In winning the 300-meter hurdles at the Class 1A girls state track and field meet, Jillian Hammer gave Oregon its first-ever championship on the big blue track at Eastern Illinois University. Previously, Ashley Harvey (2004 pole vault), Brenna Noon (2021 shot put) and Janae Bothe (2022 shot put) won titles in field events.

“The state meet brings out the best in me,” Hammer said. “It helps having competition. I don’t get that during the rest of the year.”

Just as impressive was the time the returning state placer put up - 42.84. It would have also won 2A and was close to the 1A state record of 42.57 set by Jenny Kimbro of Salt Fork in 2016.

As a sophomore, Hammer has two more years to chase that mark. Last year, she placed third with a time of 44.46.

“From the sectional to state, I went from 46 to 44 seconds last year,” Hammer said. “This year, I went from 44 to 42. I can’t wait to see what next year brings.”

The all-time IHSA 300 hurdle record is 40.68 by Shalina Clark, who competed in the Olympic Trials. Right now, Hammer’s time is 30th best all-time.

Compared to the 100 hurdles, where she was hampered by a slow start, everything went to form in the 300s for the four-event medalist.

“I had no problems with the hurdles and it went just as I planned,” Hammer said.

Even with getting beat out of the blocks, she claimed third in the 100 hurdles with a 14.95 clocking. She had come into the finals as the top seed at 14.78. A time of 14.60 won the event.

“I wanted a PR of 14.65. It was all about the start,” Hammer said.

Hammer also ran the third leg on state-placing 4x200 and 4x400 relays for Oregon, making up deficits and putting the Hawks in position for high finishes.

In the 4x200, Oregon placed fourth in breaking a school record at 1:44.86. In a northern Illinois logjam at the top, Lena-Winslow won at 1:42.73, followed by Winnebago (1:44.68) and Newman (1:44.77).

“Competing against local competition like that helped us,” said Taylor Weems, who ran with Lorelai Dannhorn, Skylar Bishop and Hammer. “We’re leaving on a good note.”

Weems and Bishop graduate, but Dannhorn and Hammer will return.

Dannhorn came up with a pair of PRs in placing fifth (10.94 meters) in the triple jump. In the prelims, she bested her seed by over a foot. In the finals she also upped it again after falling a couple places back.

“It all came together for me both days,” Dannhorn said. “Next year, I hope to break 11 meters (36 feet).”

Bishop qualified for the finals in the high jump, but finished one spot out of a place with a 1.55 clearance. Last year, she medalled.

“I hit a plateau in the high jump this year. I’m still honored to be here and a part of the team,” Bishop said.

The same four teammates wrapped up the meet with a ninth place finish in the 4x400 relay. Their time of 4:14 was well off their prelim time of 4:06, but the long day had taken its toll.

Madeline Rogers ran in the 3,200 meters for Oregon and finished in 18th place at 11:55.

In the best team finish in school history, Oregon tied with Big Northern conference rival Winnebago for fourth place in the team standings with 29 points. Effingham-St. Anthony and Maroa-Forsyth tied for first with 46 points, followed by Le-Win (43), which won the high jump and every relay except the 4x800.

With two sophomores and two juniors, Newman had an outstanding day on the track. The 4x100 relay of Ella Ford, Elaina Allen, Lauren McClain and Paizlee Williams were fifth with a time of 49.75.

“I’m happy compared to last year when we were ninth,” Williams said. “There are a lot faster times here that you don’t see in the regular season. We’ve gotten used to adjusting for it.”

Williams ran anchor with Ford learning to be lead off runner this year.

“After being here last year, this doesn’t faze us,” Ford said. “We know what it’s like to be here in front of a big crowd.”

In the 4x200 relay, the quartet improved to a third-place finish at 1:44.77.

“Having the same runners as before helps,” McClain said. “As close friends, we trust each other more and that helps on handoffs.”

Allen came back to take ninth in the 200 with a 26.21. This, after two individual sprint medals in 2025 and one in 2024.

“From here on out, the only way is up for me,” Allen said.

Bree Schneiderman was one of three 1A competitors to qualify to compete in the 100, 200 and 400 finals. Managing a big smile after it was over on a warm day in Charleston, the Forreston junior was seventh in the 100 (12.62) and fifth in the 200 (25.29). Interestingly, freshmen and sophomores took the first four places in each race, as the youth movement was afoot in each of the three classes.

In the 400, Schneiderman had a personal best of 58.32 for another fifth. That gave her 13 points, the same Newman had, with both schools tied for 22nd with 13 points.

“I happy and proud of how the day went,” said Schneiderman, who tied Marissa Ludewig (1995-96) for most medals in school history at seven.

Sophomore Elise House of Bureau Valley took third in the 400 with a 56.75.

“I tried to stay as close as I could to the two leaders,” House said.

Amboy got a sixth place from senior Jillian Anderson in the high jump at a personal best of 1.61. It was a satisfying ending to her career, as she came down as a sophomore and did not place and was injured as a junior.

“I got off to a slow start today, missing my opening jump,” Anderson said. “I got locked in after that.”

Fulton’s Jordin Rathburn took fourth in the high jump at 1.64. Like Anderson, she struggled a bit.

“There was a rocky path with some bad form,” Rathburn said. “I focused in and got it back together. It was also nice have a familiar face (Anderson) to jump with.”

The big story for Fulton was placing in two relays and having three of those runners (Jessa Read, Kerby Germann, Haley Smither) a part of Fulton 9-5 win over Morrison in the softball regional final the day before.

“No matter what, we were staying committed,” Germann said.

In the 4x200 relay, Brooklyn Thoms, Smither, Germann and Read had a 1:46.11, good for ninth place.

“It’s fun to share a season with another sport, especially when you get so far into the postseason in both,” Read said.

In the 4x400, the same foursome took second with a 4:03.22, with Le-Win coming at 3:55.78.

“Le-Win is amazing,” Thoms said. “We left it all out there on the track. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending for us three seniors (with Germann a freshman). We’ve worked so hard.”

Stillman Valley knocked seven seconds off its seeded time to place third at 4:06.07, one spot ahead of Winnebago (4:06.26) in another northern Illinois relay domination.

“Mentally, we wanted to beat ‘Bago,” said Alexandria Hoff, who ran with Jessie Hageman, MaKinzie Lamp and Lillian Green.

In 2A, Daniela Lovett of Dixon ran the 3,200 and was 13th with an 11:02. First place was 10:08.

“The week before, her ankle was hurting and that made her a little nervous of how it would impact her race,” Dixon coach Megan Hildreth said. “She wanted to break the school record and was four seconds away from it. I’m very proud of her track season and this was the best way to end it.”

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Jacob’s Lennox Szymonik stays with the pack in the Class 3A 1600 meters at the IHSA state championships on Saturday, May 23, 2026 in Charleston. (Gary Middendorf)