Girls track & field: Dixon, Rock Falls and Sterling athletes qualify for state at Class 2A Sterling Sectional

STERLING – The Dixon, Rock Falls and Sterling girls track & field teams each qualified multiple athletes for next week’s IHSA Class 2A State Meet in Charleston, finishing top-two in their event or hitting the qualifying mark for state at the 2A Sterling Sectional on Thursday on DuWayne Dietz Track at Roscoe Eades Stadium.

The Golden Warrior girls led the local contingent, placing second as a team at their home sectional with 82 points. Burlington Central took the team sectional championship with 112.

[ Photos from 2A Sterling Sectional girls track & field meet ]

Sterling’s Alice Sotelo qualified in four events, winning the sectional championship in the triple jump (11.35 meters) and the 4x200 relay (1:47.91) with teammates Alivia Gibson, Anna Aulwes and Taah Liberty. She also hit the qualifying mark in a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 relay (49.99 seconds) along with Kaydence Weeks, Aulwes and Liberty, and in the second-place 4x400 relay (4:14.75) with Delia Block, Rhylee Wade and Weeks.

“It’s great. Last year, my goal was to make it in two events and I only made it in triple jump, so getting this accomplishment is very exciting for me, and I’m glad that I get to go with my team this year and experience state with them and not alone,” Sotelo said. “In the 4x1, we did great; we PR’d, so that’s really good.”

The Warriors had a qualifier in each hurdles race, as Aulwes advanced in the 100 highs with a runner-up finish in 17.15 seconds, and Anessa Johnson qualified in the 300 lows, running a 49.16 seconds for second place.

“I felt great about it. It was pretty good. I had to push strong,” the freshman Johnson said. “I started feeling a little sick for the 300, but I just remembered I gotta push good for my team and push as much as I can for my family. I wanted to PR in the 300, I ended up with a PR because I did have a 49.30, and I ended up with a 49.16.”

Kathryn Rowzee was a double-qualifier for Sterling by surpassing the state qualifying mark in both the shot put (10.97 meters) and the discus (36.12 meters), and Finley Ryan matched the qualifying mark in the pole vault (2.97 meters) to move on to Charleston.

The foursome of Wade, Connie Ibarra, Block and Kylie Nicklaus also advanced on time with a 10:11.65 in the 4x800.

The Duchesses’ Hannah Steinmeyer was a sectional champion in two events, running a PR time of 2:19.60 to win the 800 meters, and contributing a PR split in the 4x800 relay to run a 10:00.71 with fellow senior Kait Knipple and freshmen Kate Boss and Dani Lovett.

“[I felt] really good [about my races]. I kept a positive mindset today and just really put my heart into everything, and the hard work has really paid off, and I’m just happy to be here,” Steinmeyer said. “It feels awesome [to be headed back to state]. I love it.”

Junior thrower Olivia Cox will join the Dixon contingent downstate, as she finished fifth in the discus, but her toss of 33.95 meters was farther than the state qualifying mark.

The Rockets’ Ariel Hernandez qualified in the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:42.18, finishing second, and the Rockets also advanced on time with a third-place finish in the 4x800 (10:05.91) with the team of Hana Ford, Kat Scott, Gracie Rippy and Ava Shank.

“Actually, I felt really good. Since the 3,200 in Galesburg, that was my best time. But I was stuck running by myself for the rest of the season in the 3,200, so I’d always be stuck at like 11:54, 12-minute flat,” Hernandez said. “I ran 11:52, like the exact same time at Princeton by myself, so it actually felt good to run with people this time and PR. I was really scared going into this race that I was going to get outsprinted to the end of the race, because I’m not really a good sprinter.”

Rocket freshman Kayla Hackbarth qualified in the discus with a throw of 34.5 meters, finishing fourth.

“I felt really good. At the beginning of the year, I wasn’t throwing very good. I wasn’t throwing as far as my middle school PR,” Hackbarth said. “But at Dixon, on the first throw of the JV conference, I had a random big PR, and then I’ve PR’d every week since, so I feel really good about that. I had thrown state-qualifying at practice a couple times, so I was really confident with it.”