Park Tudor's Gretchen Farley is 2023 Marion County Female Athlete of the Year

The essence of Gretchen Farley’s competitive nature can not be limited to a single moment or even a single sport.

The Park Tudor senior is a three-year cross-country all-state finisher, a two-time state champion in soccer, a 1,000-point scorer in basketball and one of the most versatile and talented track and field athletes in state history.

But even if you had never watched Farley compete in any of those sports, the final 100 meters of her final race in a Park Tudor uniform Saturday at Indiana University was a glimpse into her competitive soul.

Farley, chasing her first state title in track and field after three top-four finishes, set the pace and led the 800-meter run as the sun started to fade behind the trees at the Robert C. Haugh track and field complex. Most years, Farley’s race would have been enough to win comfortably.

But this was a duel.

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Delta junior Nicki Southerland, who won the 1,600 race more than an hour earlier, gave chase. Southerland caught Farley and appeared poised to run by her on the straightaway. But as the crowd cheered the two runners battling, neither giving an inch, Farley found a little extra. Then she found it again. Farley crossed the finish line in state meet record time — as did Southerland — just ahead of her competitor at 2:04.95. Southerland was nine-hundredths of a second behind.

“She’s an incredibly talented and dedicated athlete,” said her Park Tudor senior teammate Sophia Kennedy, who went out soon after and won her first state title in the 3,200 meters. “And a really awesome person. I was cheering for her — the loudest one out there.”

Farley simply refused to lose, which is a fitting finish to her high school career. She is the Marion County Female Athlete of the Year by a vote of the City and Marion County athletic directors. The honor dates to 1950 (it grew to include female athletes in 1979) and is regarded as one of the top recognition awards for Indianapolis-area senior high school athletes.

Other finalists for the award were Roncalli softball star Keagan Rothrock and Ben Davis basketball standout Cristen Carter. The award is geared toward athletic achievement, but the winners also exhibit impressive credentials in academics and in their personal lives. Generally, multi-sport athletes are given consideration over single-sport athletes, though that is not always the case.

Farley shined in all of those areas. But she did not own a title in state track until Saturday. After taking fourth in the 800 as a sophomore, she was runner-up in the 800 last year to Huntington North’s Addy Wiley and took third in the 1,600. It appeared she finally had the title in her grasp Saturday — and then Southerland was about to take it away.

She called it “mind over matter.” Farley’s older sisters, Hannah and Abby Farley, were three-time state champions in the 400 and 800 meters, respectively. Hannah took titles in 2006, ’07 and ’08 and Abby won hers in 2009, ’10 and ’11.

“It means everything to me,” Farley said. “It’s just so wonderful to be around fast, fast girls. When my siblings were here in high school, they didn’t have those girls right next to them. My sister was telling me today, ‘Gretchen you are so fortunate to have those other girls there because ultimately, that pushes you to do better.’ I’m very grateful to have Nicki and all the rest of the girls there with me, pushing me.”

Farley, who will run cross-country and track and field at Notre Dame, finished 12^th at state cross-country as a sophomore, then fourth as a junior and fifth as a senior. She won the county meet twice. In her decorated soccer career, Farley scored 44 goals and had 62 assists for teams that won two state championships and were runner-up once. On the basketball court, Farley scored 1,207 career points and had 536 rebounds and 262 steals. She was also a star in the classroom at Park Tudor, earning the Crown Award for distinguished athletic and academic excellence at the school.

Farley and Kennedy were training for different events, but shared the same goal of earning their first state championships.

“We’ve had the same goal of wanting to get that state championship,” Farley said before Kennedy won her race. “We’ve wanted it for four years now and I can’t to see her bring it home in the two-mile.”

Farley said speed workouts might have helped put her over the top in the final 100 meters against Southerland. But if there is a pitch for the benefits of playing multiple sports, it was on display for all to see Saturday night.

“I think it’s so important for girls to be multi-sport athletes,” Farley said. “I’ve been very fortunate in my four years not to have one single injury. I really credit that to my multi sports. Soccer, you are working on lateral movements. Basketball, jumping and lateral movements. And also it kind of kept me fresh for running and I’m nowhere close to being burned out. I’m just getting started in running.”

 If she had to do it all over again, Farley would do it the same way. Especially the way it ended. The voicemail message she has had for years is “Stay positive”, a motto she lives by.

“I’ve had so much fun in high school,” Farley said. “I never let the pressure hold me down. I just kind of went with the flow and had fun with it all. And I’ll always remember special moments like this when all that training really comes together.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.