Henry’s Nakeita Kessling top seed in long jump, 400 entering state meet

Last season, Henry-Midland’s Nakeita Kessling leapt 17 feet, 7 inches when she placed fourth in the IHSA Class 1A Track and Field State Meet.

Last week at the El Paso-Gridley Sectional, Kessling soared almost 2 feet farther, jumping 19-6 ¾ (5.96 meters) to win the event and break the area record of 19-5 set by Bureau Valley’s Kamryn Kolb in 2019.

“I can’t even describe the feeling,” said Kessling, whose jump ranks second in the state this season among all classes. “I’m superexcited with how far I’ve come in the past year. Last year I was jumping 17-7, and now I’m jumping 19-6. It’s such a rewarding feeling.”

Kessling has jumped over 19 feet in her last two meets. She attributes the further distances this season to more work in the weight room.

“I’ve spent more time in the weight room, which has really helped my strength and development,” Kessling said. “I’ve also been trying to focus more on my technique, such as getting my legs up to keep me in the air longer.”

Kessling said the weight room also has helped in her sprints.

She won the 100-meter dash and the 400 at the El Paso-Gridley Sectional in personal-best times of 12.83 seconds and 58.34 seconds, respectively.

“The weight room was a big difference,” Kessling said. “Working on getting stronger was a big goal for me at the start of the season, and I’ve been able to achieve that.”

With all the work put in, Kessling enters this week’s state meet in Charleston as the top seed in Class 1A in the long jump and the 400. She’s also seeded 11th in the 100.

“I’m hoping to still improve my times and jumps,” Kessling said. “I love the environment at state because everyone is so incredibly talented, which pushes me to compete at an even higher level.”

Other area athletes competing at state – with 1A preliminaries Thursday, 2A preliminaries Friday and finals for all classes Saturday – are La Salle-Peru senior Emily Strehl, St. Bede junior Anna Lopez, Henry-Midland junior Laney Lester and Amboy co-op’s Elly Jones and Lauren Althaus.

Lopez and Kessling will overlap in two events, as Lopez also will compete in the 100 and long jump along with the triple jump.

Lopez is seeded 19th in the 100 at 12.94 seconds and 21st in the long jump at 4.99 meters.

She is seeded to medal in the triple jump, as she comes in with the second-best sectional leap at 10.93 meters in her winning effort at the Bureau Valley Sectional.

Lester will compete in both throws. She enters with the seventh-best sectional throw in the discus at 37.01 meters, while she’s seeded 23rd in the shot put at 10.34 meters.

Jones and Althaus will compete in multiple events.

Jones is seeded ninth in the triple jump (10.47 meters) and 100 hurdles (16.22 seconds), 15th in the long jump (5.06 meters) and 23rd in the 300 hurdles (50.4 seconds), while Althaus is seeded 10th in the 200 (26.61 seconds) and 14th in the 400 (1:01.24).

Strehl is the area’s only competitor in Class 2A. She will compete in the triple jump after placing 11th in the event last year at 10.45 meters.

Strehl jumped 10.18 meters at the Geneseo Sectional, which ranks 20th entering the state meet. Her best jump this season was 10.47 meters at the Interstate 8 Conference Meet on May 9.

“My goal at state is to hopefully medal or get a PR,” Strehl said. “I just want to go out there and give it my all.”