Track & field: Area middle schoolers find success at state meet

Fifteen area schools had athletes earn top-nine medals at the IESA Track & Field State Meet over the past two weekends at EastSide Centre in East Peoria, with nine earning gold medals, 10 taking second place, and 13 finishing third.

Rock Falls had a pair of state champions in Class 3A, as Peyton Smit won the girls 7th-grade shot put title (29 feet, 3 3/4 inches), and the boys 7th-grade 4x400 team of Derek Prieto, Taeshawn Prince, Jack Thomas, Trail Stonitsch and Michael Kopitas won in 4:05.98. Prince also added thirds in the 100 (12.64 seconds) and 200 (25.40).

In 8th grade for Rock Falls, Adan Oquendo was second in the 200 (24.71), seventh in the 100 (12.30) and eighth in the long jump (17-11 3/4). Kayla Hackbarth finished fourth in the girls discus (88-11).

Sterling Challand was runner-up in the 4A 7th-grade boys 4x400 (4:03.03) with the team of Alexander Zaragoza, Kameron Gibson, James Miller, Emmanuel Arreola and Aiden Lacy; they also finished fifth in the 4x200 (1:48.52). AJ Coleman took third in the boys shot put (36-1 3/4), Joslynn James placed eighth in the girls high jump (4-9), and Kevin Ruiz was ninth in the boys high jump (5-1). Abby Ryan added an eighth in the 8th-grade girls 100 hurdles (17.61 seconds).

Dixon Reagan had a pair of 7th-grade medalists in Class 4A, as Dean Geiger was third in the 1600 (5:04.17) and fifth in the 800 (2:17.79), and Max Kitzman placed eighth in the discus (102-5).

Morrison won a trio of titles in Class 3A, and placed second as a team. Brady Anderson won the 8th-grade 200 (24.60) and took third in the 400 (54.31), and he teamed with Koltin Swaim, Kamden White, Rylan Alvarado and Levi Milder to win the 4x400 (3:50.38) and place second in the 4x200 (1:40.14).

Alvarado won the 7th-grade state title in the long jump (19-5 1/4), and he also took second in the 200 (24.34). White finished fifth in the 7th-grade high jump (5-5), and Noah Robbins was sixth in the 8th-grade discus (101-11).

Mt. Morris Rahn was the other 3A team, and they won the ninth-place medal in the 8th-grade girls 4x400 (4:41.53) with the team of Abbie Ludwig, Addison Rufer, Sarah Eckardt, Skylar Bishop, and Mariah Stevens.

Rock Falls St. Andrew had a strong performance in Class 2A, with one 8th-grade medal and nine seventh-grade medals. Grace Ackert was second in the 7th-grade 200 (27.40), and also teamed with Elaina Allen, Paizlee Williams, Brooklyn Smith and Claire Von Holten to place second in the 4x200 (1:54.86), and joined Allen, Smith, Blair Grennan and Anna Propheter to take third in the 4x400 (4:34.64).

John Rowzee and Matthew Blackert tied for third in the high jump (5-3), and Blackert added a ninth in the 200 (25.86). Blackert, Parker Strommen, Jackson Graham, Matthew Murray and Renner Rosengren finished fourth in the 4x200 (1:47.89), and Rosengren, Rowzee, Blackert, Graham and Riley Mason took eighth in the 4x400 (4:20.12). Ella Ford added an eighth in the high jump (4-6) and Allen was ninth in the 200 (28.31), while Lucy Oetting took ninth in the 8th-grade long jump (15-3).

Lanark Eastland won four Class 2A gold medals, all in eighth grade, and placed second as a team. Parker Krogman won the 110 hurdles (16.43), Draven Zier won the boys long jump (19-2), Trixie Carroll took the girls long jump (16-4 3/4), and Braden Anderson, Zyacn Haverland, Krogman, Zier and Camron Huber won the 4x200 (1:40.52).

Krogman was also third in the 200 (24.77) and tied for seventh in the high jump (5-0), while Shelby Groezinger took second in the girls long jump (16-0 3/4), and Anderson tied for seventh in the high jump (5-0).

Erie also sent a large contingent to the 2A state meet. In eighth grade, Aubrey Huisman took third in the pole vault (8 feet), and teamed with Stella Ashdown, Brynn Brown, Ellie Johnson and Kaylee Keegan to take third in the 4x200 (1:56.02). Amiah Stubblefield was fourth in the 100 hurdles (17.86), and teamed with Saige Froeliger, Lauren Abbott, Ashlyn Johnson and Keegan to finished fourth in the 4x100 (54.36). Isaac Carlson was sixth in the pole vault (7-9), Conner Keegan took seventh in the 400 (57.26), and Ashlyn Johnson, Huisman, Brown, Froeliger and Aubrey Misfeldt placed eighth in the 4x400 (4:40.71).

Erie’s seventh-grade medalists were Sawyer Copeland (5th in shot put, 36-10 1/2), Nathan Punke (6th in pole vault, 7-6) and the 4x100 team of Elijah Franzen, Tristan Hovey, Ashton Miner, Copeland and Jackson Meier (7th, 52.32 seconds).

Amboy’s 7th-grade girls 4x100 team of Aubrey Wells, Maddie Althaus, Lili Leffelman and Alexa McKendry placed second in 55.32 seconds, and Althaus added a third in the 400 (1:04.28) in Class 2A.

Ohio’s Jillian Anderson was runner-up in the 1A 8th-grade high jump (4-7).

Milledgeville Chadwick had a pair of 8th-grade athletes combine for five medals in Class 1A, en route to a fourth-place team finish. Karter Livengood was second in the shot put (41-9) and third in the discus (112-2), while Konner Johnson took third in the long jump (17-11 1/4), seventh in the 110 hurdles (18.02 seconds), and eighth in the 200 (25.76). Jozlynn Castro took seventh in the 7th-grade high jump (4-2).

Fulton fared well in Class 2A. In the 8th-grade meet, Landon Leu took third in the high jump (5-4), and the team of Paige Cramer, Zoe Kunau, Jessa Read, Brooklyn Thomas and Samara Edens finished fourth in the 4x200 (1:56.04). Cramer also placed eighth in the ling jump (15-5 1/4), and Leu joined Tanik Paisley, Braedon Meyers, Wesley Hackett and Noah Bauscher to take ninth in the 4x400 (4:06.21). Fulton’s 7th-grade medalists were Chloe Wilkin, who finished fourth in the high jump (4-6), and Jonah Lutz, who was ninth in the discus (94-9).

Polo Aplington’s Nikolas Mummert took sixth in the 2A 8th-grade long jump (17-11 1/4).

Prophetstown PLT won four 2A medals in the 7th-grade meet. Sarah Link finished fifth in the long jump (14-10 1/2) and ninth in the 800 (2:34.45), while Maddie Porter placed eighth in the shot put (25-9 1/2); Link and Porter teamed with Kayler Pritchard, Violet Anderson and Lauren Malone to take ninth in the 4x200 (2:01.77).

Forreston also competed in the 2A meet, as Carson Akins took seventh in the 8th-grade ling jump (17-10 1/2), and the 7th-grade 4x100 team of Ryleigh Alexander, Breelyn Schneiderman, Hannah Vinnedge, Chloe Pritchard and Lucy Bawinkel also finished seventh (56.50 seconds).