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IESA began the state series in track and field for boys in 1932.
This will be the 77th year for the boys. IESA began the state series
in track and field for girls in 1972. This will be the 37th year for
girls. A total of 238 member schools entered the 2008 Class A state
series, and 95 percent (225) of the schools entering athletes in the
qualifying sectionals advanced at least one qualifier to the state
final meet. There are 14 events in each of the classes, for a
grand total of 56 events. Preliminaries and finals are conducted on
the same day in the respective field events, which are spread over
the two days. In the 100-meter dash and hurdles, there will be
preliminaries and semifinals on Friday with the finals on Saturday.
Timed finals are the format in all other running events. The best
times from all the heats or sections in a respective running event
determine final places in that event.
Field event competition begins Friday at noon. The running events
will get under way Friday at 1 p.m. Competition Saturday begins at 9
a.m. with the finals in the 100 and hurdles, along with the
remainder of the running and field events. The complete time
schedule for the weekend and the complete event-by-event listing of
qualifiers can be found at
www.iesa.org. From the home page, go to the
"Track and
Field" link in the box on top of the home page; then click on
"Class A Schedule" or
"Class A Qualifiers."
[To download Adobe Acrobat Reader for
the PDF file, click
here.]
Also visit the "FanZone"
icon on the home page for information that spectators should know
regarding the meet.
Single-session tickets will be on sale at the stadium each day.
Tickets are priced at $5 for adults and $2 for students K-8 and
seniors. Gates open to the general public at 11 a.m. Friday and at 8
a.m. Saturday.
This year, for the second time in IESA track and field history,
the athletes winning medallions will be recognized on the infield
after the conclusion of their event. The time schedule has periods
built into it for presentation of the medallions to the individuals
and relay team members.
Here is a look at each of the four meets within the state final
meet:
Class 7A girls
Assumption Central A&M and Mount Pulaski will match their
standouts in the battle for the team title that traditionally has
been closely contested in recent years. Last year, Lexington won its
second straight with 38 points, finishing ahead of Assumption
Central A&M by two points and ahead of third-place Altamont by four
points. In 2006, Lexington won the title with 45 points, to the 43
of runner-up Tremont and the 41 of third-place Kewanee Wethersfield.
Mount Pulaski is led by Jessica Awe, a 5-3 setter on the school's
state champion seventh-grade Class 2A volleyball team. In track and
field this spring, she brings the best sectional times in the 100-
and 200-meter dashes, as well as the third-best long jump to the
state meet. Awe's sectional time in the 100 was 13.20, and her 200
mark was 27.80. She went 14 feet, 5 inches in the long jump.
Kaitlyn Corzine of Assumption Central A&M is the long jump leader
from the sectionals, going 14 feet, 10 inches. She also is the
sectional leader in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:35.50. In the
100-meter hurdles, she is ranked third with a time of 17.00.
Normal Epiphany could figure in the chase for the team title if
Emily Brelesfoard and Sarah Bell continue to perform well this
weekend. Brelesfoard brings the top time of 5:44.80 in the
1,600-meter run and the third-best mark in the 800-meter run with a
2:38.00. Bell is the pole vault leader, clearing 7 feet, 6 inches in
the sectional.
Class 7A boys
Ryan Pearce of Villa Grove could score enough points in the three
individual events where he is the sectional leader to bring the team
title to his school single-handedly. Last year his brother Tyler
Pearce won the eighth-grade Class A discus title with a toss of 145
feet, 7 inches. This year Ryan posted the sectional best of 142
feet, 5 inches in the discus. Ryan also is the leader in the shot
put with a sectional throw of 43 feet, 1/2 inch, and he has the best
200-meter dash time from the sectionals with a 21.20.
Perennial powers Carthage and Wood River Lewis & Clark tied for
the team title last year with 36 points. Wood River Lewis & Clark
moved from Class A to Class AA this year. An individual or relay
state champion earns 10 points for winning that event. Nine schools
boast sectional top individual performers. In the relays, Rock Falls
St. Andrew is top-seeded in the 4x200 and 4x400.
The only other school to have a multiple event sectional leader
is Jerseyville St. Francis Holy Ghost. Mitch Kimball is the leader
in the long jump with a sectional mark of 17 feet, 3 1/2 inches and
in the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 5 inches.
The 400-meter dash could be the race of the meet. The top seed
from the sectional is seventh-grader Tyler Suits of Rantoul St. Malachy, who stormed to a time of 59.60 in the sectional. The top
nine qualifiers in the 400 ran 1:01.30 or faster, and two of them
are sixth-graders. Clay Duba of Carrollton GS is the No. 3 seed at
1:00.90, and Sam Asmus of Heyworth is No. 6 seed at 1:01.20. Asmus
runs a leg on his school's No. 4-seeded 4x200 relay and a leg on the
school's No. 4-seeded 4x400 relay. The seventh-grade Class A boys
400-meter dash record is 54.96, set in 1992 by Josh Halley of Minonk
Dana Rutland.
Tyler Suits has a chance for an elite IESA record. In the 77-year
history of IESA track and field, only one athlete has won the same
event four consecutive years. Tenile Casady of Dallas City won the
400-meter dash from 1994 to 1997.
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Class 8A girls
Seven girls who won 10 of the 11 individual events last year in
the seventh-grade meet return in their events this year as
eighth-graders. Three of the six were double winners a year ago.
Olivia Herzog of Findlay Okaw Valley won the shot put and discus
last year and returns this week as the sectional leader in both
events. She threw the shot 32 feet, 2 inches to win the
seventh-grade title and threw it 38 feet, 8 inches in the sectional.
In the discus, Herzog won last year with a toss of 97 feet, 7
inches. She hit 102 feet, 7 inches in the sectional. Her first
cousin Walter Herzog won the seventh-grade 800- and 1,600-meter runs
for the boys last year and competes in both events this weekend in
the eighth-grade boys' meet.
Altamont's Johanna Haywood won the 100- and 200-meter dashes as a
seventh-grader last year. In the finals of the 100 she posted a time
of 13.00 and had the third-best sectional time of 13.10. The leader
in the 100 is Katie Croak of Prospect Heights St. Alphonsus. In the
200, Haywood won last year with a time of 26.85. She posted the
third-best sectional time at 28.00. The leader is Kristin Allen of
Mason City Illini Central at 27.40.
Kaley Ummel was a workhorse for Lexington's powerful
seventh-grade state championship teams the last two years. She won
both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs and anchored the winning 4x400
relay in seventh grade last year. She won the 800 last year in
2:28.94 and posted the sectional best time of 2:30.00 this year. In
the 1,600, she won last year in 5:21.81 and brings the sectional
best time of 5:32.90 to this year's meet. Lexington has the No. 2
seed in both the 4x200 and 4x400 relays this year.
The other champions from seventh grade last year competing in the
eighth-grade meet this weekend are Madison Renfro from Assumption
Central A&M, Kaitlin Phillips of Hinckley, Grace Shadid of Metamora
St. Mary's and Alyssa Winchester of Ottawa Wallace. Shadid won the
pole vault last year at 8 feet and posted the 12th-best sectional
mark at 6 feet, 6 inches. Winchester took the high jump a year ago
at 4 feet, 11 inches and qualified at 4 feet, 8 inches in the
sectional, which was good for the No. 14 seed. Renfro won the
100-meter hurdles a year ago with a time of 17.13 in the finals and
comes into the weekend with the No. 5 seed time of 16.80.
Kaitlin Phillips of Huntley won the 2007 seventh-grade 400-meter
dash in a time of 1:02.44. As a sixth-grader in 2006, Cassidy Strohl
of Heyworth won the seventh-grade 400 in a time of 1:04.66. Phillips
comes into this year's meet with a sectional time of 1:06.00, the
sixth-best mark. Strohl ran 1:04.40 in the sectional and is the No.
4 seed, behind third-seeded Katie Einck of Normal Epiphany, who
posted a 1:04.30 in the same sectional. The top sectional time was
1:02.30 by Greenview's Kristen Rohrer. Katelyn Hammarlund of
Arlington Heights Our Lady of the Wayside is the No. 2 seed at
1:03.90.
Class 8A boys
Seven seventh-grade individual champions from a year ago return
for this weekend's eighth-grade meet, including Walker Herzog of
Findlay Okaw Valley, who won both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs. His
first cousin Olivia Herzog won the shot put and discus in seventh
grade last year and returns in both in this weekend's eighth-grade
girls' meet.
Herzog won the 800 last year in a time of 2:16.12 and posted the
No. 6 seed this year with a time of 2:19.80. He won the 1,600 last
year with a time of 5:01.10 and ran 5:11.10 in the sectional this
year to post the No. 8 seed. Top seed in the 1,600 is Zach Quinn of
Heyworth, who turned in a 5:05.10 in the sectional. Top seed in the
800 is Oliver Moews of Bloomington Holy Trinity at 2:15.70.
Joliet Laraway's Jeremy Lindsey won the 400-meter dash last year
in seventh grade and shares the top seed in the event with a
sectional time of 55.70. Oliver Moews of Bloomington Holy Trinity
also ran 55.70 in the sectional.
Nick Allen of Bunker Hill Meissner was high jump champion last
year, winning with 5 feet, 6 inches. He soared 5 feet, 11 inches in
the sectional and is top-seeded in the event. Mitchell Mammoser of
Newton St. Thomas is a two-time pole vault champion and is the No. 1
seed this year, going 10-0 in the sectional. He cleared 9 feet, 1
inch in 2006 as a sixth-grader to win the seventh-grade title and
then soared 10 feet, 5 inches last May to win the 2007 seventh-grade
title.
Chris Young of Rantoul St. Malachy was the 110-meter hurdles
champion in seventh grade last year and is the third-seeded
qualifier in the event this year, with a sectional time of 16.30.
Kendall Summers of Hamilton is top-seeded at 15.40.
Long jump champion last spring in the seventh-grade meet was
Terry Yelm. He went 17 feet, 8 1/2 inches to win the title and comes
into this year's eighth-grade meet with a sectional leap of 18 feet,
1/4 inch to rank as the No. 4 seed. The leader is Alex Cassidy of
Decatur Johns Hill at 19 feet.
Cody Bolen of Hartsburg-Emden was shot put champion last year in
seventh grade with a toss of 42 feet, 6 inches and is the No. 1 seed
in the eighth-grade meet this weekend with a sectional mark of 50
feet, 6 inches.
One member of the IESA Scholar Attitude Award presented by State
Farm Class of 2008 has qualified for 8A boys' meet competition this
weekend. He is Michael Fitzgerald of Peoria St. Philomena, who will
compete in both the 800- and 1,600-meter events.
[Text from file received from
the IESA] |
