PHILADELPHIA – With seven individual scorers, Tatnall leaned on its top performers to earn points in several events as the school claimed its third consecutive girls indoor track and field state title.

Breakout sprint star Simone Bessong won three individual events and led off Tatnall's winning 4x400, conquering both the state's greatest competition and a compressed schedule at the University of Pennsylvania's Ott Center that sometimes ran as much as 45 minutes ahead during the five-hour meet.

Tatnall collected 133 points, besting second-place Padua (107.5) and third-place Saint Mark's (63).

Bessong was one of many Hornets who took the track close to once an hour. Katie Payne won the 3,200, placed second in the 1,600 and 800 and anchored Tatnall's third-place 4x800. Ruby Schwelm took second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 and 800. In races separated by fewer than 10 minutes, Arianna Montgomery placed second in the 55 hurdles and seventh in the 55 dash. She also took second in the long jump and sixth in the 200.

"I would rather my team win than me have any individual success. It's all about team for me," Payne said. "I'm just so excited to share this moment with my friends."

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Bessong ran on Tatnall's 4x100 state record team last spring , but had never won an individual event at a Delaware indoor or outdoor state meet until Saturday. She came to Tatnall last year from Randall Cooper High in Union, Kentucky . After running the third-fastest time in qualifying, Bessong ran a personal best, 7.15, to win the 55. She shaved a hundredth of a second from her PR in the 200 to hold off Smyrna freshman Micahlena Cotton.

But perhaps Bessong's most impressive win came in the 400. In the first lap, Bessong gave up the stagger to Ursuline's Danielle Wooten, the defending Division II outdoor 400 champion, and teammate Cereniti Johnson. Bessong ran well off the leaders as late as about 100 meters to go before she made a charge around the final turn. On the last straight away, Bessong found a small opening between Johnson and Wooten and made a pass. She finished one hundredth of a second ahead of Wooten in 57.54. Johnson finished third in 57.96.

"I started and immediately I felt like I was caught," Bessong said. "But coming around for the next 200, I still felt like I had a little bit more so I just kept pushing. I realized I was reeling them in so I had to keep going."

This winter, Bessong has run times that place her inside the top 16 on the Delaware all-time performance list in the 55, 200 and 400. She attributed her success to an emphasis on sprint speed and power, training for the first time under Middletown's multiple-time state champion Daija Lampkin, now a coach at Tatnall.

"Everything being fast from the start instead of building up for it," Bessong said. "It's really helped me."

The Hornets' 4x400 team of Bessong, Krissa Woods, Karen Tanner and Johnson won in a meet record time of 3:58.31. The team ranks third on the state all-time list.

Tatnall also received points from Woods in the 1,600 (seventh place) and 800 (eighth place), Tanner in the long jump (third place) and the 4x200 team of Camille Johnson, Tanner, Jade Boothe and Maya Gordon (fourth place). Claire Minihan, Tanner and Mina Rugg joined Payne on the 4x800.

Anna Bockius leads Padua to runner-up finish, capping historic season

The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association hosted the meet for the first time at the Ott Center, a roughly $70 million facility opened on the University of Pennsylvania campus in December. The Prince Georges Sports and Learning Center in Landover, Maryland had been the state meet's regular home since 2014 after the University of Delaware turfed over the lone First State indoor track facility capable of hosting the meet.

Featuring a 200-meter banked track and multiple jumps and pole vault runways, the facility drew positive reviews from athletes and coaches.

"I'm very grateful that we're able to run here for states," said Padua senior Brianna Heffernan. "It's such a nice track. It's such a nice facility and I love the city."

Padua's Anna Bockius saw close to as much time on the track as anyone. The junior won the 1,600 and 800, placed third in the 3,200 and brought Padua's 4x400 from fourth to third as its final runner.

A year after running on the Pandas' state record 4x400, 4x800 and distance medley teams , Bockius has proven to be one of the state's greatest individual talents. Three weeks ago at the Ott Center, Bockius ran 2:09.60 to set the state record in the 800, the event she described as her most comfortable. She ranks fourth on the state all-time list in the 1,600 after running a meet record 4:50.19 Saturday. For good measure, Bockius is in the top five all-time in the 400 and 3,200.

"We really focus during the indoor track season on getting our intervals in," Bockius said. "So, I definitely have seen improvement in the foot speed."

Saint Mark's lowers girls 4x200 state record

Saint Mark's continued its dominance of the 4x200. The team of Alexis Donovan, Kiara Davis, Arianna Donovan and Reagan Garibaldi lowered its own state record – set at last week's North Shore Pre-Nationals at The Armory in New York City – by four hundredths of a second to 1:42.66.

The record had been in possession of Delcastle (1:42.74) since 2010.

"It's more motivating to run a good time and break records and get first when we enjoy doing it with each other," Arianna Donovan said.

The Spartans will enter the outdoor track and field season with a 12-race winning streak in the 4x200 that includes wins at the New Castle County meet, the state meet and Meet of Champions.

Smyrna's Aaliyah Turpin wins 55 hurdles

With just a jog back to the start line and a few spare moments between the 55 hurdles and the 55 dash, Smyrna's Aaliyah Turpin followed a win in the hurdles with a second-place finish to Bessong in the dash. Her prelims time of 8.17 in the hurdles is tied for sixth on the state all-time performance list.

Turpin said her sole focus this season has been on the starting blocks.

"I have not been focusing on my form. I've been strictly doing blocks, blocks, blocks," Turpin said. "That's what's been messing up my whole race."

The Padua team of Vera Cincilla, Teresina DeAscanis, Mary Drost and Heffernan won the 4x800 with a time of 10:10.50, more than 13 seconds ahead of second-place Middletown. Padua junior Amirah Laster won the shot put (38-6.75).

Saint Mark's junior Kiara Davis finished second and third in the long jump the last two seasons while competing for Tatnall. Davis won the competition this year by almost a foot, jumping 18-4.

Katya Geyer, a Sussex Academy junior, cleared 5-4 for the first time to win the high jump. Dover's Favour Amadi won the triple jump (33-9.25). Ursuline's Sadey McPherson won the pole vault (8-3).