With a daughter from Forreston-Polo winning the 100, 200 and 400-meter races and coaching an Oregon team that qualified in 12 events, it was an exciting night for Nick Schneiderman at the Class 1A Winnebago Sectional.

“It’s very cool,” said Schneiderman, cracking a big grin while helping his daughter Bree to her sweats after the 200 and preparing to watch his Hawk 1,600 relay in the meet’s final event.

“My dad is one of my biggest supporters,” Bree Schneiderman said. “He gives me tips and techniques, but knows how to balance being my dad and a coach from a different school.”

Being out for three weeks with a quad injury, Schneiderman was grateful to run again. Last year, she placed downstate in both the 100 and 200 as a sophomore.

“It means a lot to get back into things,” Schneiderman said. “My PR in the 100 is 12.05, but I was happy with 12.21 today.”

Her winning times in the 200 and 400 were 25.61 and 59.14. The 25.61 was the exact time she had in placing 5th at the state meet. In the 400, she is looking to move up from a 19th place last year (1:02). Low 59s often make the finals.

Joining her downstate is freshman teammate Tenlei Patterson, who was second in the 800 with a time of 2:26.15.

“She won’t be 15 until August, as she could really be an 8th grader,” F-P coach Terry Jenkins said. “That’s an impressive time for someone that young.”

Also qualifying in the 800 was Anya Anaya of Oregon with a third-place finish of 2:26.94. It was just one example of Oregon nailing every event they hoped to send girls downstate in.

“We’ve been chipping away at PRs and working hard all year,” coach Schneiderman said. “We qualified what we expected.”

Last year, Oregon (102) won their first-ever sectional team title and placed third this year behind champ Winnebago (159) and relay powerhouse Lena-Winslow (111). Forreston-Polo was fourth with 64 and Milledgeville fifth with 45 among the 17 teams.

Besides Bree Schneiderman, the other star of the meet was sophomore Jillian Hammer of Oregon. The returning state placer had a personal best of 15.01 in winning the 100 hurdles. She also cruised to an easy win the 300 hurdles, where she is ranked No. 1 in the state and ran legs on SQ 800 and 1,600 relays.

“I had a great race in the 100, even with a stumble over a hurdle,” Hammer said. “Now, I know I can break 15 and can’t wait to do it. I’m also proud to run with a great set of seniors in the relays.”

Usually in a relay, the fastest runner is anchor, but Schneiderman uses Hammer as No. 3. In both races, she made up deficits to get anchor Skylar Bishop within striking distance of the lead. Other runners were Taylor Weems and Lorelai Danhorn.

In the 800 relay, the Hawks clocked the current second best time in 1A at 1:45.73, right behind the 1:43.86 by state favorite Le-Win.

Five teams qualified in the 800 relay, including 5th place Milledgeville, with Juliana Folkers, Lauren Schubert, Kaylin Wade and Adelle Willkinson combing for a 1:50.72. Schubert won the long jump at 5.11 meters, with Willkinson joining her downstate. Audrey Schoeny qualified in the triple jump for the Missiles.

In the 1,600 relay, Le-Win crushed the field with a 4:01, but Oregon, using the same team as the 800, nabbed second at 4:09. Those times rank first and third in the state for 1A.

“In my 12 years of coaching, I’ve never had a relay make it to Saturday (finals of state meet),” Schneiderman said. “I think both of these are good enough to do it.”

For Bishop, a 4-year state qualifier and high jump medalist, getting on the podium in the relays is something she is also hungry for.

“The better competition pushed us,” said Bishop, who also is returning to Charleston in the high jump. “This next week is important to practice hard on our handoffs, especially for the 800.”

Danhorn won the triple jump at 10.23 and placed a SQ 5.04 in the long jump to advance in 4 events. It will be a busy weekend in the Danhorn household with mom helping coach her daughter downstate and dad going to South Carolina to support Ella Danhorn and her Rock Valley teammates in the NJCAA World Series.

Another individual double qualifier for Oregon was sophomore Madeline Rogers, who won the 3,200 (11:51) and took second in the 1,600 (5:32). With her father Nate being active in softball in Oregon, that sport seemed to be the path for her instead of track.

“I didn’t like it, so I joined cross country in sixth grade and was pretty bad at it,” Rogers said. “It wasn’t until high school that I started trying to get better.”

Oregon also picked up SQ seconds from Cheyanne Edlund (pole vault) and Noelle Girton (discus).

“It wasn’t their best efforts, but good enough for today,” Schhneiderman said.

West Carroll, which graduated state sprinting champion Emma Randecker, had a 2-time sprint qualifier in freshman Cattarina Houzenga, who was fourth in the 100 (12.87) and third in the 200 (26.52).

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Oregon's Jillian Hammer (center) looks at the clock as she crosses the finish line first in the 100 meters hurdles at the 1A Winnebago Sectional on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Earleen Hinton)