Clay City's Jackson, Bettenbrock advance out of sectional
With one of the smallest girls track and field rosters at Tuesday’s Terre Haute North Sectional, Clay City knew it was nearly impossible to advance itself onto the regional round of the postseason.
Still, with multiple strong performances, the Lady Eels finished eighth behind only Northview, Terre Haute South, Terre Haute North, West Vigo, South Vermillion, Greencastle and Sullivan, all of which more than doubled the number of student-athletes Clay City had competing in the sectional.
Clay City head coach Cole Schroer credited the work ethic of his group for accomplishing several goals this spring, and that included finishing their year on a high note Tuesday.
“We only came with nine individuals, and we still got 18 points with a first place in discus and a second place in high jump, so just based on that, we knew we definitely weren’t going to be finishing in last,” said Schroer. “I’m just so proud of the girls. So many of them have worked hard … They really battled through some adverse conditions in an atypical kind of meet, and they still performed really well.”
Clay City will be represented at next week’s Bloomington North Regional by Megan Jackson and Mallori Bettenbrock.
Jackson, who finished third in discus last year after becoming the sectional champion in 2022, got herself back into the winner’s circle with a throw of 112-11, besting the second-place finisher by over three feet.
Schroer was glad to see the senior cap her final sectional with a strong outing, especially with the heavy rain that fell throughout the entirety of the day making the discus circle a slippery mess to deal with. What makes Schroer even more excited is the fact that over the course of her career, she’s thrown her best at the regional, and if that’s the case again, she could be headed back to the state finals.
“The way the season usually goes for her, she throws pretty well at sectionals and then pulls out something big at regionals. It should be really fun. Maybe she’ll throw something really far. Either way, she’s definitely ahead of where she’s been the last couple of years,” said Schroer of Jackson.
Clay City nearly had a second sectional champion with Bettenbrock taking a strong high jump field by storm in her sectional debut. The freshman got past the trio of Northview’s Gracie Pritchard, Terre Haute North’s Emma Martin and Terre Haute South’s Lilly Merk, all of whom were expected to contend for second or third place, which set up a showdown between her and Northview’s Karsyn Buck.
Buck won the battle, finishing with a personal best jump of 5-05 to Bettenbrock’s 5-01. Despite the initial aggravation of falling just shy of winning her first sectional title, Bettenbrock couldn’t help but smile when she was greeted with hugs and high-fives from her coaches and teammates.
Schroer said Bettenbrock, coming off a pressurized environment at the Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference championship, was much calmer on Tuesday. She didn’t let the stakes of the sectional get to her, and instead did what she’s done for most of the season. It’s the start of what could be a sensational career for the freshman jumper, said Schroer.
“She struggled at our SWIAC meet and got into her head a little bit. But tonight, she was relaxed and focused and ready to jump. She didn’t let the wet, slippery stuff get to her. She just jumped really well today,” said Schroer of Bettenbrock.
Fellow freshmen Ashley Martinez-Morales tied a bow on her first track season at the high school level with a fifth-place finish in the 3200 with a time of 12:59.55 and a sixth-place finish in the 1600 with a time of 5:56.49.