Ellie McCardwell 13-7

[IndyCoach]

http://heraldbulletin.com/localsports/x ... -to-second
Impressive night for her. 13-7 in the vault, but went 17-2 in the long jump before it.


PH soars to second
McCardwell, Davis set sectional marks
By Justin Albers
For The Herald Bulletin

PENDLETON, Ind. — Ellie McCardwell stood by the pole vault competitors, anxiously waiting her turn. She would not have the opportunity to jump against any of the other five competitors Tuesday because not one got close to her qualifying height of 13 feet.

McCardwell periodically made the nearly 100-yard walk to the long-jump pit where she also was competing. She jumped, easily made it into the finals and then walked back to the pole-vault area.

The Pendleton Heights senior has had a historic high school career.

But the scary thing is, she continues to get better.

McCardwell, who won the state pole vault title in 2009, helped her team to a second-place finish at the Pendleton Heights sectional by posting personal records in both the pole vault and the long jump. Mount Vernon finished first in the meet, edging the Arabians 146-132.

McCardwell broke her own record with a leap of 13-7 in the pole vault. That jump moves her into third place in the national rankings. Only Merritt Grace Van Meter (13-8 1/4) and Morgann Leleux (13-8), both of Louisiana, have better marks this year.

But that’s not all. The Stanford commit also jumped 17-2 in the long jump to take the title. But she will drop the long jump at next week’s Ben Davis Regional so she can focus on the pole vault and 4x100-meter relay.

“It’s just a good way to end at Pendleton,” said McCardwell, donning a gray Stanford sweatshirt. “It was a lot of fun.”

Other Pendleton Heights champions included sophomore Cally Elkin (13.13) in the 100-meter dash and the 4x80-meter relay team of Erica and Emma Manchess, Autumn Brown and Anna Dudley.

“I am real happy with my girls,” said PH head coach Ron Hinton. “We didn’t have everybody up there, but most of our girls did well tonight. We’re disappointed we got second, but Mount Vernon was tough tonight. Mount Vernon stepped up.”

Highland (64 points), Shenandoah (56.5 points) and Anderson (48.5 points) finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Highland’s Jessika Lark finished third in the 200-meter dash, and the Scots’ Holly Matthews was second in the 100. Shenandoah’s Caitlyn Hinshaw and Emily Eller took second and third in the 100-meter hurdles. Eller also finished second in the 300-meter hurdles.

But two athletes stood out from the rest: Anderson’s Kayln Davis and Shenandoah’s Jasmine Stephens.

Stephens took second place in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:30.47 and pulled off the upset of the night when she outran Yorktown sophomore Lexi Hunt to win the 1,600.

Stephens, a senior, was seeded fourth in the race, but she gutted out a time of 5:38.33.

Davis was even better. The tall, lanky Anderson sophomore won the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash, and finished second in the high jump. Her 400 time of 59.62 seconds broke a meet record.

“It was fun with all the competition,” Davis said. “Erica Manchess and I have been out to get each other in a way. We both came out with good times (in the 800). Our 4x400 finish wasn’t as good as it could have been, but I’m proud of all the girls and what we did tonight.”

Lapel’s Morgan Tarlton helped her team to a seventh-place finish with a title in the discus throw.

Frankton finished eighth, Alexandria ninth and Elwood 13th.