Inman has double vision

Quietly but quickly, Abby Inman has become one of the most successful female athletes in Zionsville history.

Not too many high school athletes get the chance to compete at state, but the senior Inman has been to state in two sports. She was a member of the Eagles’ track team’s state-qualifying 4x800-meter relay squad in 2004 and 2005, and made it to state with the Zionsville girls soccer team last fall.

For that accomplishment, Inman has been named this week’s The Lebanon Reporter-Leedy’s Trophy Athlete of the Week. Inman is running track again this year, and will once again compete on the 4x800 team, as well as the 3200-meter run.

“She’s perhaps the most talented distance runner that Zionsville’s had, in terms of just raw physical ability,” said Eagles girls track coach Doug Showley. “The most important meets come along, Abby Inman’s always been ready.

“Case in point: None of her competitors would’ve known her freshman year that she had an 11:47 two-mile (3200-meter run) in her, because she hadn’t come within 45 seconds of that during the season. She walks out there, not only runs a (Hoosier Crossroads) conference record, but wins the entire race.”

The next year, Inman repeated that performance, setting a new school and conference record with a time of 11:31.

Inman said that she has been playing soccer “forever,” so track was a somewhat secondary sport when she started high school.

“At first I just did it kind of to stay in shape for soccer,” Inman said. “But then as time went on, I enjoyed it more, and I decided that I would work harder and seriously consider it as one of my main sports.”

As a freshman, Inman qualified for regionals in the 1600-meter run (where she finished seventh) and the 3200 (where she was 12th). The next year, Inman placed seventh at regionals in the 3200, and was also a part of the sectional-winning 4x800 team, along with then-senior Rachel Heneghan, then-sophomore Jessica Bostwick and then-freshman Dayna Anderson. That group set a new sectional record with a time of 9 minutes, 25.61 seconds.

The foursome went on to finish second at both regionals and state, where the team ran the relay in 9:18.69.

Last year, Inman placed fifth in the 3200 at regionals. She, Bostwick and Anderson joined with then freshman-Caitlyn Engel to again place second at regionals in the 4x800 relay, and went on to finish seventh at state.

“Everybody has their own role, but we all have the same goal: Getting a good time and of course helping out our teammates,” Inman said. “It’s kind of strategic to see, like, how you’re going to run and how you’re going to position yourself for your teammates later. Everybody pulls their own weight on the team.”

While Inman said that getting to compete at state in both soccer and track has been rewarding, she also said that it was nice to be able to meet so many teammates that have become her friends.

“Soccer and track is where I met most of my friends, and those are the friends I’ll keep in contact with when I leave,” said Inman.

Inman is considering attending either Emory University in Atlanta, or Miami of Ohio. If she goes to Emory, Inman said she’ll run cross country and track, but won’t do so if she attends Miami.

“I don’t know how much time I want to commit to (sports) after high school, even though I love it,” Inman said. “I’ll probably do intramurals with soccer if I don’t run, or I’ll just run by myself.”