Greenfield-Central Cougars
Coach: Jan Hacker
Key losses: The Cougars have the task of replacing Regan Lewis, who was a four-time state medalist in the high jump and was part of Greenfield-Central’s 1,600-meter school record holding relay team. She now is running at Ball State.
In addition, Greenfield-Central has to replace Maddie Wise, who is taking time off to focus on basketball. Wise was two-time state qualifier in the 100-meter hurdles and also qualified in the 300-meter hurdles a year ago.
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Also gone are Rachel Gottwald, who was part of the 1,600-meter indoor state medal team and a regional qualifier; Bailey Thompson, who was a regional qualifier in the pole vault; and Catherine Sosnowski, who was a regional qualifier in the discus.
Key returnees: Leading the way is senior Savannah Girolami, a state qualifier and school record holder in 2014 on the 1,600-meter relay team. She is a sprinter and mid-distance runner for Greenfield-Central, along with being part of the record holding 3,200-meter relay team. She has signed with IPFW.
Sydney Cook, a sophomore, was a state qualifier in the 800-meter dash. Sydney also holds school records in the 800- and 3,200-meter relays.
Amanda Flora, a senior, is state qualifier and school record holder on the 1,600-meter relay team in 2014. Amanda is a sprinter and mid-distance runner.
Key Returning Regional qualifiers include: junior Rebekah Gottwald (distance), senior Nicole Stephenson (distance), junior Katie Helgason (mid distance) and junior Emily Jones (pole vault).
Seniors Samara Fletcher, Shelby Bowmer (sprints) and Nikki Stephenson are three-year letter winners.
Other key returners include: Jennifer Flora (thrower), Tiffany Richmond (pole vault), Kammie McGreal (pole vault), Ava Dickmann (high jump and long jump), Shelby Bowmer (sprints), Dusti Chestnut (distance) and Avery Cronk (thrower).
Outlook: A season ago, Greenfield-Central earned the Hoosier Heritage Conference and county championship titles and sent three girls to the state meet in four events.
With three athletes back with state meet experience, the focus is getting back to the state meet, according to Greenfield-Central girls track and field head coach Jan Hacker.
“We have many individuals returning who contributed to our success last season,” she said. “This is a strong group both mentally and physically. They are focused on having a strong season.”
So far, they have put in a strong showing in offseason workouts and in the early portion of the indoor season.
“We will continue to work and focus on repeating as county and conference champions. We will prepare for the sectional and regional competitions,” Hacker said. “Our goal is to get as many individuals as possible to the state meet and score as many points as possible when we get there.”
With multiple fresh faces on the team, Hacker believes experience and eagerness will give the Cougars depth and talent spread across the field, making them tough on their opponents.
“It is still pretty early to say who will be key this season. We have an outstanding group of newcomers on our team this year who are stepping right into our program,” Hacker said. “I have been pleased with the work ethic and attitude of everyone that I have seen so far.”
