by ZACK CREGLOW

The members of the Galesburg High School girls 4×200 relay team were not among the most popular tenants at the team hotel on Friday.
After a botched exchange Friday between freshmen Sharron Diggins and Rainee Sibley nearly cost the relay team a chance at today’s finals of the Class 2A state championship meet, GHS girls track and field head coach Jody Chapman planned an impromptu practice to work on handoffs.

In the hallway of the team hotel.

“I’m serious,” she said. “We are going to block off all the hallways.”

How fast would they have been?
At the time of the botched handoff, Galesburg was nipping on Springfield Southeast’s heels.

Southeast, the favorite to win the event today, finished with easily the best time of the preliminaries with a 1:42.06. Galesburg finished with a 1:45.26 but that begs the question: How fast of a time would they have recorded with a clean run?
“It was a two-second difference,” Chapman said.

Jackson bids adieu in jumps
It’s hard to think that Friday was the last time Silver Streaks fans would watch Bailey Jackson in the long and triple jumps.

The senior exploded on the scene as an athletic freshman and was one of the top jumpers in the entire state by her junior season, entering the 2009 state finals as the top seed in the long jump.

Jackson’s jumps on Friday — 15 feet, 8 inches in the long jump and 34-9 in the triple — were well short of her capabilities.
“In the 4 by 2, they called her heat … and then when she came back, (IHSA officials) said, ‘You don’t get any run-throughs,’” Chapman said. “That part’s not her fault and I think she was flustered.”

Not Top 3, but where?
With Jackson and the 4×400 relay both missing the finals, Chapman said that hopes of a top-three finish are dead. But that’s not to say that the Silver Streaks won’t leave Charleston with a lofty team ranking.

“We should be in the top seven,” she said. “The kids have really worked hard. They wouldn’t have made it this far if they hadn’t.”

What to watch for today
Galesburg competes in four events — 4×800, 4×200, shot put and discus throw — today in the finals while Bushnell-Prairie City/Avon/West Prairie’s Kendra Pierce attempts to etch her name in IHSA lore.

Pierce, a first-year wonder, has a legitimate shot at winning the 100, 200 and 400 in the Class 1A meet. Her first event comes up at 1:35 p.m. with the 100.

Galesburg’s Amy Blucker will be the first area competitor up today. She is scheduled to start throwing the shot put in the Class 2A meet at 10:45. Her primary event — discus throw — begins at 1:50 p.m.

Monmouth-Roseville will gun for a top-three finish in the 4×800 relay, which begins at 11 a.m. Galesburg will follow in the Class 2A race.
Galesburg’s best chance for a gold medal — the 4×200 relay — starts at 2:25 p.m.

By Daniel Makarewicz, danmak@qconline.com              MEET RESULTS

QUINCY — There wasn’t one particular event the Moline girls’ track team dominated on Friday.  The Maroons were simply solid in everything.

Strong performances in almost every event carried Moline to a win in the Western Big 6 Conference meet at Flinn Stadium. The Maroons won seven events, sweeping the distance races, to earn 170 points and win the league title for the 11th time in school history and first since 2008.

Galesburg (156 points) finished second and defending league champion Rock Island (108) took third.

“Every kid went out there and did their job, and they did it well,” Moline coach Joel Bohnsack said. “It was so much fun. These kids are really special. They’re one of the best groups I’ve had the pleasure to coach.”

They may be the deepest, too. TheMaroons scored in 17 of the meet’s 18 events, earning 18 top-3 finishes, and took first, second and third place in the high jump. The ability to score in every way possible is why Moline outlasted a late Galesburg charge.

“Our depth is awesome,” Moline senior sprinter/jumper Miranda Geever said. “It’s an awesome team.”

Geever won the 200-meter dash, long jump and high jump and took second in the 100. Senior teammate Emily Wolbers won the 800 and 1600.

“Our team is really fortunate because we do have outstanding athletes in all areas,” Wolbers said. “That truly helps us. When you’re watching a meet, it may not seem as if we’re doing awesome because we’re not winning one thing, but we’re really all over the board.”

Freshman Haley Verbeke captured the 3200 crown and junior Brittany Bush won the shot put. The Maroons earned runner-up finishes from senior Brianna McCorkle (100 and 300 hurdles), Jennifer Roche (pole vault), Tedgie Hamilton (triple jump) and Bush (high jump).

“Everybody went out and gave it there all,” Geever said. “We knew that every point counted.”

That was obvious. At one point, the Maroons led by 38 points, but Galesburg cut the deficit to nine with one event left.

With the triple jump still undecided, Moline calmed its nerves by taking second, fourth and sixth in the event, offsetting Galesburg’s win from Bailey Jackson.

“We felt pretty excited about every event,” Bohnsack said. “We have good kids all over the place and they gel really well. They really went after it. The kids really stepped up to the challenge and delivered.”

Rocky senior sprinter Ciara Turner won the 300 hurdles for the fourth consecutive season, outlasting McCorkle and sophomore teammate Kira Clements.

Turner wins fourth consecutive title:

“That’s my main race,” said Turner, who also won the 100 dash. “The 300 was my main goal. That was the title I really wanted to defend because I’ve had it since my freshman year.”

Rocky senior Triona Roberts breezed to the 400 title, winning by more than two seconds. She also ran a leg on the Rocks’ winning 4×100 relay.

Alleman senior Taelar Hillyer won the pole vault after clearing 11-feet, which broke her own WB6 record by eight inches. It was Hillyer’s third consecutive title and the sixth consecutive year an Alleman pole vaulter won the event.

“My jump was pretty good,” Hillyer said. “I’m really glad I won because I really, really wanted to,” Hillyer said. “It’s my senior year, and the third time winning it, so it feels really, really good.”