From the first day of track practice, Anna Raffin has been single-minded in her goals for the season.

In Tuesday's Chesterton Regional, it all came to fruition, times two, for the Trojan senior.

Raffin finished second in the 400-meter dash and anchored the 1,600 relay to a victory to qualify for next Friday's state finals in Bloomington.

"I'm really excited. I've wanted to get to state -- that's been my goal all year," Raffin said. "I just had to go fast and try not to let things distract me, not worry about seed times. It was a new race for everyone."

When Raffin took the baton for the final leg of the relay, Chesterton was second to Kankakee Valley. With about 200 meters to go, Raffin had moved ahead of KV, but was passed by Crown Point. As the race hit the stretch, she surged to the front and didn't look back, bringing her Trojan teammates Kristen Homme, Jordyn Kincy and Tia Peters home in a personal best of 4:02.8, just over a tick ahead of C.P.

"We were talking before the race that we can make it if we each ran close to our fastest times," Raffin said. "Each leg was running so fast, I saw what they're doing, when I got the baton, I couldn't do anything less than they did. As soon as I started running, I just zoned into the race and concentrating on the girl ahead of me. I was thinking, 'This is the regional, I've got to leave nothing on the track.'"

Chesterton coach Steve Kearney praised Raffin's patience.

"She didn't panic," he said. "She knows pace and position. She didn't have to try to catch (the leader) until she had to. Those four really wanted a day off from school."

Hobart's Mindy Whidden denied Raffin a win in the open 400, rallying to nip her at the finish line, 58.9-58.97.

"I ran it differently," said Raffin, who posted a personal best. "I really went out fast so the last 50 meters, I was just holding on for dear life."

The Trojans book-ended the meet with firsts, also taking the spot in the 3,200 relay. Homme joined Kassidy Scott, Tori Schroeder and Rosie Biehl to win the race in 9:37.62, over 10 seconds in front of Crown Point.

"They had a tremendous lead, so you normally wouldn't want them pressing at that point, but we want to be running against the fastest competition at state," Kearney said.

Homme logged her leg in 2:20, a faster time than the open 800 winner. She came back in the open 1,600, shadowing Valparaiso's Katelyn DeVries on her way to a second-place finish. Her time of 5:13.3 was just off a personal best, but Kearney was impressed with how she handled the race tactically.

"It wasn't her best time, but the way she ran it was way better, against a lot tougher competition," Kearney said. "She was closer to Katelyn than she's been all season. Ninety percent of her race was perfect. She already knows what the other 10 percent is."

Chesterton finished fourth as a team with 45 points, placing behind defending champion Lake Central (81.33), Merrillville (70.5) and Valparaiso (55). Its other top six scorers were long jumper Katie Urycki (fourth, 16-8 1/2) and Schroeder (sixth, 800, 2:29.97).

"We thought we had a shot in the long jump and pole vault," Kearney said. "Nobody had a good day in the pole vault. I don’t know what it was."

1. Lake Central 81.33, 2. Merrillville 70.5, 3. Valparaiso 55, 4. Chesterton 45, 5. Crown Point 44.33, 6. Kankakee Valley 36, 7. Munster 32, 8. Portage 31.33, 9. West Side 24, 10. Lowell 19, 11. Bowman Academy and New Prairie 16, 13. Wheeler 15, 14. Lew Wallace 14, 15. Hanover Central 13, 16. Hobart 12.5, 17. West Central 12, 18. Andrean and Rensselaer 10, 20. Kouts and LaPorte 9, 22. Griffith and South Central 8, 24. Morgan Township, Bishop Noll and Westville 6, 27. Highland and Winamac 4, 29. Hammond 3, 30. North Judson 2, 31. Hebron and Knox 1.

(Top three finishers in each event and any additional finishers meeting the state-qualifying standard advance to the state finals)

3,200 RELAY -- 1. Chesterton (Kassidy Scott, Tori Schroeder, Rosie Biehl, Kristen Homme) 9:37.62, 2. Crown Point 9:48.34, 3. Lake Central 9:54.38, 4. Andrean 9:54.47, 5. Kankakee Valley 10:05.21, 6. Portage 10:09.57.

DIS -- 1. Chelsie Meeks (Rensselaer) 138-11, 2. Nakel McClinton (Merrillville) 135-9, 3. Kayla York (Hanover Central) 133-4, 4. Jessie Nyiro (Valparaiso) 117-9, 5. Katie Dominguez (Hanover Central) 116-11, 6. Rachel Geise (Lake Central) 112-6.

100 -- 1. Airrica Harper (Merrillville) 12.26, 2. Leanna Mulloy (Kankakee Valley) 12.41, 3. Arielle Borders (Lew Wallace) 12.54, 4. Anjelica Peppers (Merrillville) 12.71, 5. Andrea Alvarez (Lake Central) 12.75, 6. Paris Nunnally (Hammond) 12.78.

100 HUR -- 1. Jaleesa Holmes (Merrillville) 14.85, 2. Kortney Mabone (West Side) 15.01, 3. Kassidy Swenson (Valparaiso) 15.13, 4. Alex Meier (Munster) 15.21, 5. Marissa Hamilton (West Central) 15.9, 6. Trina Coleman (Morgan Twp.) 15.91.

1600 -- 1. Katelyn DeVries (Valparaiso) 5:12.19, 2. Kristen Homme (Chesterton) 5:13.30, 3. Kyleigh Werner (South Central) 5:14.12, 4. Taylor Austin (Griffith) 5:18.29, 5. Tara Hamstra (Kouts) 5:26.97, 6. Michelle Kent (Kankakee Valley) 5:37.09.

400 RELAY -- 1. Lake Central 48.88, 2. Merrillville 48.98, 3. West Side 50.13, 4. Portage 50.58, 5. Munster 50.78, 6. Crown Point 51.28.

400 -- 1. Mindy Whidden (Hobart) 58.9, 2. Anna Raffin (Chesterton) 58.97, 3. Bailey Beckham (Crown Point) 59.28, 4. Jazmin Cowsen (Bowman) 59.92, 5. Alex Widowfield (Lake Central) 1:01.42, 6. Haley Lovison (Wheeler) 1:01.51.

PV -- 1. Haley Whipps (Valparaiso) 10-6, 2. (tie) Brooke Lambert (Lake Central) 10-0, Katelin Krenzke (Crown Point) 10-0, Katie Engel (Portage) 10-0, 5. Breeanne Babe (Kankakee Valley) 10-0, 6. (tie) Kelly McGuire (Hobart) 10-0, Katie Brown (Lake Central) 10-0.

3200 -- 1. Katelyn DeVries (Valparaiso) 11:15.13, 2. Elena Lancioni (LaPorte) 11:15.15, 3. Shelby Carroll (Lake Central) 11:21.34, 4. Becca Conley (Andrean) 11:21.72, 5. Lauren McCarroll (Crown Point) 11:31.85, 6. Taylor Austin (Griffith) 11:36.64.

LJ -- 1. Kaitlyn Moricz (Lake Central) 17-11, 2. Jade McKnight (Portage) 17-4 3/4, 3. Stephanie Rarick (Bishop Noll) 17-0 3/4, 4. Katie Urycki (Chesterton) 16-8 1/2,5. Danyell Bailey (Winamac) 16-3 1/2, 6. Joli Jungels (Kankakee Valley) 16-1 1/4.

300 HUR -- 1. Alex Meier (Munster) 44.99, 2. Kortney Mabone (West Side) 45.96, 3. Kassidy Swenson (Valparaiso) 46.13, 4. Keyera Lige (Bowman) 46.38, 5. Allison Vogeler (New Prairie) 46.78, 6. Victoria Nida (Lowell) 46.88.

200 -- 1. Airrica Harper (Merrillville) 25.36, 2. Leanna Mulloy (KV) 25.87, 3. Arielle Borders (Lew Wallace) 25.94, 4. LeVisa Evans (Lake Central) 26.01, 5. Olivia Askew (Munster) 26.26, 6. Jazmin Cowsen (Bowman) 26.44.

HJ -- 1. Allison Manchester (Lowell) 5-4 1/4, 2. Marissa Hamilton (West Central) 5-4 1/4, 3. Riley Wayco (Lake Central) 5-3, 4. Allison Zimmerle (Kouts) 5-3, 5. (tie) LeVisa Evans (Lake Central), Jaleesa Holmes (Merrillville) 5-2.

800 -- 1. Kelsey Tyler (New Prairie) 2:20.98, 2. Kelly O’Shea (Wheeler) 2:21.58, 3. Kayla McGurk (CP) 2:22.10, 4. Lauren Bigger (Valparaiso) 2:24.79, 5. Amber Przyborski (Highland) 2:28.96, 6. Tori Schroeder (Chesterton) 2:29.97.

SP -- 1. Nakel McClinton (Merrillville) 39-10 1/2, 2. Emily Thompson (Lake Central) 37-8 3/4, 3. Savanna Jackson (Westville) 37-7, 4. Tara Kostelnik (Portage) 37-7, 5. Nicole Kiszenia (Lowell) 36-4, 6. Kayla York (HC) 36-0 1/4.

1600 RELAY -- 1. Chesterton (Kristen Homme, Jordyn Kincy, Anna Raffin, Tia Peters) 4:02.8, 2. Crown Point 4:03.99, 3. Kankakee Valley 4:04.97, 4. Munster 4:06.12, 5. Wheeler 4:01.83, 6. Lake Central 4:11.6.

Posted 5/23/2012