Dixon senior Hannah Steinmeyer had a strong final season on the track for the Duchesses this spring, and capped it off by winning two medals at the IHSA Class 2A State Meet on May 20. She has been voted by readers as the Sauk Valley Media Athlete of the Week.

After advancing to the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons before falling one tantalizing game short of a trip to the state finals, the Comets finally took that final step on Monday at the Class 1A Rockford Supersectional.

Junior Sienna Stingley pitched a one-hitter and also provided the big blow with her bat with a two-out, two-run double in the top of the fifth inning as Sterling topped Woodstock North 3-0 on Tuesday in their Class 3A Belvidere North Sectional semifinal.

After ending the last two seasons with supersectional losses, the Newman Comets were determined to avoid repeating history in the Class 1A Rockford Supersectional at Rivets Stadium on Monday morning – and they did just that with a 3-2 win over Chicago Hope to advance to state.

After Rock Falls took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in Monday's Class 2A East Peoria Supersectional, two-time defending state champion Rockridge answered right away and pulled away for a 14-2, five-inning victory.

Gallery

Newman beat Chicago Hope 3-2 to advance to the 1A state title later this week in Peoria.

As Michael Taylor crossed the finish line, it took the rest of his Forreston-Polo relay teammates and their fans in the stands a few moments to realize that they had just won the 4x100 state championship at the IHSA Class 1A State Finals on Saturday in Charleston.

Sterling medaled in seven events Saturday, and earned top-five finishes in five of them as they scored 34 points to finish fourth as a team at the IHSA Class 2A State Finals at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.

The Newman 4x800 relay team moved up five spots from their finals seed to take sixth place Saturday at the IHSA Track & Field State Finals, while Morrison's Brady Anderson finished fifth in the 100 and two other locals earned eighth-place medals.