Coming off a season where they won a county, conference, sectional and regional championships, the girls track team looks to continue that success this season. The Trojans come off of a seventh place finish at the state championship in the 2021 season, and while they graduated state champion pole vaulter Taylor Jarosinski and state runner-up hurdler Makensie Kramer, Coach Wes Dodson has high expectations for his team.

“We had seven girls that are returning qualify for the state meet, and I would expect them to all qualify again this year,” Dodson said. “I’m very excited to see where the girls place and see how many girls we can have place. My main goal is to win the sectional and regional championship, like last year.”

Returning Players to watch:

Bella Hodges
Hodges is coming off a successful junior season where she earned all-state honors, along with all-MIC and all-county honors. Hodges will likely be a main contributor to the team, running the 800 and 1600 while anchoring the 4×400 relay team that placed fourth at last month’s unofficial indoor state finals.

The senior, University of Purdue-Fort Wayne commit got 8th in the state championship meet in 2021, with a school-record run of 2:15.80. 

“My goals for this season are to be all-county, all-sectional, all-regional and all-state. It’s my senior year, so I just want to race as fast as I can and as much as I can,” Hodges said. “I am surrounded by a great group of girls that are competitive, and the support system we are building with each other is making the team atmosphere better and better. I’m already running times faster than I did at this time last year, and I’m excited to finish my high school running career out happy, healthy and competitively.”

Kate Henselmeier
Henselmeier is an up-and-coming junior who had a lot of growth in her sophomore season. Throughout the season Henselmeier improved her 400m time by almost four seconds, and she ended her season with a 16th place finish at the state meet. Henselmeier looks to be the Trojans best 400 runner, as well as the leadoff runner for the 4×4 relay.

“My goals for this season overall start with keeping my titles as county, sectional and regional champ,” Henselmeier said. “I am also planning on dropping my time to a 57 [seconds] this season. I would also like to improve my performance at state compared to last year. I did not excel like I should have and would like to make a name for myself this year.”

Shelby Wingler
Of the returning members on the team, Wingler is the highest placer at the 2021 state track meet. Wingler ended last year’s sophomore season with all-state honors in both the shot put and discus, along with all-MIC in the shot put.

As a sophomore Wingler placed sixth in the shot put and eighth in the discus at the 2021 State Meet

“I plan on continuing my success from last season and bringing it into this year. I’m going to get stronger, faster and more explosive, and I’m going to grow my technique. I want to continue to break the shot record as many times as possible and break the discus record,” Wingler said.

Top Underclassmen to watch:

Madi Kramer
Kramer is one of the top returners on the team with some of the most firepower. 

Kramer, who was the only freshman who qualified individually for the state finals last season, is a three event athlete running in the 200, 4x100m relay, and the 100m hurdles, where she steps into the lineup following her sister’s graduation. 

Kramer, despite only being a sophomore, has the fastest hurdle and 200 meter time on the team in the young season. 

“My goals for my sophomore year would be to place in the state meet in the 200 and qualify for the state meet in the 100 hurdles. I also just want to keep a good and supporting environment around the team,” Kramer said.

Sukh Chahal
In just her freshman season, Chahal qualified for the HSR state meet, which is the equivalent to the indoor state championship with a Top-24 jump. As a freshman she is the team’s number one high jumper, coming in at 5’1” and will look to add points for the team in the field.

“My main goal is to improve in my main event, which is high jump. I want to improve my last year’s PR (personal record) from 4’11” to 5’4”. I already improved to 5’1”,” Chahal said.