Opening day IESA State Track and Field: Kloe Froebe places 4th in state in 400m dash ~ Heitzig siblings each finish in 11th place

[May 14, 2018] 

It was Kloe Froebe with the impressive run at the Class A State Track and Field Meet Friday for West Lincoln-Broadwell. Froebe, a sixth grader, ran the 400m dash in 1:04.7 in seventh grade girls competition and finished in fourth place among her competitors in the state of Illinois.

A focused young athlete getting her mind set on running the 400m.

No doubt this young lady will be back at State next year in this event. She really just kinda picked up this running thing recently, and always one who likes to stay true to her word she broke her sister's school record in the 400m just last week or so.

Kloe Froebe holds up four fingers for her fourth place finish in the 400m.

Froebe also ran the 100m hurdles on Friday and her finish there was not good enough to make the finals on Saturday. Again those hurdles are something she just kind of stumbled upon and mastered quickly.

Kaelyn Froebe showed up to support little sister Kloe at the IESA Class A State Track and Field Meet.

Kloe Froebe stands in the fourth place position down on the field at State.

A natural athlete and all-around competitor, she will work on those hurdles and only get better.

Here she comes! Becca Heitzig in the lead for the girls 1600m.

Moving on to the Heitzig siblings of WLB, that is if you can catch them, they each had a good day at State. Both Brenden and Becca ran the 1600m and each finished in 11th place.

The younger of the two, Becca who is a sixth grader, ran in the girls seventh grade 1600m and she was a spit-fire in the heat.

The post-race lineup included the fifth grader from Palatine in the lead with Becca Heitzig finishing second in the heat.

In her particular race she was rounding the corner in the lead but a faster fifth grader caught up to her and beat her just at the end. Becca Heitzig's time was 5:44.78 and in a sea of runners it was good enough for an 11th place finish overall in the event. There were 47 runners in the girls 1600m. A very bright future for this young lady who can outrun Forrest Gump.

Becca's older bother, Brenden, competed in the boys seventh grade 1600m and in his heat he was right there at the end with a couple others crossing the finish line first. Heitzig leaned in and gave it his all for the second place finish here. Overall his time of 5:18.23 was good enough for an 11th place finish in the state. He competed against 35 runners in this event.

Congratulations to Kloe Froebe and Brenden and Becca Heitzig on their terrific accomplishments at state.

The state meet resumed on Saturday with more events, and most notably the relays.

[Teena Lowery photos by Kari Froebe and Teena Lowery]