Dixon throwers, Sterling duo, 2 local relays advance to finals

CHARLESTON – Dixon throwers Tayla Schwarz and Sarah Stegbauer had ambitions to throw together for 2 days of competition at the IHSA Class 2A State Track & Field Meet.

Their sticking together was a common theme at Friday morning’s 2A preliminaries.

Both Duchesses advanced to the discus finals, with Schwarz also moving on in the shot put.

Sterling senior Erin Long and junior Samantha Hibbard qualified for the finals in the long jump and 100 hurdles, respectively, while the 3,200 relays from Dixon and Rock Falls will battle Saturday for the second year in a row on the blue track of O’Brien Field.

Schwarz sits in sixth place heading into Saturday after tossing 39-1 3/4 in the shot put, and backed up her No. 1 seed coming into the prelims with a heave of 133-6 in the discus. She maintained an inch-long lead over East St. Louis’ Evangelynn Harris, and is looking for the ultra-rare three-peat in the discus.

“I was a little nervous with shot put,” Schwarz said. “I wasn’t satisfied with how I did. But knowing I have the No. 1 seed in the finals for discus, I know I have the last throw and the last say in it.”

Stegbauer nabbed the final qualifying spot in the discus with a toss of 106-4.

“My footwork felt all right. My release and my power just weren’t there,” Stegbauer said. “I’m hoping I can put it all together so I get the distance I want.”

Long flew 16-10 3/4 in the long jump, nabbing the third-to-last qualifying spot in the finals. The senior qualified for state in four events, and was in disbelief after finding out her high school career will carry on another day.

“I didn’t think there was any way that I made it,” Long said. “I found out right after the 4-by-2 [800 relay]. My coach gave me a signal that I made it, and I had a giant smile on my face.”

Long ran a 12.84 in the 100 and a 26.58 in the 200. She also narrowly missed out on the finals as the anchor of Sterling’s 800 relay, along with Rainbow Allen, Katelynn Trobaugh and Hibbard. The Warriors’ quartet ran a season-best 1:45.29, just .14 of a second off the final qualifying time.

Hibbard won the first heat of the high hurdles in 15.15 seconds, benefitting from a fall on the final hurdle by Burlington Central’s Brooke Barkocy, who beat Hibbard in last week’s Lisle Sectional, 14.81 to 15.10.

“I felt like I had a good time. We were really pushing ourselves,” Hibbard said. “I really thought she was going to beat me, and it sucks that she fell, because she’s a super nice girl. It’s a hurdle race, stuff happens.”

Hibbard took fourth in the 2A finals last season as a sophomore, but felt more pressure in trying to live up to her own expectations.

“Honestly, this year was more scary because I knew that I had a standard already,” Hibbard said. “I got to finals, and that was the goal, so I’m super-excited.”

Rock Falls’ all-underclassman 3,200 relay team of Erin Porter, Alexandra Gomez, Bryahna Ganther and Bailee Fortney won the first heat in 9:43.63 to clinch a berth in the finals.

Porter ran the first in 2:25, and started by racing to the inside as soon as the race was underway. By the time she handed the baton to Gomez, the Rockets had a 30-meter lead.

“Our goal is to get out hard and set our position early in the race,” Porter said, “then we’ll feel out the rest.”

Gomez maintained the advantage with a 2:27 leg, Ganther set a PR in her leg, then handed the baton to Fortney at the 7:20 mark. Fortney was able to stretch the lead throughout the final leg, crossing the finish line 50 meters ahead of Burlington Central’s Avery Andersen.

“We knew we came in seeded first in our heat, but nothing was guaranteed,” Fortney said. “Our coach told us that if we had a little bit of a lead, we could relax and be ready for our next races.”

Dixon’s 3,200 relay team of Leah Drengenberg, Grace Johnson, Jade Miller and anchor Taylor Renkes finished fifth in the third heat with a time of 10:06.29, which was good enough to nab the final qualifying spot in Saturday’s finals.

“I was just trying to cut off every second I could and try to catch people,” Renkes said. “I thought we had a chance, but I wasn’t sure. I knew all of us tried our best, so whether we made it or not, it didn’t matter.”

Drengenberg and Fortney both missed out on the 1,600 finals, finishing with times of 5:22.42 and 5:27.82, respectively. The Rockets'
all-sophomore 1,600 relay team of Porter, Alaura Busch, Lauren Moeller and Macayleigh Smith posted a time of 4:07.09,
falling two spots short of Saturday qualification.

Sterling junior Zaina Rumbolz missed all three of her attempts in the pole vault. Warriors freshman Macie Gebhardt cleared 4-11 in the high jump, but couldn’t make it over 5-1 and missed out on the finals.