BOYS TRACK & FIELD

At Rochelle: After missing out on a state berth last season, Mendota senior Sebastian Carlos earned his second career trip to Charleston by winning the 400-meter dash Thursday at the Class 2A Rochelle Sectional.

Carlos ran a 50.14 seconds to beat Plano’s Johnny Espino, who finished in 50.41.

“It was a bad race I ran last year (at sectional),” Carlos said. “I’m glad I got first today. It’s not the time I wanted, but first is first and I made it to state.”

“It feels great. I was definitely looking forward to this. My coach and I have been working really hard this whole season. We only had one goal in mind and that was to make it to state. We finally made it happen, so it feels great.”

Carlos also finished third in the 200 in 22.64, missing state in the event by one place and 0.14 seconds.

Carlos was Mendota’s lone state qualifier.

At El Paso: Putnam County senior Alex Rodriguez and Henry-Midland’s Brecken Pyles each qualified for state in two events out of the Class 1A El Paso-Gridley Sectional.

Rodriguez finished second in both throws with tosses of 15.59 meters in the shot put and 47.68 meters in the discus.

Pyles cleared a personal record 1.85 to win the high jump. He placed fourth in the long jump at 6.4, which beat the state-qualifying standard.

St. Bede’s James Arkins and Fieldcrest’s Micheal Beckett and Braydin Eplin also advanced to state.

Arkins cleared a PR 3.28 to win the pole vault, Beckett leapt 13.22 to win the triple jump and Eplin recorded a 43.64 to finish third in the discus, eclipsing the state standard.

At Erie: Bureau Valley’s Andrew Roth qualified for state in three events out of the Class 1A Erie Sectional.

Roth ran qualifying times as he placed third in the 110-meter hurdles (15.79 seconds) and fourth in the 300 hurdles (41.63) and he also ran with Keenyn Richter, Tucker Shane and Morgan Mahnesmith to place fifth in a qualifying time of 44.01 seconds in the 4x100.

The Storm also had Shanke, Mahnesmith, Richter and Kyle Velazquez take sixth in a qualifying time of 1:32.83 in the 4x200 and Alex Gallardo, Kayne Richter, Adrian Gallardo and Maddoz Moore finish sixth in a qualifying time of 8:30.48 in the 4x800.

Amboy co-op’s Ian Hassler and Damian Bender each advanced to state in multiple events.

Hassler won the discus with a throw of 47.44 meters and took third in the shot put with a qualifying toss of 14.92, a PR.

Bender was runner-up in the 300 hurdles in 40.92 and took third in long jump with a qualifying leap of 6.62.

SOFTBALL

St. Bede 11, El Paso-Gridley 0 (5 inn.): Hannah Heiberger went 2 for 2 with a double, three RBIs and a run to help the No. 1-seeded Bruins to a victory over the No. 9 Titans in a Class 2A Prairie Central Regional semifinal in Fairbury.

Ella Burke was 2 for 2, drove in two runs and scored two runs, Emma Slingsby was 2 for 3 with two runs and Lily Bosnich doubled and scored twice.

Macy Strauch earned the win in the circle as she allowed three hits, struck out five and walked two in five innings.

St. Bede (29-4) advances to the title game at 11 a.m. Saturday to play the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between No. 4 Prairie Central and No. 6 Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin).

Mendota 10, Sandwich 8: Lexie Saylor went 3 for 4 with a home run, a double, three RBIs and three runs to lead the No. 5-seeded Trojans to a victory over the No. 4 Indians in a Class 2A Byron Regional semifinal in Byron.

Addison Perryman went 2 for 4 with a double, two RBIs and a run and Eva Beetz doubled, drove in a run and scored a run.

Saylor also earned the win in the circle for Mendota (12-19), which advances to play No. 1 Stillman Valley in the title game at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

GIRLS SOCCER

Rock Island 2, La Salle-Peru 1 (PKs): The No. 4-seeded Cavaliers saw their season come to an end with a penalty kick loss to the No. 5 Rocks in a Class 2A Sycamore Regional semifinal in Sycamore.

L-P finishes 10-12-2.

BASEBALL

St. Bede 8, Mendota 4: The Bruins scored seven runs in the first inning on the way to a nonconference victory in Peru.

Drew Carboni was 3 for 4 with three RBIs and a run, Maks Baker went 1 for 2, drove in two runs and scored a run and Geno Dinges was 1 for 3 with a run and an RBI.

Dinges also earned the win on the mound for St. Bede (22-12) as he gave up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and four walks in 5 1/3 innings.

Oscar Castaneda doubled, drove in a run and scored a run for Mendota (13-14) and Gavin Evans was 1 for 3 with two RBIs. Dane Doyle was the losing pitcher.

Putnam County 13, Princeville 1 (5 inn.): Peyton Barto went 2 for 3 with a double, two RBIs and a run to help the Panthers to a nonconference victory in Princeville.

Callen Wiesbrock went 2 for 3 and drove in two runs for PC (19-11) and Jacob Furar was 1 for 1 and scored two runs.

Rudy Villagomez was the winning pitcher as he gave up one run on eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks in five innings.

Fieldcrest 9, Ridgeview 3: Lucas May went 1 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs to help the Knights to a Heart of Illinois Conference victory in Colfax.

Layten Gerdes was 1 for 2 with two runs and an RBI for Fieldcrest (11-15, 6-5 HOIC), while Zach Overocker doubled and drove in two runs.

Layten Gerdes also was the winning pitcher as he allowed one hit while striking out 10 and walking none in five scoreless innings.

AlWood 5, Henry-Senachwine 3: Carson Rowe doubled, drove in a run and scored a run as the Mallards lost a nonconference game in Henry.

Landon Harbison and Ashton Sprague each had a hit and an RBI for Henry (), while Sprague also took the loss on the mound.