Illinois IHSA Track & Field State Championships - 1A Girls Preliminaries Recap

Winnebago leads all team qualifiers with 10; Comer, Patterson, Johnston, and Wesseh qualify to finals in four individual events

By Michael Newman

Charleston, Ill - Winnebago had close to a perfect day during the Class 1A Girls Preliminaries at the IHSA State Track and Field Championships Thursday afternoon at Eastern Illinois University. The Indians advanced ten to the finals in eight events.

Eureka had some hits and misses in this preliminary sessions qualifying eight total including all four of their relays. Seneca had 15 entries entering Thursday’s competition. They ended up advancing seven to the finals including having the fastest times in all four relays.

There are other teams that are still in trophy consideration. Father McGivney and Stark County advanced six to Saturday’s finals. Henry-Senachwine and last year’s second-place team finisher Newark advanced five to Saturday.

There were a number of athletes that were hoping to qualify in multiple events in the finals. Many of those wishes came to fruition. Ahry Comer of Pope County advanced to the finals in the 400 Meter Dash, 800 Meter Run, and 1600 Meter Run. She will also compete Saturday in the 3200 Meter Run to start her day.

Lia Patterson of Tuscola also had a big day on Thursday qualify for Saturday in all four events she was entered in. The sophomore had the fastest time in the 100 Meter Dash (12.27) and the 300 Meter Hurdles (44.51), was second in the 10o Hurdles and the 200 Meter Dash. Lindley Johnston of Stark County could contend for four state titles in the High Jump and all three sprint races.

Kiara Wesseh of Newark also qualified in the High Jump along with the 100 Meter Hurdles, 100 Meter Dash, and the 300 Meter Hurdles.

Here is a recap of the 17 preliminary events that took place on Thursday.

Track Events

4x800m Relay – Top seeds Father McGivney and defending two time state champion Winnebago made it to the finals in this relay setting up for a great finals race on Saturday morning. The first four qualifying teams in the event ran within four seconds of each other. Seneca set the pace winning the first heat with the fastest time of the day (9:50.77). Chicago Christian and El-Paso-Gridley also made it to the finals from that heat. Father McGivney had the advantage throughout the second heat of this event running 9:51.50 for the win. Eureka was a close second (9:54.86) followed by Robinson and Pleasant Plains. Four of the top six qualifiers in the 4x8 came from this heat. Two time defending champion Winnebago pulled away early and ran 9:52.19 to capture the win in the final heat. Bago won by 11 seconds ahead of Shelbyville who had the eighth fastest qualifying time. Three more teams qualified from this heat including Knoxville, Williamsville, and Stark County. Cambridge missed qualifying for the finals by 66 hundredth of a second.

4x100m Relay – Seneca made it two for two with fastest qualifying times this time running a season’s best of 49.56 to win and lead all qualifiers. ROWVA/Williamsfield just made it to the finals finishing second in the heat and the final team to advance. Monmouth United won Heat 4 in 49.80 to finish ahead of the other qualifier from the heat in Sherrard. They had the seventh fastest time (50.66). Eureka qualified for their second relay event running 49.83 for the win. Peru St. Bede and North Mac finished second and third also qualifying for Saturday’s final. It was a close finish in the third heat. Rockford Christian ran 50.05 for the win and the auto qualifying place in the final with Maroa-Forsyth second with a seasonal best time of 50.10. Carrolton was tenth and missed qualifying by 13 hundredth of a second.

100 Meter Hurdles – Cambria Geyer of Tremont qualified for the first of three finals on Saturday in spectacular fashion. The senior ran a personal bet of 14.60 to lead all qualifiers in this event. Maisie Kull of Shelbyville and Shelby McGee of Salt Fork also qualified from that that heat. Lia Patterson of Tuscola will need to score some big points on Saturday to help her team to leave with a trophy. She qualified for her fist final by running 15.10 to win the third heat by more than a second ahead of Aleese Trimingham of Auburn who also qualified. Kiara Wesseh of Newark qualified in her first event of the day. Wesseh ran 15.42 to win the opening heat. Campbell Schrank of Winnebago finished second (15.64) to qualify. Emma Crawford of North Mac was the final event qualifier running 16.14 finishing third. Makhiya Stephen of Maroa-Forsyth was the lone qualifier in the fourth heat of this event claiming the win with a 15.81 time.

100 Meter Dash – Lia Patterson came right back from her heat in the 100 Meter Hurdles to record the fastest preliminary time in this event. Patterson ran 12.27 for the win ahead of Jaela Person and Emmie Gurley of Vienna who both made it to the finals. This race should be close as the top four qualifiers are separated by only 11 hundredth of a second. Kaylin Moreland of Mounds Meridian (12.32) and Bre Crose of Hoopeston Area (12.51) were the top two finishers in the second heat and now off to the finals. Lindley Johnston of Stark County ran a personal best of 12.33 to win the third heat. Kiara Wesseh of Newark finished second (12.49) also qualifying. Ainsley Johnson of Springfield Lutheran ran 12.38 to qualify for the finals winning the final section. Daniella Bumber of Henry-Senachwine qualified for the first of three finals on this day running 12.43 to finish second. A heartbreaking moment in this event came in the final heat. Kaitlyn Vahling of Teutopolis was slowed by an injury and finished seventh out of nine runners in the heat. Vahling entered this meet with the fastest 1A time in the state (12.12). Vahling was forced to scratch from her final two events. She is a junior and will surely be back at the Big Blue Oval to accomplish some big things.

800 Meter Run – Ahry Comer of Pope County will be able to run in the finals and defend her Class 1A title. The junior made it a little interesting win winning the third and final heat of the event. Kennady Anderson of Kewanee Wethersfield and Trixie Johnson of Paxton-Buckley-Loda were the other heat winners advancing to the finals. Anderson took control of Heat 1 early leading through the first 400m ins 66.6. She went on to run 2:17.19 to claim the win. Morgan Capriola of Winnebago ran a four second personal best with a 2:19.11 time to finish second. That finish was a huge plus for Winnebago in Saturday’s finals. Evelyn O’Connor of Seneca finished third (2:19.64) also advancing to the finals. Johnson had control of the race from the start passing the first 400m in a quick 66.1. The senior went on to run 2:18.12 to win her heat. Emily Dowling of Cambridge moved from fifth on the final lap to finish second with a new personal best of 2:20.36. The third heat was tactical. This would be the first of three races for Comer on this day. The heat was loaded with talent as Comer went through the first 400 in a pedestrian 69.3 seconds. Grace Erb of Winnebago and Kaitlyn Hatley of Father McGivney were within a half of second of the lead. Comer pulled away for the win (2:18.29) ahead of Erb (2:20.41) and Hatley (2:21.74). Both runners qualified for the finals. Four runners qualified in each of the four sections.

4x200m Relay  - Seneca continued their big day on the track winning the final of the four heats in this event and garner the fastest time in Class 1A this season (1:44.32). Carrolton ran 1:48.48 in that final heat to finish second and claim one of the final spot in Saturday’s finals. The closest team to Seneca was Rockford Christian as they ran 1:44.51 to win the second heat. Fulton (1:47.46) was the only other team to advance out of that heat. Maroa-Forsyth won the opening heat (1:46.38) ahead of Newton (1:47.51) and El Paso-Gridley (1:47.93). Peru St. Bede finished fourth but had the exact same time as Carrolton in Heat 2. Both teams will advance to a 10 field final on Saturday. Monmouth United won Section 3 (1:45.07) ahead of Eureka (1:47.82) who was the only other qualifier in this heat. Nine of the ten qualifying teams ran seasonal bests.

400 Meter Dash – It will be the high school freshman going up against the 400 newcomer in Saturday’s finals. Ahry Comer was coming back from a win in her heat of the 800 Meter Run. She showed she was serious by running a personal best of 57.68 to easily make it to the finals in the second heat. In the final heat two heats later, Danielle Bumber set the new standard running 57.27 for the win and the fastest time in Class 1A. Alyson Cements of St. Thomas More ran 58.16 to win the opening heat. Addison Lucht of Milford, Laurel Munson of Eureka, and Makenna Bode of Riverdale all finished behind Clements, but all made it to the finals. Lindley Johnston won her second heat of the day running 58.25 to win the third heat. Lily Gilbertson of Father McGivney was the lone qualifier other than Comer in Heat 2. Lillian Russell of Sherrard finished second behind Johnston but also advanced. Bri Harms of Lowpoint-Washburn missed advancing for the finals by five hundredth of a second.

300 Meter Hurdles – It should be an exciting final on Saturday in this event as Lia Patterson and Cambria Geyer have the top two seeds in the final and almost two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Patterson set the standard in the third of four heats by running a personal best of 44.51 and an IL #3 time for the win. Geyer followed by running a season’s best of 44.71 (IL #6) to win the fourth heat. Kiara Wesseh and Kendall Stewart of Litchfield won the first two sections. Campbell Schrank, Lily Bosnich of Peru-St. Bede, Aleese Trimingham, Lydia Luechtefeld of Okawville, and Maisie Kull were the other advancers to Saturday’s finals. Caitlyn O’Boyle of Seneca missed making the finals by eight hundredths of a second.

1600 Meter Run – This race will featured the Class 1A defending champion against two hot running freshmen. The three sets of heats started as Kennady Anderson qualified for her second final by running 5:10.69 to win Heat 1 ahead of the defending champion Elena Rybak of Father McGivney. Emily Downing of Cambridge finished third in the heat qualifying for Saturday. Molly Farrell of Marshall pulled away from the field in the second heat winning in 5:06.87. Ahry Comer in her third race of the day running 5:16.43 to finish second. Arianna Neisen of Liberty, Grace Mullin of Chicago Christian, and Marissa Roggensack of Winnebago finished third through fifth. It would be pins and needles time for the three runners as they would have to see what would happen in the final heat and whether they would be racing on Saturday. Katie Foltz of Tuscola was in third entering the final lap of her race. She made a move that secured the win for her with a personal best of 5:03.66. It also secured her a spot in the finals. Eden Mueller of Mercer County and Kaylee Woolery of Winnebago finished second and third both qualifying. Nora Brady of Bloomington Central Catholic finished third and was the only other qualifier from that heat. Roggensack moved to #12 in this event but made it to the finals.

200 Meter Dash – Lindley Johnston finished a great preliminary day by having the top time in this event. The senior ran a personal best of 25.29 and won the final heat leading all qualifiers. Emma Randecker of West Carroll and Audrey Phillips of El Paso-Gridley also advanced to the finals from that heat. Lia Patterson qualified for the fourth finals of the meet running 25.51 time of the win into a -2.0 m/s headwind. Ainsley Johnson finished second advancing in her second event. Cambria Geyer qualified for her third final running 25.66 to win the third heat ahead of Daniella Bumber (25.81) who qualified for the third final of the day. Kaylin Moreland (25.89) and Reece Bertelsen of Monmouth United finished 1-2 in the second heat both qualifying to the finals.

4x400m Relay – The teams that needed to get into the nine team finals did just that to get those extra points to contend for a state title. Seneca has the top qualifying times in all four relays. In the final race of the day on the Big Blue Oval, Seneca ran 4:03.82 to win the fourth heat ahead of Eureka (4:09.08) who was the only other qualifier in that race. Monmouth United ran 4:05.58 to win the second heat with Father McGivney (4:05.71), and Pleasant Plains (4:05.85) also getting their ticket to the finals. Winnebago captured the third section (4:05.83) ahead of qualifier Sherrard (4:07.22). Newton ran 4:07.40 to win the opening heat ahead of the other qualifier from this race Robinson (4:09.79). Six seconds separate the nine qualifiers in this event. The top six qualifying times are separated by two seconds.

Field Events

Long Jump – Laurel Munson of Eureka jumped 17-11.50 on her second of three events to have the lead after the preliminary session. Only for athletes jumped farther than 17-feet on Thursday. Anna Bruno of Seneca is Munson’s closest competition. Bruno jumped 17-7.50 on her final attempt to move within four inches of Munson.

Triple Jump – Kelsey Hutchins of Sherrard jumped 36-9 and leads all qualifiers in this event.

Shot Put – Laney Lester of Henry-Senachwine had a best of 39-3.75 in the second round to take the lead in this event. Amanda Gustafson of Winnebago had an opening attempt of 38-10.50 to secure herself in second place. It could be a wild final with the top five placers all over 38-feet.

Discus – Laney Lester put herself in position to win a second state title in this meet. Lester leads all qualifiers with a 130-1 throw in the second round claiming the lead. Brianna Brodie of Princeville (126-4) and Breanna Dutcher of Warrensburg-Latham in third (122-3).

High Jump – 14 athletes advanced to Saturday’s finals all clearing 5-1 led by Lindley Johnston, Kiara Wesseh, Ainsley Johnson, Audrey Phillips, and Mia Range of Father McGivney.

Pole Vault – 13 athletes made it to Saturday’s finals led by Mya Straham of Elmwood and Haley Carlton of Georgetown-Ridge Farm who cleared 10-6.25. the other 11 qualifiers advanced by clearing 10-0.50.