Girls track and field

Punsalan, Seneca duo advance to state pole vault finals: At the IHSA Class 1A State Finals held Thursday in Charleston, Somonauk/Leland junior Alexis Punsalan advanced to Saturday’s finals atop the field, her 3.1-meter jump tied for the best during Thursday’s competition. Seneca sophomores Emily Aldridge and Avery Aldridge also advanced in the pole vault after clearing 3.0 meters.

Dwight junior Mikayla Chambers’s time of 2:20.21 in the 800 was good for ninth place Thursday and a spot in Saturday’s finals. Her Trojans teammate, Emma Eggenberger, finished 30th in the discus prelims and did not advance.

Seneca senior Lila Coleman had a predictably busy day, one that included advancing to the finals in the 400 with a fourth-place run of 59.03 seconds. Coleman also competed in the prelims of the 100-meter dash (placing 17th with a run of 12.77 seconds) and the 200 (18th, 26.27), not advancing in either.

Also competing but not advancing for the Irish were Lilly Pfeifer (33rd, 16.74 in the 100 hurdles), the 4x400 relay team of Julie Mueller, Emily Aldridge, Avery Aldridge and Cora Chapman (44th, 4:28.99) and Seneca’s 4x800 team of Lily Mueller, Tenley Yandell, Julie Mueller and Chapman (30th, 10:46.17).

Somonauk/Leland’s 4x100 team of Mia Bennett, Abby Hohmann, Alexa Larson and Ella Roberts (38th, 52.71 seconds) and Roberts individually (31st, 13.02 in the 100) also competed Thursday, as did Marquette junior Madisyn Trainor (22nd, 12.81 in the 100; 20th, 26.42 in the 200).

Flanagan-Cornell sophomore Abbi Armstrong just missed the cutoff in the 200, placing 10th with a time of 25.70 with the ninth-place 25.65 advancing. Armstrong also ran to 25th in the 100 with a 12.89, with teammate Kaylee Delheimer 36th in the 100 hurdles at 17.02 seconds and 17th in the triple jump with a 10.17-meter best attempt. Armstrong did make the finals, however, in the long jump with her fourth-place 5.27 in the preliminaries.

Class 2A and 3A preliminaries will be held Friday.

Baseball

Plano 12, Streator 9: At the SHS Athletic Fields, the host Bulldogs (8-19-1) lost their sixth straight heading into regionals, leading before surrendering a seven-run sixth inning to the Reapers.

Maddan McCloskey suffered the pitching loss in relief of starter Keegan Gassman (5 IP, 2 ER, 2 K). Streator had 10 hits – all singles – including three off the bat of Joe Hoekstra (one RBI) and two apiece courtesy of McCloskey (three runs scored) and Clay Christoff (three RBIs).

Coal City 11, Seneca 0 (5 inn.): At Coal City, the visiting Fighting Irish (13-17) were shut out by their former and future conference rivals, managing just two hits.

Landyn Ramsey (1 IP, 1 ER, 0 K) started and took the pitching loss.

Wilmington 14, Dwight 4: At Dwight, the host Trojans (21-12) were embroiled in a tie game heading into the final inning before giving up 10 runs in the top of the seventh.

Jacob Wilkey was 3 for 3 with a homer and three RBIs to pace the Dwight attack, with Evan Cox adding a pair of hits. Wilkey (6 IP, 4 ER, 5 K) started and got a no-decision, with Jackson Launius (0.2 IP, 4 ER, 2 K) getting the loss in relief.