Bowman sprinters, Andrean shine at Noll

Bowman's Chayil Henderson pushes to her first-place finish in the 60-meter dash at the Bishop Noll Invitational.
(Jeffrey D. Nicholls/Post-Tribune)

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HAMMOND -- The region's girl track scene got its first glimpse of Bowman Academy and the glimpse was a brief one. Eagles' freshman Chayil Henderson swept the 60-yard and 220-yard dashes on her way to Most Valuable Runner honors at the Bishop Noll Indoor Invitational.

Henderson and sophomore Kyana Edmond finished 1-2 in the 60-yard dash, routing the field in the process.

"We knew they had potential during cross country, especially during the speed workouts," said Bowman coach Ayanna Richardson. "They were very strong runners, for sprinters running cross country."

Henderson was clocked at 7.32 in the 60-yard dash, while Edmond finished at 7.43. Henderson's time in the 220 was 29.31.

"We're cousins," said Edmond. "But this is the first time we've competed against each other."

While Henderson turned a few heads with her effort, it was the relays that carried Andrean to the team title. The 59ers captured the 20-lap relay and the mile relay to edge Griffith by a score of 76-75.

In the mile relay, the meet's final event, the Andrean team of Brianna Martinez, Catherine Kulik, Alyssa Adelsperger and Brittany Brown beat Griffith by just 0.43 seconds to grab the team title. The Panthers had just taken the lead one event earlier when Anne Scheffel beat Megan Villareal by a nose in a sprint to the finish line of the 2-mile run.

Griffith built a comfortable lead early behind Sam Marker's win in the 60 hurdles and fifth-place finish in the 60-yard dash. She also ran the anchor leg for the winning 6-lap relay team.

"I hadn't ran over a hurdle since last season," said Marker. "I just found out I was running the hurdles when I got here."

Griffith also gained Most Valuable Field athlete honors via Stephanie Negrete's winning effort in the shot put. Negrete posted a throw of 35-2, which is short of her 36-3 personal best, but way beyond her 31-11 throw in the regional last year.

"I'm happy I won, but not too happy with that throw," said Negrete. "I can certainly build on this."

A basketball player on the Panthers' sectional championship team, Negrete hasn't had too much time to round into form. On top of that, the shot takes a back seat to the discus for Negrete, as evidenced by her fifth-place finish in the regional last year with the disc.

"I'm probably more of a disc thrower than a shot putter," said Negrete. "I try to balance basketball, the shot, and the disc. With it being indoor season right now, I can focus on the disc."