By Michael Newman

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Dunlap put themselves in god position for a second straight 2A championship qualifying 16 to the finals including all four of their relays. East St. Louis-Senior is in position for a trophy advancing 10 to Saturday’s finals.

Dunlap’s 3200 Meter Relay looked strong in running the prelims without their anchor Franny Verville who just ran her prelim heat of the 1600 Meter Run. Dunlap still ran 9:34.52 to win their heat and was nine seconds ahead of the next closest team Eureka.

LaSalle-Peru’s Rachel Hickey had a good Friday helping her team qualify in the 3200 Meter Relay as well as qualifying two individuals. Hickey led all qualifiers in the 800 Meter Run winning her heat in 2:17.65. Gillian Fiene of Illiana Christian had the next closest time (2:18.03). Hickey also qualified easily in the 1600 Meter Run finishing third in her heat. Jenna Schwartz of Waterloo led all qualifiers running 5:08.94 to win her heat just ahead of Dunlap’s Verville (5:09.67). Campbell Petersen of Dunlap won the other heat (5:09.46).

The sprints should be fun to watch on Saturday. Serena Bolden of Springfield Southeast led all qualifiers running 11.97 to win her heat. Tina Martin of Decatur Eisenhower (12.04) and Kiara Pauli of Dunlap ran 12.06 to win their heats. They were the only three runners under 12.1.

Martin came back with the fastest qualifying time in the 200 Meter Dash (24.33) as Tiera Robinson Brown of Evergreen Park (24.74), Katina Martin of Decatur Eisenhower (24.77), and Pauli (24.97) were the only runners with Martin that were under 25-seconds in their heats. Jayla Campbell of Rich Central looked strong leading all qualifiers in the 400 Meter Dash (56.38). Raven Moore of Springfield Southeast is the nearest runner to Campbell (57.23).

Jessica Franklin of Mahomet-Seymour ran the state’s fastest time in winning her heat of the 300 Meter Hurdles. Franklin, who uses a standing start without blocks, came from behind to run 43.55 to just edge Veronica Sherrod of East ST. Louis-Senior. Defending champion Karyn Best of Wheaton Academy won her heat (44.54) and will challenge again for the title.

East St. Louis-Senior had the fastest prelim time in the 1600 Meter Relay (3:54.91) by almost four seconds ahead of Dunlap (3:58.92). It was Dunlap that had the edge in the shorter relay races as the Eagles ran 47.69 to lead all qualifiers in the 400 Meter Relay ahead of Lindblom Academy (48.23) and Springfield Southeast (48.28). Dunlap dipped under 1:40 to lead all qualifiers in the 800 Meter Relay running 1:39.92). East St. Louis-Senior (1:41.21) is the next closest team.

Brooks College Prep could have a good day tomorrow as they had additional qualifiers with along with Imani Carothers qualifying for Saturday in her four events. Carothers was by herself in the 100 Meter Hurdles running 13.75 to lead all qualifiers by almost a full second. Carothers had to come back in the next race in the 100 Meter Prelims. She ran 12.53 in her heat and ended up qualifying in the last position.

Erika Furbeck of Geneseo set a new 2A meet record jumping 19-11.25. There were several complaints by competitors of the electronic measuring of the marks in each of the Long and Triple Jump. Hopefully there are no problems on Saturday. Carothers currently stands in second in that event. Carothers lead the Triple Jump qualifiers with a 40-0.75 leap. Her lead is almost three feet ahead of Rich Central’s Jayla Campbell (37-10).

Nikita Maines of Centralia leads after the prelims of the Shot Put as she threw 45-3 for the top spot. Evangelynn Harris of East St. Louis-Senior is second (44-6.75). Harris is also second in the Discus (133-5) just one inch behind leader and defending champion Tayla Schwarz of Dixon.

13 athletes moved on to the finals in the High Jump with all clearing 5-2. Defending champion Diamonasia Taylor of Urbana is part of that group. 15 athletes made the final clearing 11-0 feet led by defending champion Aliyah Welter of Monticello.