Tippecanoe Valley’s Cheyene Oldfather hands off to Alyssa Brito in the 4×400 at the Rochester Girls Track and Field Sectional Tuesday. (Photos by James Costello)

ROCHESTER — Plymouth recaptured the title after a three-year drought, and in their pursuit of the team title, the Lady Pilgrims didn’t leave a whole lot of room in the top three for athletes from other schools at Tuesday’s Rochester Track and Field Sectional.

Plymouth claimed 11 regional berths en route to a dominant 143-point tally, while runner-up Culver Girls Academy — which was Plymouth’s only real challenger with 121 points — hoarded another 11 of those top three finishes over 16 events in Rochester.  Tippecanoe Valley put up 48 points for sixth place but did manage to punch regional tickets in three races, and Triton advanced athletes in another three events on its way to a 38.33 score and seventh place at the 11-team tournament.

The Lady Vikings claimed berths to next Tuesday’s Kokomo Regional in both the 4×100 and the 4×400, and freshman Delaney Wagoner advanced in the 800 meters, where she clocked 2:36.44 behind who else but CGA and Plymouth athletes. Knowing she was right on the bubble in the half-mile, Valley’s coaches pulled Wagoner out of the 1600 to keep her fresh for that 800, and the strategy paid off.

“She normally runs 4×8, mile and 800. We pulled her out of the mile because we knew she had a shot in the 800 so we wanted her to have fresh legs,” explained head coach Jenny Moriarty.

“She’s trained really hard. She’s a freshman, ecstatic to have her, so proud of her. She’s one of those that you tell her to do it, she goes and does it. Just a good work ethic.”

While a freshman made it out for Valley in the 800, a pair of Lady Vikings seniors — Alyssa Brito and Cheyene Oldfather — made it out in both sprint relays Tuesday. Brito and Oldfather combined with Caleigh Byrer and Sarah Tucker for a runner-up finish in the 400 relay via a 54.2-second stop to champion Plymouth’s 52.88 time, and the senior duo capped off their night with another regional-qualifying run in the 4×400, where they teamed up with Valeria Jimenez and Sidney Wagner for a third-place time of 4:20.32.

“Very excited for the girls. They’ve worked hard,” said Moriarty of her sprint relays. “We had two seniors on each of them. They both have shin splints, and they’ve pushed through so we’re ecstatic at their determination.”

Valeria Jimenez takes off in the 400 meters.

Brito, Byrer and Jimenez were also knocking on the door in three other events in Rochester and were hopeful of getting a call-back to next week’s regional meet.

Byrer finished fourth in the 100 hurdles with a 16.97 time, while Brito finished a step behind Whitko’s Breanna Keirn in the 200-meter dash, clocking 28.45 for fourth place there, and Jimenez was equally close in the 400 meters, with a 1:04 flat time, just .02 of a second behind Plymouth’s Nicole Keller.

“You’re always hopeful,” said Moriarty of the possibility of a call-back. “Because their times, it’s not like they were blown out, three or four seconds away. They’re right in there, so it would be great if that happened for them.”

Triton collected two of its three regional appointments in the field Tuesday, as freshman Jaela Faulkner cleared a personal-best 8 feet in the vault to finish third there, and senior Charlotte Morris placed third in the discus with a 92’08.25”. Junior Abigail Powell placed third in the 100 hurdles with a PR of 16.75 seconds, meanwhile, in the Lady Trojans’ only regional-qualifying finish on the track in Rochester.

“I think they just were glad they advanced,” said Triton coach Jason Groves of Powell and Morris. “I think they both were disappointed that they didn’t win, but Abigail was a PR in the 100 hurdles. Jaela, same in the pole vault, she cleared 8 feet tonight. That was nice to see. I think Charlotte was a little disappointed with her distance in the disc, but, like I said, they’re just happy to advance.”

Charlotte Morris competes in the discus in Rochester.

Powell nearly earned herself a second regional berth in the 300 hurdles race as she crossed the finish line in 49.73 seconds for fourth place, a little more than half a second slower than Bremen’s Harley Boocher. Powell was hopeful she’d make it out in both the 100s and the 300s after earning championships at both distances at the Hoosier North Athletic Conference meet last Thursday but had to console herself with just the one top three finish in the short hurdles race Tuesday and will have to wait to see if she receives a call-back in the 300s.

“She had a decent time, too, so she’s kind of waiting to see what happens in that,” Groves said. “She was hoping to get out in both, but I thought she really battled in that like she did in the conference. She got a really good time on that, and she keeps getting better with that as the season progresses.”

Also at Tuesday’s meet, Manchester finished fourth with a score of 61.33 and had athletes make the regional cut in three events.

Kailea Kerr placed second in the 400 with a 1:03.51 stop, and Gabbie Brewer finished second in the long jump with a 16’1.25” measurement, more than a foot better than her seed headed into the meet. Jaelyn Webb, Anna Markham, Maddy Evans and Kendra Kline combined for third place in the 3200 relay with a time of 10:42.14. Sarah Pegg finished on the wrong side of the bubble in the discus, her 91’11.25” mark good enough for fourth place there.

Whitko finished 10th with just 22 points but earned two regional berths, meanwhile.

Freshman Breanna Keirn punched her ticket to Kokomo in both the 100 and 200 meters, clocking 13.76 in the 100 and 28.4 in the 200 for third-place in both events. Sophomore Cariss Beck made it out in third in the shot put with a 34’01” distance in the finals.