Poetic justice, meet Katie Behrendt.

The same Chesterton runner who sacrificed her own hopes for the good of her team the last two years, only to not have that pan out either, received her just rewards in Tuesday's Chesterton Regional.

This time around, Behrendt ran the 400 meters, the event she scratched out of as a junior and sophomore, and placed third to qualify for the state finals. In addition, she anchored the 1,600 relay to the same finish, also advancing in the event where she and her running mates endured back-to-back post-season near misses.

“Yes, finally!” Behrendt said. "We always got edged out. I'm so ecstatic. I trusted (coach) TR (Harlan), whatever he told me to do. He's always right. He thought I should scratch the 200 and I was OK with that. I was really tired. The 400 is my main event and I'm really happy I made it out and get to run it at state my senior year.”

Behrendt crushed her personal best in the 400 with a 58.2 and brought home the 1,600 relay to a similarly marked improvement, its 4:05.62 placing comfortably ahead of Valparaiso for third.

“I’m very proud of the four by four team,” Behrendt said. “We’ve got two freshmen (Jordyn Kincy and Kristin Mabry) and one junior (Anna Raffin) who just started running the 400 this year. I just told them all to run their best races and now we're going to state."

Behrendt will be joined in Bloomington a week from Saturday by Stephanie Fisher, who won the 300 hurdles and took third in the 100s, and freshman Kristen Homme, who finished fourth in the 1,600, but bumped up a spot when Valparaiso's Katelyn DeVries scratched from the race for state.

“We ran outstanding,” Trojans coach Steve Kearney said. “I can go right down the line.”

Fisher withstood a several minute delay due to a timing problem to capture the 300 hurdles in 46.83.

“Yeah, it’s great to win the regional. It'’s like I've been behind (Munster's) Whitney (Freeman) every year,” Fisher said. “But I really wanted to break 46 (seconds). We were set to go and the wind had died down, then we had to wait five minutes and it picked back up. Oh well. You can't control Mother Nature. I thought my start was pretty good and I was glad to be (in the lane) in front of Katie (Beckavac) again.”

“Her time was victimized by the delay, but she still ran really fast,” Kearney said. “She’s getting stronger.”

Fisher recorded a personal best in the 100s with a 15.18.

“I was so nervous. I was worried about false starting,” Fisher said.

“It's awesome to know there are so many things I can fix and my time can drop. I didn’t have a good start and I didn't lean as well as I could. But it’s great I get to go my senior year in both (events).”

Homme was part of a five-runner pack over the last 200 meters of the 1,600, where 0.20 separated DeVries and Kankakee Valley’s Kristin Fritts in third. Homme crossed next in 5:20.43, another personal best.

“She doesn't even know what’s going on,” Kearney said. “But she’s a talented kid who’s very coachable.”

Chesterton had a huge time drop in the 3,200 relay, where Rosie Biehl, Tori Schroeder, Homme and Haley Cushway teamed to post a 9:43.29, just behind Valpo and ahead of Munster.

“Three of the four had PRs,” Kearney said.

Other Trojan scorers included the 400 relay, which came in seventh with a personal best of 51.81 and Kincy (eighth, 400). Geena Tumidalsky tied for 10th in the high jump, matching her best leap of 5-0. She didn't have a miss until 5-1.

“We also represented well in the long jump and pole vault,” Kearney said. “It’s good to see them competing.”

Chesterton finished fifth as a team with 45 points. Lake Central nipped Valpo 61.5-61 for the title.

“We moved up a spot and we were way closer to the top,”Kearney said.

“Hopefully, they'll continue to do more and keep inching forward.”

1. LAKE CENTRAL 61.5, 2, VALPARAISO 61, 3. MUNSTER 53, 4. MERRILLVILLE 51, 5. CHESTERTON 45, 6. WEST SIDE 44, 7. PORTAGE 33, 8. CROWN POINT 32, 9. HOBART 26, 10. BOWMAN ACADEMY 25, 11. WALLACE 20, 12. WINAMAC 18, 13. SOUTH CENTRAL 16, 14. KANKAKEE VALLEY 15, 15. BOONE GROVE and LAPORTE 13, 17. MICHIGAN CITY 12, 18. LOWELL and HAMMOND 11, 20. WHEELER 10, 21. RENSSELAER 9, 22. WEST CENTRAL 8, 23. NEW PRAIRIE 7, 24. NORTH JUDSON 6, 25. BISHOP NOLL and ANDREAN 4, 27. WESTVILLE and HIGHLAND 3, 29. MORGAN TWP. 2.5, 30. MORTON, HEBRON, HANOVER CENTRAL 2.

3,200 RELAY -- 1. VALPARAISO (ANNALIESE TRAPP. KATELYN DEVRIES, LAUREN BIGGER, BLANEY KEOUGH) 9:42.11, 2. CHESTERTON (ROSIE BIEHL, TORI SCHROEDER, KRISTEN HOMME, HALEY CUSHWAY) 9:43.29, 3. MUNSTER (ALLISON BOYLE, COLLEEN OGREN, KAITLYN HOBBS, KYELA SPECHT) 9:44.26, 4. Crown Point 9:49.5, 5. Lake Central 9:50.57, 6. Portage 10:04.8.

100 HUR -- 1. TAYLOR GILLES (Wh) 14.63, 2. JALEESA HOLMES (M) 15.14, 3. STEPHANIE FISHER (C) 15.18, 4. Kortney Mabone (WS) 15.64, 5. Alycia Corral (Ho) 15.81, 6. Katherine Smailis (Hi) 15.93.

100 -- 1. CHAYIL HENDERSON (BA) 13.28, 2. JA'LIZA PROPHET (WS) 12.43, 3. SAMANTHA SMITH (LW) 12.46, 4. Kristy Evans (P) 12.56, 5. Leanna Mulloy (KV) 12.73, 6. Andrea Alvarez (LC) 12.78.

1,600 -- 1. KATELYN DEVRIES (V) 5:17.5, 2. JORDAN CHESTER (BG) 5:17.51, 3. KRISTIN FRITTS (KV) 5:17.7, 4. Kristen Homme (C) 5:20.43, 5. Celena Guerrero (Ho) 5:23.1, 6. Kyela Specht (Mu) 5:27.06.

400 RELAY -- 1. WEST SIDE (JALYNN CHEATHAM, KORTNEY MABONE, JA'LIZA PROPHET, MERCEDEZ WASHINGTON) 49.07, 2. MUNSTER (BRIANA WILLIAMS, OLIVIA ASKEW, CALEY MINTZ, STACEY AVTGIS), 49.52, 3. LEW WALLACE (ARIELLE BORDERS, ALYZA DENNIE, DENISHA GOLSTON, SAMANTHA SMITH) 49.67, 4. Merrillville 50.29, 5. Lake Central 50.32, 6. Portage 50.37.

400 -- 1. CHAYIL HENDERSON (BA) 58.18, 2. SHAKYLE ASKEW (Mu) 58.68, 3. KATIE BEHRENDT (Ch) 58.92, 4. Isis Thomas (LC) 59.38, 5. Bailey Beckham (CP) 1:01.07, 6. Taishe Abrams (Me) 1:01.3.

300 HUR -- 1. STEPHANIE FISHER (Ch) 46.83, 2. ALYCIA CORRAL (Ho) 47.45, 3. KATIE BECKAVAC (SC) 47.93, 4. Kortney Mabone (WS) 48.12, 5. Augusta Schrader (CP) 48.19, 6. Alex Meier (Mu) 48.44.

800 -- 1. BLANEY KEOUGH (V) 2:17.84, 2. KYELA SPECHT (Mu) 2:19.68, 3. MARY GAMBLE (NP) 2:20.48, 4. DeAushania Wheeler (WS) 2:23.87, 5. Jordan Chester (BG) 2:25.6, 6. Victoria Collins (Me) 2:26.04.

3,200 -- 1. KATELYN DEVRIES (V) 11:21.39, 2. ELENA LANCIONI (LP) 11:23.11, 3. LAUREN MCCARROLL (CP) 11:24.35, 4. Shelby Carroll (LC) 11:29.68, 5. Becca Conley (A) 11:36.79, 6. Tatiana Lazic (LC) 11:42.86.

200 -- 1. TIARA REED (Ha) 25.81, 2. SAMANTHA SMITH (LW) 26.01, 3. MERCEDEZ WASHINGTON (WS) 26.05, 4. Chayil Henderson (BA) 26.13, 5. Shakyla Askew (Mu) 26.31, 6. Anjelica Peppers (Me) 26.63.

1,600 RELAY -- 1. LAKE CENTRAL (KATELIN SMIERCIAK, ALANA EATINGER, ANDREA ALVAREZ, ISIS THOMAS) 4:03.45, 2. CROWN POINT (BAILEY BECKHAM, MEGAN GULVAS, WHITNEY MITCHELL, MAKENZI MORRIS) 4:04.13, 3. CHESTERTON (KATIE BEHRENDT, ANNA RAFFIN, JORDYN KINCY, KRISTIN MABRY) 4:05.62, 4. Valparaiso 4:09.25, 5. Munster 4:09.55, 6. West Side 4:09.87.

DIS -- 1. TORI BLISS (P) 143-9, 2. CHELSIE MEEKS (R) 131-0, 3. NAKEL MCCLINTON (Me) 130-11, 4. Alana Rivera (MC) 118-2, 5. Jessica Delbovo (LC) 116-5, 6. Jessica Nyiro (V) 109-7.

HJ -- 1. KATIE BECKAVAC (SC) 5-4 1/4, 2. MARISSA HAMILTON (WC) 5-4 1/4, 3. ALLISON MANCHESTER (Lo) 5-4 1/4, 4. LE'VISA EVANS (LC) 5-4 1/4, 5. Jaleesa Holmes (Me) 5-2, 6. Riley Wayco (LC) 5-2.

PV -- 1. ALEXANDRA DOMORAS (Me) 11-0, 2. EMILY PAULSON (Wi) 10-7, 3. KATELYN BROWN (LC) 10-7, 4. Courtni Fryer (LP) 10-7, 5. Steffanie Long (V) 10-1, 6. Breanne Babe (KV) 9-7.

LJ -- 1. ALYCIA CORRAL (Ho) 17-6 1/2, 2. BRIANA WILLIAMS (Mu) 17-1, 3. RACHEL FRANKO (Wi) 16-11, 4. Kaitlyn Moricz (LC) 16-7 3/4, 5. Stephanie Rarick (BN) 16-5, 6. Claudia Kalin (V) 16-0 3/4.

SP -- 1. TORI BLISS (P) 50-9 (MEET RECORD), 2. NAKEL MCCLINTON (Me) 40-7 3/4, 3. ALANA RIVERA (MC) 38-3 1/2, 4. Carissa Thiel (Lo) 37-4 3/4, 5. Kelisa Dvorscak (NJ) 36-7, 6. Savanna Jackson (We) 35-8 1/2.