HSE freshman on path to historic meet
FISHERS – Freshmen winning state titles in the girls 400 meters are among the most distinguished figures in Indiana track and field. The club includes Maicel Malone, Shauntel Elcock, Hannah Farley, Lynna Irby and Ramiah Elliott.
Anissa Lammie is applying for membership. The freshman has the year’s fastest 400-meter time in the state, 55.34 seconds.
Not that the Hamilton Southeastern sprinter took a direct path. She is a swimmer and cross-country runner on teams that finished sixth in the state. Cannot rightly call her a sprinter, even though her parents are immigrants from Jamaica, which had a sprint tradition long before Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Lammie has “one speed,” said Julie Alano, her coach at Hamilton Southeastern. “And that’s fast.”
Lammie underscored that Wednesday night in helping the Royals win an eighth straight team title in the HSE Sectional at Fishers High School. She set a sectional record of 56.29 in the 400 and was third in the 200 in 25.31 (after a 25.05 prelim).
HSE scored 129.5 points. Carmel, which lost its 4x100 relay team to a dropped baton, was second with 114. Defending state champion Noblesville was third with 107.
Double winners were Noblesville thrower Hannah Alexander in the discus (sectional record of 161 feet, 10 inches) and shot (44-9 3⁄4), and Westfield’s Lucy Hauser in the 100 and 300 hurdles (14.94 and sectional record of 44.56).
Other records were set by HSE’s Maggie Powers (4:54.57) in the 1,600 and Carmel (9:15.29) in the 4x800 relay. Carmel upset HSE in the 4x400 relay, 3:54.64 to 3:54.76 — the state’s top two outdoor times.
Lammie did not start out as a runner. Since age 6, she has been a swimmer.
“In swimming, you learn to be very versatile,” said her mother, Marlene Hunter-Lammie. “I think that’s where it comes from, where you don’t get to specialize. That’s more of a mind-set.
“Over time, you learned what you’re good at.”
With her times, Lammie showed how good she is at 400 meters. She was second in last year’s middle school state meet in 56.62, then lowered that to 55.67 in the Hamilton County meet two days later.
So this year has been no surprise. Yet Lammie said she wasn’t initially fast at 400.
“I just like how it’s quick,” she said. “It’s not too short like the 100. You have enough time to get up to speed.”
Already, she is a national champion. She teamed with Ciera Kepner, Addison Smith and Chloe Senefeld to win the 4x400 relay in March’s Nike nationals at New York, setting an indoor state record of 3:51.57.
In the Hoosier Crossroads Conference, Lammie won a triple in the 200, 400 and 4x400, helping HSE beat Brownsburg by 1 1⁄2 points. Last week she set a Hamilton County record of 2:12.25 in the 800, the No. 4 time in the state.
That’s right: 200 meters to 5,000 meters. That’s range.
“We were warming up for the 200, and she has a cross-country shirt on,” Senefeld said. “She can just do anything she wants.”
Not even Lammie can do everything all at one meet. So she is scratching out of the 200 at the West Lafayette Regional to focus on 4x800, 400 and 4x400.
After all, the freshman is on track for a potentially historic state meet.
“It would be amazing to see my hard work pay off,” she said.
Warren Central wins sectional by half-point
● At Warren Central: After its 10year run ended last year, Warren Central won the climactic 4x400 relay to beat Franklin Central by a half-point, 146145.5. Jila Vaden was a quadruple winner, clocking 12.10 and 25.04 in the sprints and long jumping 20-0 1⁄2, best in Indiana this year. Vaden was on Warren’s 4x400 team with sisters Laila, Samaya and Kira Smith. Laila Smith won a hurdles double in 14.85 and 43.53, and she was second in the long jump. The Flashes’ Savana Miller won the 1,600 in 4:57.10 and 800 in 2:18.22.
● At Lawrence Central: Heritage Christian junior Kya Crooke high jumped 5-11, fifth in the nation in 2024 and No. 9 on Indiana’s all-time list. She long jumped 19-9, in which she is defending state champion, and won the 100 in 12.11. North Central won its 30th sectional, two off the state record held by Terre Haute North, by 118-111 over Bishop Chatard.
● At Zionsville: Izzy Neal won the sprints in 12.03 and 25.15, helping Brownsburg win a third straight sectional. Also for Brownsburg, pole vaulter Ashlyn Schwab equaled the state lead of 12-6. Zionsville junior Omema Anwanyu won the 400 in 56.12, which ranks No. 3 statewide, and was second in the 200 in 25.22. Avon’s Jessica Hegedus won a distance double in 4:58.02 and 10:56.65.
● At Pendleton Heights: Doublers were Pendleton Heights' Ava Jarrell, 4:54.90 in the 1,600 and 10:58.63 in the 3,200; Eastern Hancock’s Isabella Sotella in the hurdles, 15.02 and 44.78, and Lawrence North’s Ava Green Winters in the 200 and 400, 26.03 and 58.09. Lawrence North won the team title.
● At Franklin (Tuesday): Whiteland, with Tori Jackson winning the 800 in 2:13.19, became a sectional champion for the first time. Indian Creek sophomore Libby Dowty won the distances in 4:58.16 and 10:43.98, and Franklin junior Aubrey Runyon took a hurdles double in 14.74 and 45.48.
● At Decatur Central (Tuesday):
Ben Davis won its first sectional since 2013. Doublers were Ben Davis hurdler Alana Hogan in 15.52 and 48.03, Crispus Attucks thrower Lariah Wooden in shot (43-3) and discus (119-6), and Pike’s Gia Clay in 200 (26.00) and 400 (58.94).