Several Chesterton athletes have potential to join returning state girls track and field competitors Kenedi Bradley, Allison Van Kley, Veronica Wilgocki and Hailey Geiser on trip downstate

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Quietly, the Chesterton girls track and field program has put together quite a streak. The Trojans, who open the season on Tuesday at Valparaiso, have qualified for the state meet in the 4x800 relay all five seasons under head coach Lindsay Moskalick.
The streak speaks to how most girls who try cross country find it enjoyable, train hard enough year-round to stay on an improvement curve but don’t burn out, and welcome athletes from other sports to join them in trying to earn what because of the streak has developed into a prestigious spot on the relay.
Annmarie Easter and Alex Reed are gone from last season’s qualifier, and Veronica Wilgocki and Allison Van Kley will try to land a spot on the relay for the third consecutive year. No spots are guaranteed, and the team is put together from scratch every year.
Alyssa Dunalp ran the event at state three times, Bree Gentry, Bailey Ranta and Nalani Malackowski twice. Easter, Reed, Madison Trumbo, Ciara Bonner, Ashley Craycraft, Frances Clancy and Kara Krol each ran in the relay at state for Moskalick once.
“The groups that I’ve had, they’ve been more 800, miler heavy with some 400 speed, and that’s what you need to make a good 4x8, so I’ve been lucky to have a good handful of girls who can do that and hammer down and make it to the state meet,” Moskalick said.
Wilgocki ran the best 800 split of the indoor season with a 2:25, so she is a candidate to anchor the relay. Van Kley has a high ceiling and will be pushed by freshmen Paige Clancy, Hannah Haring and Taylor Kisic. Sophomore Jessica Martin, a state qualifier in cross country the past two seasons, is penciled in for her first healthy track season to run the 1600 and 3200 distance races with junior Lauren Kroft, freshman Thea Kirk and senior Ellie McClelland. Martin also could get a look for a spot on the 4x800 relay.
“We’ll have five or six battling for spots,” Moskalick said and predicted that five schools will be the leaders contending for three qualifying places.
The coach said her goal every season is to have all three relays make it to state, which this season moves from Bloomington to North Central High in Indianapolis.
All four girls are back from the 4x100 that edged Valparaiso for first in the sectional with a 49.29 but then watched Valpo take the third state qualifying spot from the regional and faded to 10th, undermined by a bad baton exchange.
Seniors Ava Kontos and Sydney Morris and juniors Gretta McCrovitz and Kenedi Bradley all are back for another crack at it, but the lineup in front of Bradley, the fifth-place finisher in the 100 meters at state a year ago, could change. Freshman sprinter/long jumper Addison Pack and senior 400-meter runner/long jumper/high jumper/ hurdler Kaylee Dade will try to earn a spot on the relay. Whichever three sprinters try to give Bradley the baton in good position, chances look good the 4x100 will compete at state.
The four returning runners from the 4x400 that finished three places and six seconds shy of qualifying for state will try to hold their spots: McCrovitz, Van Kley, junior Aubrey Bamber and Dade. Kisic also could contend for a spot here and it’s conceivable Bradley could run well enough in trying the 400 to work her way onto the relay.
Junior Lux Mountford, the team’s top 300-meter hurdler, also runs the 400 meters and is joined in both hurdles races by Aubriana Pulsoni and Harper Russell.
The Trojans appear well-stocked in the field events, including in the jumps, where senior Hailey Geiser is a threat to make it to state in both the high jump and long jump. The two-time defending DAC high jump champion, Geiser didn’t have her best day in that event at the regional and placed sixth, but she found a way to make it to state by placing third in the long jump with a 16-9.75. Dade popped a personal record long jump of 17-5 at an indoor meet in Portage last month and sophomore Arti Haney was the surprise winner in the event at the DAC as a freshman.
The Trojans also are well-stocked in the throwing events.
Senior Autumn Spencer is coming off a sectional title in the discus with a throw (114-0) that was just a few feet shy of what she needed at the regional to advance to state. She didn’t get there because all of her throws were fouls, a ruling disputed by her coach to no avail. Had she matched her personal best of 119, she would have advanced to state.
Senior shot putter Liz St. Marie, who missed last season while recovering from knee surgery, has grown stronger since finishing fourth at the sectional meet with a 32-4 as a sophomore. Junior Anna Miles was fourth at the sectional last season.
Pole vault newcomers will try to chellenge Ava Persin and Luciana Raffin for the top spot on the team.
“It’ll be exciting to see how we match up across the conference with the other teams because I feel like over the 16 events, we have coverage in all of them,” Moskalic said. “It’ll be exciting to see where we can finish in the sectional, regional and conference meets.”