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Summer event will open new STHS track

July 1, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

The Streator Running Association will host the first annual Summer Classic Open Track Meet at the Streator Township High School track on Thursday, July 15, beginning at 6 p.m.

The track meet will be the first competitive event on the new track.

Participants of all ages are welcome to attend, and age group races will be held. Participants may take part in as many events as they wish for a cost of $1 apiece. Registration for the meet will take place from 5 to 5:45 p.m. on the night of the event.

Field events will include long jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put and softball throw (ages 10 and under).

Running events will include 40-meter dash, 3,000-meter run, the 100 or 110 high hurdles, the 400-meter dash, the 100-meter dash, the 1,500-meter run, the 200-meter dash, and the 1,600-meter relay.

Questions about the meet can be directed to Brad Brittin at bbrittin@streatorhs.org.

Filed Under Meets, Spotlight Tagged With streator, Streator Running Association

Steffen wins twice as BHS girls track takes 2nd in Big 12 meet

May 8, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

By Randy Sharer | rsharer@pantagraph.com

CHAMPAIGN — Kelly Steffen has made winning multiple events look so easy for so long, it was a jolt when the degree of difficult finally caught up to her in the Big 12 Conference Track Meet on Friday.

The Indiana State recruit, who won two events and placed third in another, fouled her first three attempts in the long jump for the first time in her career.

That meant no berth in the finals and no 10 points for the top seed. That gave Danville just enough room to displace four-time defending champion Bloomington, 101-94.

Danville, which had seen its share of expected points slip through its fingers in recent years, got 40 from Destiny Carter, who won the 100-meter dash (12.54 seconds), 200 (25.56), 400 (57.74) and long jump (18 feet, 1.5 inches). Her 400 was a meet record.

“You’re not going to stop her from scoring,” said BHS coach Roland Brent, whose team edged third-place Normal Community West by a point while Normal Community took fourth with 72.5.

Steffen began her day by winning the high jump at 5-3, but the long jump was contested simultaneously and she narrowly missed posting a mark to get in the finals.

“I’ve got to learn from it and move on,” said Steffen, who bounced back to defend her triple jump title at 36-10 and take third in the 100-meter hurdles (16.53 seconds).

 “Nobody wants to scratch all three jumps, but I guess I’d rather it happen here at Big 12 than happen at sectional or state.”

Normal West jumped into the title chase when No. 2-seeded Bailey Kerschieter upset NCHS star Marie O’Leary in the 800, 2:20.75 to 2:21.23. O’Leary led through a 70.2 first lap, but Kerschieter moved in front with 100 to go.

“I’ve seen success, but not like this before,” said Kerschieter, who rated the win the biggest of her career. “I just fought to the end. She’s a great person. I’ve trained with her in the past.”

Kerschieter warmed up by anchoring the winning 3,200 relay (10:00.34) with a 2:24.6. Putting her in the lead were Hannah Magnuson (2:28.4), Jaci Clark (2:31.3) and Brianna Jacobs (2:35.9).

O’Leary, the 2009 champion in the 800, regrouped to dominate the 1,600 from the gun and defend that title in 5:12.16.

“Bailey ran a really good race in the 800,” O’Leary said. “In the 1,600, I didn’t want to get stuck behind people.”

The Missouri recruit blasted to a 30-meter lead with a 72.7 first lap.

“I was just going to go out really hard and try to hang on and finish it,” she said.

West’s distance power kept going in the 3,200 where freshman Emily Brelsfoard won in a personal best of 11:10.33 ahead of NCHS ace Carly Pederson (11:30.87). The gusty conditions made the homestretch a challenge.

“The weather was perfect on that (backstretch) side,” Brelsfoard said. “Then you come over here and it’s like a hurricane on this side.”

Brelsfoard later notched a personal best of 5:17.19 for second in the 1,600.

 West’s Kirstin Thompson defended her discus title with a toss of 127-0, well below her season best of 143-4. She blamed pre-meet rain for making the ring slick.

“Also, the discs started getting wet and that made them slippery, too,” she said. “It was hard to get a really good release.”

 West’s Taylor Kirby, the 2009 pole vault runner-up, moved up to first with a clearance of 10-6. She didn’t attempt to go higher because of a pesky crosswind that was mostly in her face.

 “I wish I could have kept vaulting,” said Kirby, whose school record is 11-6. “You always want to try for a personal record.”

 Condia Smith of BHS wanted to up her shot put personal best of 40-4.25, but settled for defending her title at 37-9.

 “I was stopping between the kick and the power,” Smith said. “My momentum was all gone.”

Filed Under Big 12, Conference, Meets, Spotlight

Dunlap snaps Metamora’s 10-year Mid-Illini reign

May 8, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

By JANE MILLER (jmiller@pjstar.com)              MEET RESULTS

MORTON —

 Coming into the final event of the girls Mid-Illini Conference meet on Thursday, Dunlap’s 4×400 relay team knew what it had to do.

The Eagles led 10-time defending track and field champion Metamora by four points, but the Redbirds were favored in the 4×4 and Dunlap couldn’t finish more than one place behind Metamora.

But the Eagles ran six seconds faster than they had all year to finish second to the Redbirds and grab the conference title with 137 points to Metamora’s 135. Morton was third with 105.

“We’ve kind of struggled in this conference to get where we want to be,” Dunlap coach Duane Peterson said. “I think this is an indication we’ve finally gotten there. This is just huge for our kids and us.”

The Eagles won six events to Metamora’s eight but finished 1-2 in the long jump with Lexi Hobbs and Claire Peterson, and had a key 1-3 finish in the 200, with Peterson first and Hobbs third.

“That was big and the fact that Claire won that was a nice thing for the old man,” Peterson said of his daughter.

Katie Maloof anchored Dunlap’s 4×400 relay, crossed the finish line and burst into tears as she fell into the arms of her screaming teammates.

“I am on the best team in the conference,” she shouted. “I was thinking about my team the whole time in that race. This is the happiest day of my life right now.”

Norris Akpan, who won the 300 low hurdles in :48.25; Kiara Brown and Victoria Rychener also were on the 4×400 team, which ran 4:14.77.

Metamora’s winning team was Patricia Goettler, Ellen Goins, Joelie Zwick and Amanda Duvendack in 4:05.33 — the best in the area this season by five seconds.

Duvendack capped her final conference meet by winning four events. She also anchored the Redbirds’ 4×100 of Meghan Heman, Lindsey Wille and Ellen Goins (:50.27); cruised to the 800 title in 2:13.98, also her fastest this year; and came from behind to nip Pekin freshman Kara Toel in the 400 in :58.30 to Toel’s :58.39.

“In the 800, I wanted it and decided before I even stepped on the track that I wasn’t going to let (a recent) injury hurt my spirits,” she said. “In the 400, my legs were not going to lose. My mind was like, ‘I am exhausted.’ but my legs kicked in.”

Still it was a bittersweet ending. “We knew it was going to be tough, and one thing we wanted to do is go and congratulate them if we won,” she said — and the Redbirds did that.

“That’s what Metamora’s about,” Duvendack added.

Metamora coach Ron Bachman gave credit to Dunlap.

“We did some things on the track that were better than what we were expected to do, but Dunlap came up and they surpassed everything they were supposed to do. So, they deserve all that,” he said. “We’re proud of how we competed … but they were good enough to flat beat us.”

ALSO: Other Dunlap winners were Emily Waldman in the shot put (36-31/4) and discus (117-3); Hobbs in the long jump (16-3); and Leah Brooks in the 3200 (11:32.2). … Metamora senior Morgan Ryan won the pole vault (10-6) and 100 high hurdles (:16.33); Heman took the 100 (:12.86) and the 4×200 team of Heman, Goettler, Gretchen Giesler and Wille ran a season-best 1:48.76. … Other M-I champions were Cassie Lohmeier of East Peoria in the 1600 (5:17.29); Kelsey Kirk of Morton in the high jump (5-2); Ann Chapman of Washington in the triple jump (33-3); and Canton’s 4×800 relay team of Lydia Smith, Anna Yontz, Madison Lefler and Jessica Thum (10:10.26).

Filed Under Meets, Spotlight Tagged With Mid-Illini Conference

Oregon’s Gallardo, ’Bago strut stuff in Hawk Classic

May 2, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

by Jay Taft

Oregon’s Nick Gallardo made sure Winnebago didn’t run off with all the accolades Saturday.

And Oregon’s Ryan Creegan and Rockford Christian’s Justin Rehfeldt made sure they left their marks at what some consider the toughest small-school invite in the state.

But in the end, Winnebago continued to feed off its two-time state champion discus thrower Alex Thompson as it rolled through a pile of the state’s top Class 1A teams. The Indians claimed the 25-team, powerhouse-filled Hawks Classic title by a 67-point margin. Oregon came in second (78.33 points), Erie/Prophetstown took third (53), Rockford Christian placed fourth (43), and Ottawa Marquette ended up fifth (37).

“They’re just phenomenal,” Oregon coach Jim Spratt said of ’Bago. The Hawks won the 1A state title last year and had claimed 15 of the past 18 Hawks Classic titles headed in. “They remind me of us last year. They’ve got great sprinters, a great leader in Thompson who sets the tone, and just great kids across the board.

“Nick (Gallardo) doesn’t care who’s out there, though.”

Gallardo’s time of 14.73 (FAT) in the 110-meter high hurdles narrowly eclipsed Dick Haas’ school-record mark of 14.74. The fact that it was a 54-year-old school record, and clearly the oldest mark in the storied Hawks record books, was what stood out in Gallardo’s mind.

“It’s always been there; I mean forever. There’s no doubt that’s pretty cool,” said Gallardo, who also set a school record in the 300 hurdles (39.52), and helped the 1,600 relay (3:31.71) to a win. “I’ve really wanted this one for a couple of years, and to do it here just makes it mean that much more.”

Thompson crossed off another obstacle in his way, blasting the former Hawks Classic meet record by more than 14 feet with a 189-feet-7 in the discus. Thompson also won the shot with a put of 50-1/2, and he and teammate A.J. Thomas (50-4) continued their season-long streak of going 1-2 in the event as well.

“We all knew this was a big meet,” Thomas said. “Alex and I just wanted to come out and compete in a big way.”

Creegan came up big as well, storming the field in the 800 (2:03.13), taking over down the stretch. He also helped Oregon’s 1,600 and the 3,200 relay (8:18.21) teams to firsts.

But ’Bago also got three wins from sprinter Michael Mann — including a meet-record performance from the 400 relay team (43.50) — and a pole vaulting title from Nathaneal Rittmeyer (13-even) to pull away early and often. Mann also won the 200 dash (22.66) by a tenth of a second.

“We were close last year,” Mann said of ’Bago’s third-place team at state. “But this year we want more.”

Rehfeldt wanted more as well, and he pulled away late in the 3,200 run (9:29.73), setting the meet record and also serving notice with a difficult mile/two-mile double.

“I want to win both of those at state,” Rehfeldt said. “I’m just as focused as I’ve ever been.”

Clearly, so is Winnebago.

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Southeast girls track team states its case

April 11, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

MEET RESULTS

Spartans show off strength with invitational title

By MARCIA MARTINEZ (marcia.martinez@sj-r.com)

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

The Class 2A Girls State Track and Field Meet is six weeks away, yet host Southeast High School showed glimpses of excellence Saturday at the Spartan Invitational.

Southeast bested the state-caliber competition with 106½ points and walked away with the team title. According to double winner Alexandria Harden, the day’s objectives were to learn with who and how Southeast can score points.

The Spartans won the meet for the first time since 2007, when they pulled out a two-point victory over East St. Louis.

“It shows us it doesn’t matter what class a school is or if they’re known to be better,” Southeast senior sprinter and 100-meter dash champion Amber Brown said. “It depends on the workout, and coach (Tom) McBride worked us pretty hard spring break.”

McBride required the team to practice twice daily when school wasn’t in session.

“I’ve got great athletes,” he said. “They don’t mind putting in the work.”

Chicago Morgan Park was runner-up with 97 points. East St. Louis, which placed eighth at the Class 3A state meet a year ago, took third with 96 points. Rock Island, which edged Southeast by 1½ points to win the Class 2A state team title last May, finished sixth. The field also included Class 2A Bloomington and 3A Evanston, teams that placed fourth in their respective 2009 state meets.

Record for Scott
Among the cream of the crop was Lanphier junior Ayanna Scott, who set another school record with her performance in the 200-meter dash preliminaries. She crossed the finish line in 24.37 seconds to break the school record of 25.01 set by Penny Washington in 1989. It came as a surprise.

“I’m very excited because I didn’t know I ran that time,” said Scott, who won the 200 final in 24.62 seconds. “I usually never run the 200.”

Scott, who set school records in the 100 high hurdles, 300 low hurdles, 100 and long jump as a freshman, feels she can go faster in the 200.

“I didn’t feel like I was running the curve hard enough, but when I saw Amber (Brown) coming on the (straightaway) I had to push it,” said Scott, who also won the 100 hurdles.

Her record-setting time shattered the state-qualifying standard of 26.24 seconds.

“This is her first time this year running the 200,” Lanphier coach Tony Daniel said. “I just wanted to get a time on her to see exactly what events we’re going to put her in like the Central State Eight Conference and sectional meets. This gave me a good indication.”

Harden surpassed state-qualifying standards in two field events. Harden, a two-time long jump state champion, won her signature event with a leap of 18 feet 10. Later, she took first in the triple jump with a 37-3.

She also anchored the Spartans’ winning 4×200 relay.

Harden said the Spartan Invite was the first time she jumped in an outdoor meet since last July and “not in a cramped space indoors.’’

That being the case, Harden felt more free.

“It took me a while last year to get to 18-10,” she said. “Hopefully, I’ll stay in that range and move up. I’m getting closer to 20 feet and making improvement.”

She’s also gaining ground in the triple jump. She competed in the event last year for the first time and placed third in the state.

“I feel more comfortable with it,” she said. “I know what I need to do and how to do it. Before I was just jumping, but now I can frustrate myself with it. I can know what I’m doing wrong because now I know the techniques.”

Marcia Martinez can be reached at 788-1547.

Filed Under Meets, Spotlight Tagged With springfield southeast

Saey, Streaks make impression at GHS Invite

April 10, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

MEET RESULTS

By ZACK CREGLOW

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG —

Stephanie Saey wastes little time making her presence felt.

In cross country last fall, the freshman became Galesburg High School’s top runner from the word, Go, eventually finishing seventh in the state. Little has changed since she began running track.

Saey made her debut in the 3200 meter run on Friday after sitting out the first weeks of the season over concerns due to her asthma and allergies. Nonetheless, she charged ahead of the pack at the GHS Invitational to capture the 3200 and help Galesburg dominate the 12-team field.

“It was my first time running it so I wanted to get 12 minutes or under,” said Saey, who also finished third in the 1600. “I’ve been out for three weeks before this because of my asthma and … allergies. This is only like my second meet back since then and my first one running this.”

Galesburg blew away second-place finisher Moline, one of the top contenders in the Western Big 6, by 64.5 points. Monmouth-Roseville, the smallest team in the field, finished ninth with 25 points overall.

The Silver Streaks finished in the top three in 14 of the invite’s 18 events.

“I really thought it would be pretty close between us and Richwoods and Moline and possibly Notre Dame because they looked really good on paper,” Galesburg Jody Chapman said. “So I tried to make it so we would score in some events that maybe we haven’t scored in.”

But, as usual, it was a double dose of Bailey Jackson and a dominating showing in the relay events that highlighted the effort for Galesburg.

Jackson, a state-championship-caliber jumper who has battled an ankle injury in the early season, finished first in the triple jump with a distance of 34 feet, 5.75 inches and won the long jump on a judges’ decision after tying with Peoria Richwoods’ Brenna Detra with a distance of 16-6.5.

“I am back at where I was before. All there is is to get better now. I am not hoping for too much right now because it’s still early April and I still have until the end of May to get to where I need to be,” Jackson said. “It’s fairly early in the season so I am not trippin’ really on where I am.”

Galesburg captured firsts in the 400, 800 and 3200 relays. Sprinter Cierra Latta took the other first-place finish for the Silver Streaks, edging Dashay Johnson of Richwoods in the 100 dash in a time of 12.6.

In the final event, the Monmouth-Roseville 1600 relay team of Alejandra Gillen, Amanda Schreck, Marcela Gillen and Rebecca Gillen snuck past the Silver Streaks and captured first in a time of 4:18.14. On the final leg, Rebecca Gillen shot past several runners to put the Titans in the first.

“The whole time I had them in my sight. The girls got me in good position,” she said. “Toward the end … I tried to get as close as I could and on the backstretch I just gunned for them.”

For Galesburg, the victory over Moline came one week after the Maroons defeated them in their own home invitational, the Shipley Invite. Moline was without perhaps its top performer this week, however, with sprinter/jumper Miranda Geever gone on vacation.

“It worked out well for us,” Chapman said of the absence. “They have more depth than we do so like in an A-B-C meet like that it helps them out and it hurts us because we don’t have quite the depth they do.”

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Impressive field will gather at Belleville West

April 10, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

Cahokia, East and East Side are among teams entered

BY DEAN CRIDDLE – News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE — Always one of the top early season showcases of track and field talent in Southern Illinois, the 2010 Belleville West/Norm Armstrong Invitational could be the best yet.

Four teams that posted top six finishes at the IHSA state track and field meet last year, including Class 2A runner-up Cahokia, headline the 24-team field that will compete for individual and team honors beginning at 11 a.m. today at Belleville West High School.

Cahokia, which features defending state long jump champion Laderrick Ward and state indoor triple jump champion Vernon Carter, will be joined in the field by powers such as Belleville West, Belleville East, Herrin, East St Louis and Sparta.

Edwardsville, led by the dynamic distance running duo of Daniel Mazar and Garrett Sweatt, also is in the field as is always competitive O’Fallon.

“It’s a loaded field and as a competitor, that’s what you want. You want to see how you measure up against the best,” West coach Patton Segraves said. “Last year, you had several of the teams use this meet as a springboard toward doing well at the state meet.

“Cahokia might be the favorite to win the Class 2A state titl,e and then when you add ourselves, Belleville East and East St Louis, you’ve got three of the top 10 Class 3A teams. We added Herrin, which has the defending Class 1A state champion in the high jump and long jump and Sparta, which has an athlete who went 17 feet in the pole vault the other day. Like I said, it’s a loaded field.”

Running preliminaries begin at 11:30 a.m. with the finals set to start about 12:15 p.m.

Host West, which finished third at the 2009 Class 3A state meet, is loaded in the sprint relays and in senior Jarvis Patterson has one of the state’s best in the 300 intermediate hurdles.

East, sixth a year ago at state, won the season opening Southwestern Illinois Relays, also is a threat in the sprint relays and has a top long jumper/sprinter in junior Darnell Stevenson.

Herrin, fifth in the Class 1A state finals, is led by senior Zach Riley. Riley, who has already cleared 7 feet 2 inches in the high jump this season, won at state a year ago by clearing 7-0. He also is the Class 1A defending state long jump champion.

Sparta, making its first appearance in the Belleville West Invitational, has perhaps the state’s top pole vaulter in senior Cody Klein.

Klein, who placed fourth at the Class 1A state meet in 2009 year when he cleared 15 feet, took second at the state indoor meet two weeks ago in Bloomington with a vault of 16 feet.

He has a personal best of 17 feet.

Filed Under Meets, Spotlight

Southeast meet serves as state dress rehearsal

April 10, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

HEAT SHEETS

By TODD ENGLE (todd.engle@sj-r.com)

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

The 21st Spartan Invitational girls track meet will be as loaded as ever.

The meet starts today at 10 a.m. at Southeast High School with the field events. Preliminaries on the track will start at 11 a.m., and the finals begin at noon.

There will be plenty of firepower on display, besides the host Spartans. East St. Louis, Chicago Morgan Park, Evanston and Danville are in the field, along with Lanphier and Sacred Heart-Griffin.

Both Southeast and Lanphier head into this meet after competing in the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Relays at East St. Louis last week. Southeast wound up fourth, winning the 4×100-meter relay and finishing third in the 4×400.

“Everything is set up like the state track meet,” Spartans coach Tom McBride says about the Invitational. “How well they perform, it kind of gives us a little measuring stick.

“(Class 3A schools) East St. Louis and Morgan Park are not in our (2A enrollment) class, but if we can run with them, we can run with anybody in the state of Illinois.’’

The Spartans should also get a boost from junior Alexandria Harden, the two-time defending state champion in the long jump. McBride said he kept her out of the field events last week to give her a day off.

For Lanphier, junior Ayanna Scott won the 100 hurdles at East St. Louis, and the Lions’ 4×200 relay team finished sixth in 1 minute 45.6 seconds, its best time of the season, according to coach Tony Daniel.

“It’s good to run at home,” Daniel said. “That way our kids don’t have to get up early and travel on the bus. And they’ve got familiar surroundings to compete in.

“It will give us a good test to find out where we are. Hopefully we can contend in certain events, the 4×200, the hurdles, maybe the long jump. I’m looking to get some improvement for the outdoor season.”

SHG finished fourth at state in the 4×800 relay last season, but the Blazers won’t be competing in that event today.

Due to the combination of the school being on spring break and the ACT college prep test, SHG coach Mike McDonald estimated that only about half of his team will be available.

“We’ll be OK. We’ll be competitive, but it’s not going to be our best team,” McDonald said. “That’s why we got in this meet, because of the teams that are in it.

“You’re not going to get much better if you can’t get good competition, and here you’ve got some of the top teams in the state. I look forward to it. I like competing against them and seeing where we stack up.”

SHG will have some spots to make some noise, including hurdler Joelle Christy and distance runner Lauren Fyalka.

The girls state track meet won’t happen for another six weeks, but in terms of competition, today will be a fairly accurate dress rehearsal.

Filed Under Meets, Spotlight

RESULTS POSTED – Palatine goes the distance at JJK Relays; Henderson, Hemann Shine

April 4, 2010 By Roland Leave a Comment
Filed Under Meets, Spotlight Tagged With Emmonnie Henderson, Jenna Hemann, palatine

2010 IPTT Recap summary

March 29, 2010 By staff Leave a Comment

Carlinville’s Kelsey Card- 47′-2″ in the shot put- ties All-Time Meet Record  |  Bloomington Central Catholic Freshman Sarah Bell- 11′-0″ to win the Pole Vault  |  Zach Riley of Herrin wins the Long Jump (23′-0″) and High Jump (6′-7″), anchor’s the winning 4 x 200 M. Relay  |  Kristen Busch of Freeburg wing the 3200 & 1600 M. Runs.  |  Matt Bane of Rochester- 16′-6″ in the Pole Vault; Cody Klein 2nd at 16′  |  Justin Rehfeldt of Rockford Christian wing the 3200 and 1600 M. Runs

 

CLASS AA RESULTS  |  CLASS AA GIRLS MEET RECAP

Emily Clay of University High sets a new AA PV record of 12′-0″  |  Margo Richardson of Mt. Vernon over Kayla Beattie, 10:33.74-10:34.42  |  Clay Elward of Peoria Notre Dame wins the 3200 in 9:13  |  Alexis Harden of Springfield Southeast LJ/TJ winner

CLASS AAA RESULTS

Aaliyah Brown of Frankfort Lincoln-Way East wins 55m and 200m with 6.99 & 24.87 marks  |  Female athlete of meet Ashley Stacey of Thornton wins TJ/LJ with 39-2.5/18-11  |  Neuqua Valley’s Aaron Beattie wins 3200m in 9:12.11  |  Rolling Meadows senior Angelos Karkalis wins 1600m in 4:14.95  |  Eric Oliver of Homewood-Flossmoor wins 400m in 48.58  |  Boys athlete of meet Devin Banks of Oak Park-River Forest wins 200m in 21.83, runner up in 55 to Colin Hepburn of Glenbrook South 6.34-6.35  |  Schaumburg’s Karen Lesiewicz upends Fenwick’s Margaret Connelly in the 1600m 5:00.24-5:00.61

REWATCH THE  WEBCAST 

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