters before the race was recalled. She stayed on the track for several minutes receiving medical treatment. She came away with scrapes and spike wounds, and she said she considered not racing.

“But, our team was in it for the team race. The team title is the ultimate goal,” Foley said. “So I was just like, ‘We need these points. It’s going to be a close one.’

“I was just like, ‘I’ve got to run. I’ve got to see if I can get a few.’ That was my goal, just get up and get back in it.”

Foley finished fifth for five points. Moreover, she contributed a 58.68 third leg to a 4x400-meter relay team that was second to Hamilton Southeastern.

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Carmel had little margin for mishap.

For instance, Emily Norris was nearly out of the long jump until making finals on her third attempt. She then leaped 18 feet, 4 ¼ inches for fifth. That’s another five points.

Subtract those 10 points, and HSE is state champion.

Carmel secured at least a tie for the title when Pollert, a sophomore, finished third in the 3,200 meters.

“Even though I got third – which I’m so, so happy with – it was just so cool be like right there, in the front, at the state meet, a state meet race,” she said. “It was such a special experience.”

It was similarly special for Kya Crooke. She finished off a decorated high school career spectacularly.

The Heritage Christian senior leaped 6 feet, ¼ inch in the high jump and 20-4 ¾ in the long jump. She broke state meet records from the 1980s.

“I can’t even put into words how excited and happy I am that I was able to leave with such a great meet,” Crooke said.

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Last year she became the first to win state titles in both high jump and long jump in a career, and this time she did so a couple of hours apart. Her four titles in field events left her one short of the record of five, set by Bloomington North thrower Hadley Lucas.

If you include small-school indoors (Hoosier State Relays) -- in which Crooke won 11 -- she is a 15-time state champion. She has six national titles, including one in the heptathlon.

Only one Indiana girl – Olympic gold medalist Maicel Malone – has set more than two records in the same state meet.

Crooke’s third long jump attempt bettered the mark of 20-4 set by Jeffersonville’s Tonya Sedwick in 1986. The clearance in the high jump bettered the 6-0 by Norwell’s Angie Bradburn in 1985.

Considering the likes of Bradburn, who jumped at four World Championships; four-time state winner Ellie Tidman and two-time U.S. under-20 champion Shelby Tyler, it was surprising Indiana’s record was such a low bar.

Crooke made 6-0 ¼ easily on her first attempt and raised it to 6-3, which would have exceeded her nation-leading mark of 6-2.

“I was feeling good. My legs are feeling strong,” the Arizona signee said. “I didn’t get it today, but know it’s coming soon.”

Elsewhere, New Albany freshman Jada Harper won the 300 hurdles in 41.52 seconds, fastest in the nation among underclassmen. She nearly broke the state record of 41.36 set by Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran’s Symone Black in 2014.

Harper might have won the 100 hurdles, too, but tripped over a barrier in the heats and finished last.

Two others, sprinter Nadia Ford and distance runner Mallory Weller, were double winners. And Omema Anyanwu scored 23 points in a sprint triple.

Anyanwu, of Zionsville, is an Indiana University signee. She was fourth in the 100 in 11.93, first in the 400 in 53.77 and third (by .02) in the 200 in 24.22. She became the fifth Indiana girl ever to clock sub-54 in the 400, running more than two seconds faster than she did in winning at state last year.

“I felt like a lion was chasing me. Like, I just ran as fast as I could,” Anyanwu said.

Ford, a sophomore at Carroll, won the 100 in a personal best of 11.68 and 200 in 24.20.

Weller, a junior at Concordia, ran the second 800 in 2:18 for a time of 4:49.06 in the 1,600.

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Notable in seventh was Martinsville’s Laura Barco, whose brother, Martin, won the boys 1,600 in each of the past two years. Laura didn’t run at state last year because she was injured in a car collision on her way to take the bus to sectional, and she spent most of this spring rehabbing an injury.

Weller needed another fast finish to beat Bishop Chatard’s Julia Score and Pollert in a 3,200 in which all three were separated by 0.63 seconds. Weller’s time was 10:28.26, slowest for first since 2019.

It was the fourth state title for Weller, who also won in cross-country and the indoor 3,200. She set a state indoor record of 10:05.56 in winning the two-mile at New Balance nationals.

“I didn’t feel my best, honestly, if I’m being real,” she said. “It was a lot harder than I thought. Times weren’t even that fast. I’m still happy to take away with that win.”

Ellie Barada ran a 2:10.78 anchor to bring Bloomington South to a state record of 8:51.35 in the 4x800 relay. That ranks No. 3 in the nation this year. Carmel was second in 8:53.45, also under the previous record.

Barada, a junior, came back to win the 800 in 2:07.30 and ran a 54.63 anchor to carry her team to fourth in the 4x400 relay.

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Elizabeth Butler of Hamilton Southeastern named Mental Attitude Award recipient
Following Saturday's action, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Elizabeth Butler of Hamilton Southeastern High School as the winner of this year’s Mental Attitude Award in Girls Track and Field.

Elizabeth is Hamilton Southeastern's record holder in the 3200M and a member of their 4x800 record foursome. On Saturday, she finshed 12th in the 1600M, 17th in the 3200M, and was a part of HSE's 3rd place 4x800 Relay team. She has earned Academic All-State and All-State honors in both Cross Country and Track & Field.

Elizabeth graduated near the top of her senior class of 800 students. She is co-founder of HSE's Women in Engineering Club and a member of HSE's National Honor Society and Caligraphy Club.

The daughter of Mark and Cynthia Butler of McCordsville, Elizabeth will be attending Purdue University to study engineering.

The IHSAA Executive Committee, on behalf of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Hamilton Southeastern High School in the name of Elizabeth Butler.

51st Annual IHSAA Girls Track & Field State Finals
North Central High School
Indianapolis, Indiana
Saturday, June 7, 2025

State Champions
3200 Relay: Bloomington South (Lexi Kollbaum 10, Mary Asplund 10, Jasmine Martoglio 11, Ellie Barada 11), 8:51.35 State Record
100 Meters: Nadia Ford, 10, Carroll (Fort Wayne), :11.68
100 Hurdles: Adriana Swanson, 11, South Bend Washington, :13.83
200 Meters: Nadia Ford, 10, Carroll (Fort Wayne), :24.20
1600 Meters: Mallory Weller, 11, Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran, 4:49.06
400 Relay: Brownsburg (Amiah Hamilton 11, Nife Ogunleye 9, Angelique Howgate 12, Izzy Neal 12), :46.55
400 Meters: Omema Anyanwu, 12, Zionsville, :53.77 Repeat state championship
300 Hurdles: Jada Harper, 9, New Albany, :41.52
800 Meters: Ellie Barada, 11, Bloomington South, 2:07.30
3200 Meters: Mallory Weller, 11, Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran, 10:28.26
1600 Relay: Hamilton Southeastern (Addison Smith 12, Chloe Senefeld 11, Ciara Kepner 12, Anissa Lammie 10), 3:46.26
Discus: Emma Gardner, 12, Greenwood Community, 152-07
Shot Put: Gwen Howard, 12, Whitko, 46-11
Long Jump: Kya Crooke, 12, Heritage Christian, 20-04.75 State Record
High Jump: Kya Crooke, 12, Heritage Christian, 6-00.25 State Record; Repeat state championship 
Pole Vault: Jane Paddock, 12, Lawrence North, 11-09