By Michael Newman

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St. Joseph-Ogden, Milledgeville, and Farmington appear to be the teams to watch after the conclusion of 1A preliminaries Thursday afternoon. St. Joseph-Ogden will need to have a perfect Saturday for a chance qualifies all four of their relays but did not have an individual athlete advance. Farmington is in good shape with their three relay qualifiers near the top in each event. Jordan Peckham will be one of the favorites in the finals of the 100 Meter Dash. Milledgeville’s Rebecca Waite qualified in all of her three individual events as well as anchoring their qualifying 400 Meter Relay. Milledgeville also had Olivia Sturrup qualify in the 200 as well as their 800 Meter Relay advancing.

Track Events

4x800 – St. Joseph-Ogden qualified in this event winning Heat 1 in 9:56.68. Last year’s winner Deer Creek Mackinaw finished second (10:11.96). Teutopolis topped that time in Heat 2 running a new 1A #1 9:49.79 ahead of Tremont (9:57.17) and Springfield Lutheran (10:01.30). The third heat started out two to three seconds slower than the first two heats. Mendon Unity pulled away in the final two legs to run 9:55.27 to win the third and final heat. Timothy Christian was the 12^th and final qualifier for Saturday’s finals.

4x100 – St. Joseph-Ogden qualified their relay to the finals winning Heat 3 in 49.41. The Lady Spartans were the only school to run under 50 seconds in the five heats. It should be a good final with Warrensburg-Latham, Farmington, Bureau Valley, and Milledgeville the other heat winners. Milledgeville had the next fastest time at 50.15.

100 Meter Hurdles – Kenli Nettles of Arthur-Lovington ran the fastest prelim time in winning Heat 3 with a 15.08 time. Danielle Taets of Orion ran 15.12 to win Heat 2. Sectional Leader Daelin Switzer of St. Teresa ran 15.24 to win the final Heat.

100 Meter Dash – Seven Hicks of Peoria Heights should be the favorite in this event after running 12.42 to win Heat 3. Heat 1 was the closest race of the four heats. Jordan Peckham of Farmington ran 12.52 to win the race just ahead of Milledgeville’s Rebecca Waite (12.63). Both made the finals. Janiya Collins of Madison and Rylei Jackson of Chicago Christian were the other heat winners.

800 Meter Run – The closest race of the three heats came in the final race. Latin School’s Marianne Mihas had the lead until the final 200-meters of the race. At that point, Urbana University’s Arielle Summitt passed Mihas on the outside. Mihas’ foot hit the rail causing her to fall. She got up to finish sixth in the heat but did not have the time to make the finals. Summitt ran a 30.9 final 200-meters to run the fastest 1A time this year (2:14.65) to win that heat. The first heat was also fast with Bushnell Prairie City freshman Maleigha Huston running 2:17.40 for the win. Five qualifiers in that heat ran 2:19.12 or faster. Knoxville’s Breena Shreeves ran 2:19.85 to win Heat 2.

4x200 Meter Relay – It was all St. Joseph-Ogden in these prelims as they qualified their third relay of the 1A prelims. The Spartans ran the fastest 1A time in the state (1:44.29) to win Heat 2. The finals should be fast with Mercer County at 1:47.39 the final team into the finals. Warrensburg-Latham (1:45.58), Milledgeville (1:46.69), Farmington (1:45.64), and Bureau Valley (1:46.31) were your other heat winners.

400 Meter Dash – Lena-Winslow’s Camren DeVries had the fastest prelim time when she ran 57.95 to win Heat 3. Taylor Larson of Bushnell-Prairie City ran 58.91 to edge Delanie Dykes of Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (59.10) for the win in Heat 1. Nariah Parks of Belleville Althoff ran 59.05 to win Heat 2 in which the top five finishers all qualified for Saturday’s finals. Rebecca Waite of Milledgeville qualified for her second individual final by winning Heat 4 (59.75).

300 Meter Hurdles – DaeLin Switzer of St. Teresa had the top prelim time heading to Saturday. The junior ran 44.93 to win Heat 4 of the event. Her chief competition on Saturday comes from Kenli Nettles of Arthur Lovington who ran 45.70 to win Heat 3. Danielle Taets of Orion won Heat 1 (46.00) just ahead of Delavan’s Katie Springer. Katie Moore of Red Hill was the other heat winner when she ran 46.54 to win Heat 2.

1600 Meter Run – Marianne Mihas of Latin School bounced back after her fall in the 800 Meter Run 90 minutes earlier. Mihas pulled away to win the first Heat of this event running 5:14.00. Fran Hendrickson of St. Thomas More (5:15.79) and Karlie Hey of Sterling Newman (5:15.87) closed the gap in the final 150-meters but could not catch Mihas. Pre-meet favorite Arielle Summitt of Urbana University pulled away from Caroline Jachino of Pleasant Plains in the final lap of her heat winning in 5:14.32. Jachino finished in 5:17.22. It should be a great final between Summitt and Mihas Saturday afternoon.

200 Meter Dash – Seven Hicks of Peoria Heights had the fastest prelim time running 25.58 to win the fifth and final heat. Hicks also had the top prelim time in the 100 Meter Dash. Four other runners dipped under 26 seconds in their heats. DaeLin Switzer of St. Teresa qualified for her fourth finals as she ran 25.76 to win Heat 3 just nipping Catelyn Hoffman of Mercer County by six hundredths of a second. Alleman freshmen Tori Thomas ran 25.94 to win Heat 1 just ahead of Astoria’s Tori Keeler (25.93). Rebecca Waite of Milledgeville was the ninth and final qualifier as she ran 26.23 to finish second in Heat 4 behind Bureau Valley’s Kamryn Kolb (26.14). Waite’s teammate Olivia Sturrup qualified for the finals winning Heat 2 (26.14).

4x400 Meter Relay – The state team championship will be decided in this event. The top two times of the prelims came from the fifth heat. St. Joseph-Ogden qualified their fourth relay to the finals running 4:04.03 for the win just ahead of Farmington (4:04.49). Tremont had the next fastest time (4:06.93) in winning Heat 1. Knoxville (4:09.67), Roockridge (4:09.24), and Pana (4:09.75) were the other heat winners.

Field Events

Long Jump – Camren DeVries of Lena-Winslow has the lead jumping 17-4.5 in her Flight. Capria Brown of Danville Schlarman and Jaeyln Robinson of Cowden Herrick both jumped 17-1.75 and are tied for second.

Triple Jump – Orion’s Danielle Taets jumped 38-0 to lead all qualifiers in this event. Fulton’s Daekota Knott (37-4) is currently in second.

High Jump – 19 athletes advanced to Saturday’s finals all clearing 5-1. Both DaeLin Switzer of St. Teresa and Kenli Nettles of Arthur-Lovington were among the qualifiers.

Pole Vault – 13 athletes advanced to Saturday with nine of the qualifiers clearing 10-0. All of the favorites advanced including Emma Smith of Carlinville.

Shot Put – Fulton’s Chloe Lindeman has a two-foot lead heading into the finals on Saturday. Lindemann’s put of 45-10.25 was the longest of the day followed by Pittsfield’s Chandler Hayden (43-0.5).

Discus – Emily Offenheiser of Stockton threw 139-7 to lead all qualifiers in this event. Salt Fork’s Rachyl Anderson threw 131-2 and is currently in second.